And it wasn’t the kiss that had undone her. It was the way Sebastian looked at her after. Like he didn’t want to let go. Like he saw her… and still stayed.
She pressed her palm flat against her chest, steadyingthe drum of her heart.
What if she gave him a sign… and he missed it? What if she gave herself to the moment, completely, and he hesitated again? Not out of indifference, but fear?
Would she be strong enough to survive the ache?
But what if… he met her there?
What if, just once, she chose to believe the glimmer instead of burying it? To step forward and offer something of herself not out of duty but desire?
Maybe that’s what falling in love was. Not a grand gesture. But a thousand quiet choices.
And maybe, she could make the next one.
Perhaps she wasn’t panicking after all.
Perhaps she was simply still falling.
Chapter Eighteen
Sebastian stirred froman uneasy awakening, a chill skimming along his skin. His room was cloaked in a serene stillness that tugged him fully from slumber, the sort of quiet one only heard after a snowfall. He blinked, his breath fogging faintly in the cool air as he pushed himself upright. Across the room, the hearth had fallen dark, though the scent of last night’s fire lingered faintly, earthy and comforting.
The pale light filtering through his curtains spoke of dawn, though it carried an unusual softness, muted and whitewashed. Sebastian swung his legs over the side of the bed, raking his fingers through the disheveled waves of his hair. He strode to the window, tugging back the heavy drapes.
The world was transformed.
Snow blanketed the grounds in a pristine layer, unmarred by footsteps or carriage wheels. It was a canvas untouched, a future uncharted. The dazzling white expanse before him seemed to mirror what his life had become since Maddie had taken up residence in his heart. A fresh start, an invitation to rewrite what had been cold and empty and paint it with warmth instead.
He had never cared for winter before, always finding it a dreary, slushy nuisance with its biting winds and damp chill. Yet now, standing here in this crystalline morning, it was as though the seasonitself had shifted. The snowflakes looked less like a burden to trudge through and more like tiny miracles scattered across the earth, delicate and fleeting. Everything felt different because of her.
Maddie had transformed the bitter into something bright.
His heart beat a little harder as he exhaled, fogging the glass. Like this snow, his future was untouched, unspoiled, and full of potential. And she, this impossible woman, had changed him in ways he hadn’t even realized he needed. Maddie had changed his heart.
The pristine silence outside mirrored the stirrings in his chest, fragile yet brimming with something beautiful. His jaw tightened, the faintest lift curling the corner of his mouth as his eyes wandered… then caught. His gaze snagged not on the snow or the glistening trees but on something far more captivating.
It was Maddie, her dark-green cloak standing vivid against the canvas of white.
His breath hitched as his fingers flexed against the window frame. She moved with ease, her scarf slightly askew, the wind toying with its ends like a playful conspirator. She turned, laughing, the sound too far to hear but impossible not to imagine. That laugh had haunted his dreams, warm and unrestrained, the echo of it still tugging at his senses.
But she wasn’t alone.
A sharp twist jerked through his chest when his eyes followed her companions. Ashley. Thomas. And a blackguard.
The Duke of Paisley.
Sebastian simply loathed the man.
It wasn’t just the impeccable tailoring or the air of effortless charm the duke carried like a birthright—it was the history. The kind of man Paisley had always been. The kind of man everyone pretended he wasn’t. Refined on the outside, yes. Polished to a fault. But beneath the sheen of nobility lurked a predator with a practiced smile. And everyone knew it. They all knew it.
And still, there he was, standing beside Maddie like he belonged.
A bitter taste rose in Sebastian’s throat, the kind that came when one knew he was watching something wrong unfold and yet felt powerless to stop it. The duke leaned a fraction closer, too close. Maddie tilted her head toward him, laughing, her eyes sparkling with some secret delight. She swayed as though the moment had carved out a world just for the two of them.
Sebastian’s breath stalled, trapped in his lungs like a held confession. His fingers curled into fists at his sides, blunt nails biting into his palms. That laugh, that free, sun-drenched laugh, he had earned that. He had watched her bloom into it, one day, one stubborn smile at a time. And now she gave it away so easily to someone who had no right to it.
He knew, logically, that she didn’t belong to him. That no one owned a moment like that, let alone a woman like Maddie. But logic had never stood a chance against the look in her eyes when she smiled up at Paisley.
