Page 44 of A Very Roguish Boxing Day
“Understandably so.”Tom wiped his mouth.Part of him wanted to eat more toast with Gwen’s blackberry fruit honey.But he’d eaten a half-dozen eggs, four pieces of toast, and five slices of bacon, which was a lot, even for him.He stood, gathering plates.“Well, I’d love to see your bees.Let me just see to the washing up.”
“Oh!”Gwen cried, rising as well.“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s no trouble,” he said, filling the wash basin.“It’s not like I’ve never scrubbed a dish before.”
Gwen pulled on an apron.“Well, I’m helping.”
Tom wound up putting on an apron, too, one with a frilly white ruffle, and they had a laugh about that.But strangely, instead of making him feel jolly, the sight of Gwen’s smiling face tilted up at him caused an ache to break out in the center of his chest.Because this was nice.Spending the day together yesterday had been nice, having a tup before bed had been nice, and having a laugh together when things hadn’t gone according to plan had been bloody wonderful.And then waking up and sharing breakfast with Gwen had been as easy as breathing.
All of this wastoonice, considering he was never going to do it again.
He shook himself.He needed to focus on what he was doing before he broke all of Gwen’s crockery.
With him washing and Gwen drying, they got the washing up done in no time flat.
“All right,” he said, hanging his apron on a hook and forcing a smile so she wouldn’t see how fucking melancholy he’d suddenly become.“Show me these bees of yours.”
Gwen led him out the back door.
And that was when it happened.
It struck Tom like a runaway carriage—the reason he’d managed to get such a good night’s sleep.
It was the bees.
Bees… buzzed.Tom knew that.Hell, everyone knew that.
But it hadn’t occurred to him that a bunch of bees would provide a pleasant background hum.It was noisy without beingnoisy.
That was why his ears hadn’t been bothering him that morning.Gwen’s bees were the perfect thing to drown out the ringing.
He could have buried his head in his hands and cried.God, he’d already wanted to stay here with Gwen.To hold her every night, to see her smile up at him every morning, to hear her tell him a bunch of bollocks about how he waskindandgallantandgood.
He knew it would never happen.He wasn’t for the likes of her.She was a lady.She was clever and kind and entirely too good for him in every way.He was nothing but a big dumb brute who was miles beneath her.
But damn it all—fate seemed to be taunting him.Because these fuckingbees!Could this place be any more perfect for him?It was literally the only spot in the country he’d ever found where his ears wouldn’t be driving him out of his mind.
“Tom?Is everything all right?”
He blinked.Gwen was looking up at him, concern creasing her pretty brow.
“It’s fine,” he said, and his voice cracked, actually cracked, like he was some lovelorn seventeen-year-old.Which honestly wasn’t a bad approximation of how he felt.He hadn’t felt this way about anyone since… since Gracie.
The comparison felt right but also wrong.Right because, in spite of how it had ended, his feelings for Gracie had been pure.He would have loved her, and honored her, and cleaved to her, for better or for worse.But, of course, she had gone and shit all over his feelings.
With the passing years, he could see that Gracie had been like a paste jewel, pretty and sparkling on the surface, but ultimately worthless.
Gwen, on the other hand?Gwen might not be as flashy, might not catch your eye at first glance.But she was solid gold to the core.He’d bet every shilling he’d saved over the years that Gwen would never hurt someone the way Gracie had hurt him.That just wasn’t who she was.And if there was one thing his boxing career had taught him, it was that you needed someone who would stick by you in sickness and in health, because sickness was going to come for you at some point.
That was when the real pisser struck him like a thunderbolt—he felt the same way about Gwen as he’d felt about Gracie.He knew he did.Which meant…
Ah,fuck.He’d gone and fallen in love with her!A woman who was entirely too good for a broken-down lout like him.
Well done, Talbot.Bloody brilliant.He was going to wind up with another gaping wound where his heart used to be.
Except this time, he’d have no one to blame for it but himself.
“Tom.Tom!”
