Ava
Chapter 16
George and I warmed our hands by the blazing fire in his study. Our morning ride greeted us with a chill that stalled in my body. But I welcomed it, keeping my mind off the way Garrett’s eyes and the heat of his hands burned into my skin.
“Sit.” George pushed a chair behind me. I sat and rubbed my hands together.
“Remind me to carry my gloves in my saddlebag from now on.” I leaned forward to capture more warmth. The blistering heat on my skin fighting the lingering prickles of cold. George nodded and sat on the rug beside me, crossing his legs.
“Can we talk about Madelyn?” His voice was solemn. I glanced down at him, his fingers rubbing at his temple as the flames of the fire played along his face.
I nodded. “Of course.”
He sighed heavily, hunching down on his elbows resting on his knees. “Since I must stop courting her, I don’t know the easiest way to go about it. If I knew it’d come to this, I wouldn’t have started courting her. Madelyn is kind and—”
“I know,” I replied softly, touching his shoulder. “I would just explain it to her, so she’d understand.”
“No offense, but as a woman, I don’t see her giving me a handshake after I cast her off.”
“We are very emotional, hell-bent creatures who hold grudges.”
“She won’t understand. I wasn’t in love with her but one day…it may have possibly grown into more.”
“I’m sorry, George. We never seem to get what we want, do we?” He shook his head, keeping his eyes locked on the glowing fire.
“Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to run away from here?” He paused for a moment, bowing his head. “Not just because of the forced marriages and my father wanting to control my every move, but for the freedom. The freedom to fuck up and not have thousands of lives depending on me to make the right decisions.” He peered over his shoulder at me. “To be able to just live. Live a normal existence.”
I saw the frustration in his eyes. “That’s how I felt at the orphanage; the same suffocation and need to break free, but we will get through all this. Madelyn will understand, in time.”
She’d need to; she would never marry George if Edward was against it. Madelyn would have no problem finding a husband. She was elegant and intelligent, something a man would seek out in a wife.
George, on the other hand, didn’t have that luxury. He needed more. His wife would need to be rich, politically stable, healthy, and, a bonus, appealing.
The study door squeaked open, bringing our attention to a man standing in the egress. “Sorry, George, I didn’t know you had company.” The stranger held a stack of papers and before I could get a good look at him, George stood and walked to him.
“No need,” George replied. He gestured to me. “As you well know, this is Ava Barlow.”
The blond stranger walked deeper into the room. “The notorious Lady Barlow.” He pushed the papers against George’s chest and bowed. “It’s a pleasure meeting you. George has told me so much.” I began to rise to greet him, but he held up a hand, flashing his dimples at me and shaking his head. “No please, sit.”
Sitting back in my chair, I noticed he was taller than George and his nose was slightly crooked. He pulled up a chair nearby to sit across from me.
“I’m William Reddington.” He straddled the chair and rested his arms on the back of it. “And I’ve heard many stories about you and your antics. I must say, I idolize your strategies of terrorizing the staff and rebelling against the rules.”
“My cousin,” George informed, examining the data in his hand.
“Twice removed,” Reddington winked. I looked between the two of them—same sandy blond hair and oval face but while George shared his brother’s blue eyes, Reddington had chocolate brown.
George scoffed and rolled his eyes. “The only time you were twice removed was when we were kicked out of that gaming hall.”
Reddington rolled his ice blue eyes. “Why would you bring that up on my first meeting of the Lady?”
George shrugged, not peering up. “Because it’s true.”
Reddington glanced back at me and grinned. “And now I own that gaming hall.”
Besides the resemblance, I saw the difference in the personalities. George was carefree but careful. Goodness, he harassed me every time I went off and played a prank on the new maids. Reddington didn’t have a crown in his near future, which allowed him to be more reckless, maybe even mutiny himself over the order of society. That intrigued me.
“How did you do that?” I found myself saying out loud.
Reddington’s eyes widened for a moment before stretching an embarrassing grin over his face. “That story isn’t very gentlemanly.”
I leaned closer, resting my elbows on my knees, and my lips quirked. “Now I’m intrigued.”
Reddingon paused. “Well…I was drunk, for one.”
“More like past the point of inebriated,” George chuckled, still looking over his papers.
Reddington ignored him and continued, “The owner was cheating other men, so I came with a stacked deck.”
I narrowed my eyes, my finger tapping my bottom lip. “A stacked deck?”
“He duped George and I out of a hundred apexes. Twice. One of the whor—ladies of the night informed me that he used rigged decks. So, I had her sneak one in at our table. The liquor got to my head, and I bet the gambling hall on the first hand.”
I gasped, holding my hand over my mouth. “The first hand?!”
“This is why I never mentioned him, Ava. He’s a lunatic,” George jeered, walking over to the fire.
“It was the liquor,” Reddington murmured with a deep chuckle. He brushed a piece of his blond hair out of his eyes and looked at me.
“I guess everyone has irrational moments at times.” I shrugged. I knew I’d had mine.
Reddington leaned forward, taking the chair with him. “Like when you loosened the saddle of Lord Wentz’s horse?” He regarded me, his lips quirking at the corners, and his eyes looking lazily at me. I sat back in my chair, folding my arms to keep my head level.
“It was Lord Wentz’s son, Thomas. And it was because he called me ugly when I said I didn’t want to kiss him,” I corrected, biting my lip to keep from laughing.
His eyes constricted, trying to look serious, while his grin said he approved of my actions. “So, you sabotage people’s things when you don’t want to be kissed?”
“Depends.”
“On?”
I kept my eyes locked on his. “On if they deserve it.”
“And poor Thomas did?”
I tried to keep a straight face. “Poor Thomas was a spoiled brat who pulled my maid’s hair and threw enormous temper tantrums.”
“He was a shit,” George agreed, leaning on my chair. “Is there anything else you needed besides dropping these reports off?”
Reddington shook his head and said, “There wasn’t. Cranfield’s man practically knocked me over when handing them to me. I don’t think the word gentle exists in their vocabulary.”
George chortled. “Garr wasn’t looking for wobbly men when he made his team. He takes it very seriously.”
Reddington sighed. “So I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing.”
George walked over to him, slapping him on the back. “Thank you for sacrificing yourself to bring these over. I’ll see you at the council parley tomorrow.”
“Well, now that Lady Barlow is here”—he brought his gaze back to me—“I’d like to stay and find out how she is enjoying her stay.”
I didn’t expect the conversation to come back to me, and the interest in his eyes caught me off guard. Not knowing if it was the obstinate nature that we shared, or that he was just a decent-looking man looking at me with such attentiveness, but he intrigued me. “Are you enjoying your stay?” His question brought me back to the conversation.
I nodded quickly. “Yes. I am, thank you.”
He grinned. “I’m happy to hear that, Lady Barlow.” He straightened in his chair. “What marvelous activities do they have you doing here. Knitting, playing the piano, gossiping about—”
I burst into laughter. “Femme Fatale, no! My goodness, no.” I covered my mouth. “I’ve been playing chess and cards.”
Reddington raised a brow. “Cards, hm? Not many ladies play.”
I crossed my arms with a smirk. “I don’t play; I win.”
He smiled, standing from his chair. “I would love to play you in a game sometime.”
“I don’t have any gambling halls to wager over, but if you’d like hairpins and books, I’m all in, Lord Reddington.”
“I’d like that.” He held out his hand to take mine. “George has me running around like a lunatic, running errands”—he kissed the top of my hand—“but I’d like to take you up on your offer.”
“Start practicing,” I replied. His thumb grazed my palm before releasing it.
“Until next time.” He strode from the room, flashing a grin over his shoulder at me “See you later, Georgie!”
I smiled at the closing door, having a feeling that he was going to change my life somehow.