Page 127 of Winterset
Hannah gave me a sad smile.
The library doors burst open, and Oliver walked swiftly inside. He looked frantic.
“Are you all right?” He rushed to where I stood, removing his mask and stuffing it in his coat pocket.
Hannah quietly excused herself and closed the door behind her.
“I am fine, thank you.”
His brow furrowed. “What have I done? Tell me so I can correct it at once.”
“You have done nothing wrong,” I said.
“That cannot be true, else you would not be hiding here in this room and scowling at me.”
“I am not scowling.”
“You are.” He raised his hand to my forehead and smoothed the skin between my brows.
I turned away from his touch.
“Kate.” He stepped to the side and ducked to meet my eyes. “Talk to me.”
I snapped my gaze back to his, and he reared back in surprise. “Do you really want to know what is wrong?”
“I do, very much.”
“You have proposed to two women, Oliver.Two.”
“And yet I remain unmarried.” He gave me a small smile.
“For now. But I suspect someday, somedaysoonif Miss Digby has any say, you will ask a third and—”
Oliver’s mouth lifted into a small smile. “You are jealous.”
“No,” I said in a clipped tone. Then realizing I had no reason not to tell him the truth—I still had to find another situation, and he still had to return to Winterset—I said, “Well,yes, if you must know.” I was so incredibly jealous, my stomach hurt.
“You have no reason to be,” Oliver said, stepping closer.
“Trust me, I do. You don’t see the way young ladies stare at you.”
“Kate,” Oliver said. “It doesn’t matter if young ladies look at me.Iam only looking at you.” He set his hand on my waist and drew me near. “Since the day I first stepped foot into Winterset and saw your portrait, I have seen no other woman but you. Even when I didn’t know you were alive, I couldn’t get you out of my head. No other woman that I have met, or that I will ever meet, will consume my thoughts the way you do. So no, you have no reason to be jealous.”
Perhaps not tonight or even next week. But someday he would find another woman to consume his thoughts. A woman who wasn’t hunted by a man with murderous intent. Oliver would propose to her and take her home to Winterset. My heart broke anew at the thought of it. “No matter how you may feel for me, circumstance prevents us from being together.”
“I thought so too. But I was wrong.” He took my hands in his. “I am in love with you, Kate.”
“You love me?”
“To the point of madness,” he murmured.
“I love you too,” I whispered. “More than you could ever possibly know. That’s why this is so difficult.” I saw the love in his eyes, and it made what I had to say next nearly impossible. But I had to, for his sake. “No matter our feelings, we can never be together. I can’t lose you the way I lost Father.” I waited for him to release my hands and step away, but he only drew me closer.
“You won’t lose me, Kate. So long as we are together, we can survive anything.”
“What about Winterset?” I said, voicing another obstacle. “I can’t live there, and you can’t give it up.”
“I can, actually. Winterset is not entailed. It is mine to do with it what I will. AndIwill to sell it. I do not need a house or wealth to be happy. I need only you.”
