Gabe stared at her. “Get mad at you about what?”
“About being stupid and going riding by myself.” She could script what her father would say.You foolish girl. You could have died, and how would I explain that?
When she arrived home, her brother would shout at her as well, though his lecture would be born of genuine agitation for her well-being.Jesus Christ, Eve. How could you do this to me? I was worried sick.
What she couldn’t comprehend was why Gabe’s grim expression was slowly transforming into puzzlement. “I don’t know much about horseback riding. Are you never supposed to go alone?”
Again, there was a disconnect between his questioning words and the snappish tone. “No.” She’d gone on plenty of solitary rides. “I would have been fine, except for the rain.”
“Are you a riding novice?”
“No.”
“You’re a grown woman. Why would I yell at you?”
“Because I inconvenienced you.”
His brow relaxed, his tone gentling. “This is like the dress, isn’t it?”
She linked her cold fingers together. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Are you scared of me?”
Yes.She hadn’t been when she’d confronted him about his parentage, though he’d looked more ferocious and intimidating at that time than he did now. Adrenaline and excitement had taken her mind off of fear then. “A little.”
“Do you think I’ll hurt you?”
“Not physically, no.”
“Has anyone ever hurt you?”
“Not physically,” she whispered.
His lips pressed tight, and he looked pissed again. But she didn’t think it was directed at her. “So, here’s the thing. I’m really protective of my mom and sister. But they’d murder me if I so much as thought about chastising them for any decision they made. Besides, yelling’s not really my style. Yeah, maybe next time you might check the weather forecast before setting out on a ride, but I’ve done way stupider stuff than getting caught in a thunderstorm.”
“You can yell at me about eavesdropping on your conversation, if you like,” she said. If she was braced for a reckoning now, she might as well get it over with.
His lips kicked up. “Anything else I can shout at you about?”
Yes, but he didn’t know about Anne. “I am sorry I overheard you.”
He sighed deeply and looked into the fire. “I’m sorry too.”
“I swear I will never tell anyone about your secret,” she said, her voice low and intense.
“Your loyalty is to Livvy. I understand that.”
“Livvy has, evidently, lived her whole life without knowing about you. Running and telling her now wouldn’t help much, would it?”
He stared at her for a long moment, then huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “How about we table that discussion for tonight, Eve?”
“I would rather get it all over with right now.”
“I get that. But I’m seriously not going to yell at you. I promise, even if I stomp around and look mad, I don’t blame you or anything. This isn’t your fault. It’s the situation, and you had nothing to do with that.”
She inhaled, the relief making her light-headed. Each of her romantic relationships had ended with a single fight, because she’d feared a man’s anger too much.
It had made her feel weak and foolish, but her self-esteem was like a fragile, tiny bird. She couldn’t risk harsh words stripping it away.
