That should have been his smile to return.
He had seen the layers she kept hidden, the loneliness tucked into her laughter. He had felt her shiver beneath his touch, had breathed in the trust when she leaned into him, uncertain but willing.
She was not simply kind or clever or beautiful. She was his beginning. The first note in a song he hadn’t known he was waiting to hear. And the thought of another man stepping into the melody before Sebastian had even sung a verse tore at something primal inside him.
He hadn’t meant to fall this hard. Hadn’t meant to hope.
But Maddie had ruined him for indulgence.
Now every brush of her hand, every shared glance slid inside him like a vow half-formed. And though he hadn’t spoken the words aloud yet, he carried them like a sack of bricks he could barely manage to hold: I would choose you, every time. In every life.
Andwasn’t that the heart of it?
She had made him want things. Dangerous, thrilling, terrifying things. A future. A partner. A love built on stolen smiles and stubborn arguments and shared silences.
He wanted her. Not just for tonight or tomorrow. He wanted her always.
And if she didn’t know that yet, she would.
A pulse of something darker—jealousy, fear, maybe both—tightened across his body. She had changed everything inside him, had turned winter into wonder, silence into longing, and now she was looking at another man like that?
He hated the heat curling beneath his skin. Hated that it made him feel like some petulant fool of a schoolboy, but he couldn’t help it. Because beneath the flash of jealousy was something far more treacherous.
No.
The word formed in his chest, low and forceful, a challenge to the scene unfolding before him. Maddie with the duke next to her was something he could not stomach. For years, he had lived as though it didn’t matter, as though women and marriage were games best avoided. But Maddie had rewritten whatever logic had bound him. This was different.
This was her.
Sebastian wrenched his gaze away from the window, his shoulders squaring as he made for the bellpull. His hand gripped it tightly, his knuckles whitening as he gave it a single, sharp tug. His valet would arrive soon, and that was good. Propriety, be forgotten. He wouldn’t stand idly by while the duke attempted to charm Maddie in the snow.
He dressed quickly, ignoring the stiff chill of the room. Every button, every lace, every deliberate movement seemed charged with purpose. He wasn’t a man prone to the reckless indulgence of passion, but perhaps Maddie had changed that, too.
Because if this fresh snow outside was the promise of a new future,he wouldn’t allow another man to cross it before him. Maddie belonged to herself, of course, but Sebastian vowed to make clear where he stood. She deserved nothing less than his heart laid bare.
His boots hit the hall without a moment’s hesitation. Whatever unspoken war was to unfold in the snow below, Sebastian would make sure this morning belonged to him and Maddie, untouched and uncharted.
With me.
*
Maddie accompanied Ashleyin the snow, her boots crunching lightly against the frosty ground as servants bustled back and forth, readying the sleds for their morning ride. She pulled her cloak tighter around her, but the chill seemed determined to find its way through. Or maybe something else entirely made her shiver, something that had to do with the fourth window on the second floor. Or was it the fifth?
She squinted up at the grand castle again, trying to remember exactly which one was his. It had seemed so obvious last night. Surely, it had to be the one with the heavy blue curtains. Or perhaps the one slightly to the left…
“Maddie?” Ashley’s voice sliced through her thoughts. “What are you doing? You’ve been staring up at the windows like you expect something to fly out of them.”
“What? Nothing,” Maddie said, blinking quickly. “Good morning. Lovely weather for sleighs, isn’t it?”
Ashley raised a skeptical brow. “Lovely weather for frostbite, more like. Are you certain you’re all right? You’ve been squinting at the eaves for a solid five minutes.”
“I was… I thought I saw movement up there.” Maddie’s gaze darted upward again, frustration prickling. By now she couldn’t be sure if it was the third window, the fourth, or if she had imagined the entire idea and none of them were Sebastian’s at all.
Before she could reassess for the hundredth time, the Duke of Paisley’s clipped tones interrupted. “Ah, the sleds are nearly ready!” He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, surveying the scene like a general inspecting his troops. Though with all the air of command, Maddie noted, he hadn’t so much as lifted a finger to help, unlike Thomas, who was busy adjusting harnesses and checking blankets. There was just something about this man… she couldn’t quite place it, but all the grandness surrounding him had long since disappeared. He was not a good man. But Maddie would smile, keep up appearances, and not cause a scene while he was at the castle.
“Maddie!” Thomas called from the front of the nearest sleigh, his breath visible in the crisp air. “This one’s ready!”
“Excellent.” Paisley turned toward Ashley but then paused, his sharp gray eyes flicking to Maddie instead. “Miss Madeleine, I believe it would be most appropriate for us to share this sleigh. Don’t you agree?”
