Page 137 of The Duke Who Saved Christmas
Right. Of course.
She usually sided with Hazel.
Fuck. I was so sick of people taking advantage of Sylvie.
I ran my fingers through my hair and shrugged off my coat. “Is she all right?”
They all shrugged. “She said she had things to do, and it was pretty clear she wanted to be left alone, so we made sure she was all right and respected her wishes,” Zara answered. “Why are you suddenly so worried about her? Don’t you two hate each other?”
“Nope,” Beth said, popping the ‘p’ like a brat. “They definitely do not hate each other.”
“Not the time,” I replied, shaking my head. “My office, right? I take it she’s staying here tonight?”
Mum’s lips curved up a tiny bit. “I asked Lizzie to prepare a guest room for her.”
I paused. “No need.”
“No need?” Zara slammed her hands against the counter. A loud screech ripped through the air as she pushed her stool backwards on her way to getting to her feet. “What do you mean, no need? Are you going to kick her out?”
“You imbecile,” Mum muttered, making Beth shake her head.
“There’s no need,” I said slowly, staring my sister down. “Because she’s going to sleep in my room. Now, if that’s all you need or want from me, I’m going to check on my girl.”
“Your girl?” my sister squeaked out. “What the—what have I returned home to?”
I waved off her question, turning away.
“Wait, wait.” She grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge. “Here. Take this to her. I know how to treat a woman, all right?”
All three of us stared at her, and she shrunk away under the weight of our gazes.
“Most of the time,” she murmured, slinking back to her seat like a shamed little lamb. She grabbed Beth’s arm and snuggled against her side, pouting.
“Don’t make that face.” Beth peered down at her. “If you know how to treat a woman, then I’m waiting for you to show me.”
“Yeah, I’m going to see my girl.” On that note, I spun around and headed straight for my office.
I had no idea what kind of Sylvie I was going to find in my office. Would she be sad? Angry? Frustrated? Exhausted? Was she going to be the Sylvie who pushed me away, or the Sylvie who leant on me?
Whichever version of her it was, it didn’t matter. I would be there for her no matter what.
Hazel had fucked up big time. I didn’t even know the whole story, but I’d seen Sylvie’s schedule. It was planned out to the minute, and despite all the fuck ups that had gone wrong so far, she’d somehow managed to keep a cool head. Her ability to fix any problem in record time was astounding, and when faced with a rare, uncontrollable situation like the incident with the veil, she didn’t panic. She just knuckled down and got on with it, holding onto hope far longer than anyone else would have.
And just as things were working out, right on the back of another sisterly fight, right when Sylvie was planning on calling it water under the bridge and moving on, this happened.
I should have known Hazel would directly do something to fuck it all up.
She always did.
I knocked lightly on my office door, and it let out a low creak as I pushed it open. Sylvie was sitting on the window seat in the dark, knees hugged against her chest, staring out at the garden. She didn’t so much as flinch as I entered, and I ran my gaze over her beautiful face while I had the chance.
The flickering light from the stupid scented candle on my desk cast a gentle warm glow over her features, but not even that could calm the storm in her usually bright eyes.
I softly set the bottle on the desk, and the clink of the glass against the wood was what finally made her turn her attention my way.
“Oh,” she said softly. “Sorry. Am I in your way?”
I shook my head. “Never.”
