Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)

What if we could be more?

“I didn’t expect you to be there, West,” I said lightly.

The waves sounded softer this morning, lighter.

“I didn’t…” he started, then stopped.

He exhaled through his nostrils, looking away, working out his square jaw.

I stared at him. I don’t think I’d ever seen West at a loss for words. He was always someone who had the last word, who knew exactly what to say and was confident with his quips. Now he stared at the dress box, something making his jaw flex.

His eyes collided with mine. “You were never…I never wanted you to get hurt, Angel.”

The intensity behind his brown eyes unsettled me.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I said.

He worked his jaw, as though he was about to say something. Whatever it was…he decided against it. He came to me and placed the box in my lap.

I fingered the peach satin bow.

“You didn’t have to do this…”

“You didn’t think I would leave you without a dress for the Nutcracker Masquerade?”

Tansy Crowne’s Nutcracker Masquerade happened two weeks before Christmas. A white tie masquerade party, and like every Crowne party, women spent months preparing their costumes. I had nothing…but Grayson had said he would get me a dress.

West nudged me out of my thoughts with an envelope.

“More?” I asked, taking the envelope.

He nodded for me to open it.

As West sat beside me, I pulled out a starchy plane ticket for one to…Scotland.

I lifted my head, eyes colliding with his.

“I promised I would get you out, Angel.”

“I guess I just thought…”

“That I was fucking with you?”

We’d been here for so long I was starting to lose track. The days blurred into one. It seemed like the perfect ending. For some reason, my uncle had wanted me to go, and now West was offering me an out as well. I should take it. This was the place for a free Story Hale.

“Why Scotland?” I asked.

Again, some emotion flickered behind his brown eyes, but all he said was, “Have you been?”

I shook my head.

“It would be a good place for you.” He pulled my hand into his and moved the ring on my finger around. “Do you remember the first time we met?”

“You came up to me at a Crowne party I was serving.” He’d been so charming…he stood by me the entire night, making me laugh.

“That wasn’t the first time, Angel.”

West looked at my hand, thumbing the glittering diamond.