Page 6 of Forever & Again
Broken things recognized each other—and Oliver knew that sometimes the kindest thing you could do for a wounded creature was to leave it alone.
At least for now.
Chapter Two
The knock on her bedroom door was soft, barely more than a suggestion, but Grace had been expecting it. She didn’t look up when the door opened, and Sarah slipped inside without waiting for an invitation.
“You left the party early,” Sarah said gently, easing the door closed behind her. Grace kept her gaze fixed on the floor. “I had a headache.”
Soft footsteps padded across the rug as Sarah made her way to the side of the bed. “Was it persistent?”
Grace huffed, “It was blonde.”
Sarah tilted her head, a small smile curling at the corners of her mouth. “Blonde?”
“Very blonde,” Grace said crisply. “With blue eyes, dimples, and a personality as charming as a kicked beehive.”
Sarah laughed as she lowered herself into the armchair across from Grace. “Oliver is truly not that bad.”
Grace’s head snapped up in to look at her. “He is, Lizzy. If you and Matthew were so determined to adopt a stray this summer, could you not have chosen one that yapped less anddidn’t seem likely to mark his territory on the drawing room carpet?”
Sarah pressed her lips together, fighting another smile. “It is not like that.”
Grace arched a brow. “Is it not? Then perhaps you can explain to me why Lord Oliver Blackburn— London’s most incorrigible rake and confirmed hazard to female sanity—is currently installed at Somerton like some restless vagabond attempting respectability.”
“He usually summers at Kenswick Manor,” Sarah said softly, toying with a loose thread on her wrap. “But the Duke isn’t receiving this year.” Grace shook her head, the explanation unsurprising. She knew all too well the reason for the Duke’s self-imposed isolation.
Sarah went on, her voice even quieter now. “I don’t think it was meant to be cruel. You know how private His Grace is. I think he just needed space.”
Grace studied her friend’s face for a long moment, searching for something that would explain the momentary lapse in sound judgment that had lead them here. Instead, she found only her familiar tenderness.
“So you break off your engagement to the Duke, and as penance, you’re left to house his charming disaster of a friend?”
Despite her best efforts, Sarah laughed. “I suppose that is one way to look at it.”
“What other way is there?”
Silence settled over the room, broken only by the low song of the frogs from the pond across the grounds. The light of the moon flooded through the windows, casting flickering shadows along the walls and the edges of the floor.
“When Benjamin died,” Sarah said at last, “Oliver was the first one at Matthew’s side. He didn’t even ask if he was needed;he just dropped everything and came.” Something in Grace’s chest softened, and she hated that it did.
“When we officially took over Somerton, Oliver stayed with us for months.” Sarah continued, her eyes the moonlight reflecting off the tears in her eyes. “He taught Matthew how to read yield reports, and handle the tenants. He even mended a fence, and he never once made us feel like we were a burden.”
Grace looked down at her hands, twisting the edge of her sleeve between restless fingers. “He does not strike me as the selfless type.”
“That doesn’t mean he isn’t,” Sarah said simply.
Grace shifted, tugging the blanket higher over her lap as if to protect herself from the inconvenient warmth towards Oliver that threatened to creep in.
“Yes,” Sarah continued, “when the summer started approaching and the Duke asked Oliver not to come, he seemed a little untethered. But Matthew extended the invitation, not out of pity, but because he has truly become a dear friend.”
Grace’s throat tightened. “So you want me to believe that there is more to him than the arrogant buffoon he pretends to be?”
“I am not asking you to believe anything,” Sarah said gently. “I am only saying, though Oliver has built a great many walls, if you have the chance to know the man behind them, you might be surprised by what you find.”
Grace flopped back onto the bed, dramatically covering her face with her arm. “Unfortunately, scaling emotional walls is not part of my summer plans.”
Sarah stood with a soft sigh, smoothing her skirts with a smile. “You are in the country now. Best to keep an open mind, and a sturdy pair of boots close by at all times.”
