Page 30 of The Heir's Fortune
She lifted a brow. “Is that what you want?”
It wasn’t. Not at all. In fact, he was enjoying this time together far more than he should. He could see himself spending more time with her, which was something he had never considered with a woman.
“I do not want you to be in danger again,” he said, telling the truth.
She laughed lightly. “Well, I am at Castleton until my father comes to collect me, for it is apparently too dangerous for me to travel on my own – which is ironic, is it not?”
“I will keep you safe now,” he said fiercely. “I promise.”
She met his eyes.
“I believe you.”
He would make sure of it. Protecting his family had always been more important than anything, including finding this treasure or rebuilding the family’s fortune. But in this short time with Madeline, she had become important to him as well. Which scared him more than he would like to admit.
He wondered, once they returned to Castleton, just how much he would continue to see her – and when he did, would everything go back to the way it had been, with the two of them passing acquaintances tied to one another only throughCassandra, or would she recognize as much as he had that everything had changed between them?
Gideon wasn’t much for change – not unless it was change that he had planned for and orchestrated, such as the gift of the treasure hunt that had appeared like an answer to all his prayers.
Madeline was a gift that he wasn’t prepared for but seemed inclined to overtake him anyway. If he were to go down this path, however, he would have no choice but to find this treasure.
His friends would tell him that she was worth the risk. His sister surely would as well.
He was the last man to ever leave anything to chance.
But maybe he had finally found something – or someone – to risk it all for.
CHAPTER 11
“Madeline!”
Cassandra came racing down the steps of Castleton toward them the moment they neared the front entrance, in a most unladylike display of excitement that reminded Madeline of all of the reasons she so dearly loved her friend.
She was only just beaten in her race to them by Scout, who came bounding down the stairs after her, running to Gideon and Madeline and alternating between jumping upon them and licking their faces. If Madeline didn’t know better, she would have said he had grown already in the two days she had been away.
She scratched his head, telling him what a good boy he was before Cassandra drew her attention away with her questions.
“You’re alive. Thank goodness. Are you hurt? What happened? Did Gideon find you? Why did it take so long for you to return home?”
Madeline couldn’t help but laugh at the barrage of questions, and she took Cassandra’s hands within hers to calm her.
“I am not hurt. It is a long story that we will tell you when we are all together. Gideon did find me, yes, as I was escapingthe captors. And we stopped overnight because we didn’t want to lead all of the horses across the stream in the dark.”
Cassandra nodded before peering beyond Madeline, finding her brother.
“Thank you, Gideon,” she said simply, and he nodded at her.
“Of course,” he said, before leading all of the horses toward the stables without another word to her, Scout trotting happily after him, the only one of the pair to turn around to look at Madeline.
Was that it, then? Was all that had happened between them to come to nothing now that they had returned? Madeline knew he wasn’t a man much given over to emotion, nor to chance, but she was surely going to be having a word with him over what was to be expected now.
Cassandra was unable to wait to hear the entirety of the story, so Madeline told her bits of it as they entered Castleton and Cassandra sat with her while the maids prepared a warm bath, which Madeline gratefully sank into. As the water warmed her, she couldn’t help but think of the last time she had been warmed, but by Gideon’s arms, his body against her, her bottom against his?—
“Were you surprised when Gideon came after you?” Cassandra asked, causing Madeline to jerk with a start. What was wrong with her? She was lusting after her best friend’s brother while Cassandra sat next to her, oblivious to what had happened in that part of the rescue. Madeline had no intentions of ever telling her – not unless anything more were to come of it.
Did she want there to be more?
Perhaps.
