Page 10 of Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
Her determination to be independent could be her undoing.
“I’ll stay the night to make sure you get settled.Perhaps even stay through tomorrow night.”
He cut a glance toward the open door where Gabriel retrieved the two suitcases.It was clear he didn’t trust the man.Perhaps she didn’t, either.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” she said.“Besides, I have to learn how to run the estate at some point.I’ll hire more staff if that will make you feel better.”
“It would, yes,” he said with a definitive nod.
Gabriel returned carrying both their bags.“If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to your rooms.”
He started up the grand staircase.
She and her uncle exchanged a glance.His, wary.Hers, nervous.Together, they followed the caretaker up the stairs.
Chapter 3
ThemomentGabrielopenedthe door to see Victoria Ravenwood bathed in the last breath of the waning evening, his heart jolted.
She was here.She had returned.
Her upturned face caught the last rays of the fading sun, highlighting her golden skin.It was hard not to notice the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and upper cheeks.Or the way her hazel eyes shined with curiosity, a little fear, and perhaps a little recognition.Or the way golden strands gleamed in her perfectly coifed chestnut hair.
His pulse pounded.
This woman, this Victoria Ravenwood, was not the little girl he remembered.No.She’d grown into a vibrant, beautiful woman.There was something warm and gentle about her that was undeniable.Something that made his senses shift and take notice.He feared if she remained here, that vibrancy would dull and her light would be snuffed out.
He refused to acknowledge the sudden shift in his senses.The unwelcome pull toward the beautiful young heiress standing in his foyer.
Did she know what she stepped into when she came to Ravenfell Manor?
No, likely not.How had this come to pass?Surely, had her parents lived, they’d have never let her come here alone.
He remembered her as a child.But now she was a woman.Grown into a young lady of beauty and grace.And far too naïve to be the mistress of Ravenfell.She was never meant to return and yet, there she was, looking at him with a sense of familiarity as though she remembered him, as though shesawhim for who and what he was.And that hope was the worst of it.
He banished that hope immediately.Locked it away in the deep, dark recesses of his heart in the same place he’d buried all the other feelings.Where it would starve, silent and unseen.
Now, Gabriel led the new mistress up the stairs to her room, his feet slow and methodical.The house, he knew, was listening.Watching.
Irritation clawed through him at the sight of the uncle.He wanted him gone, forthwith.He wanted him to return to wherever he came from and, if had any sense at all, he’d take Miss Ravenwood with him.She didn’t belong here.She was far too delicate a flower for the sinister halls of the manor.
But the gentlemen in him refused to turn either of them away.And so, he led the uncle to his own room, handing off his bag and allowing him to settle.The man hovered in the doorway with concern gleaming in his bright eyes as he looked at Victoria.
“Good night, uncle,” she said, her tone clipped.As though she was ready to be done with him and everything for the evening.
He gave a nod.“Good night, Victoria.”
Then his gaze skipped to Gabriel.For a moment, Gabriel thought he saw a warning in the depths of the man’s eyes.But then Pembroke gave a slight bow and shut the door with a snap, leaving the two of them alone in the hallway.
“Your room is just there.”Gabriel pointed to the other end of the hall.
She nodded, saying nothing, allowing him to continue to carry her bag.He wondered, then, if there would be more bags arriving on the morrow.Trunks of dresses, hats, and shoes no doubt.
“Will your other things be arriving soon?”he asked, his voice loud in the quietness of the hallway.
“My other things?”she asked, her dark brows drawing together in question.
“Your trunks,” he explained.
