Page 58 of The Gambler Wagers Her Baron

“Before the children awaken.” She couldn’t bear to look him in the eyes.

“Very well.” His words sounded flippant to her, but his tone conveyed that things were not well at all.

“I will see to the children and depart for the evening.” Payton stood and started for the door, expecting the baron to stop her. To call for her to return. To command her to remain here, with him. To say or do…something before she crossed the threshold into the hall beyond.

But he remained silent. And still.

If this were how her mother’s entanglements ended, Payton would be happy to leave Damon behind. To hollow silence. The playacting that what had transpired between them had been forgettable and not worth mentioning. The feigned laughter and jesting from the dining hall.

With a sigh, Payton fled the study, keeping her steps measured and unhurried as she made her way to the stairs. The last thing she was willing to do—and she was willing to do many things—was allow the baron to know he’d hurt her as well as his children.

Chapter 18

Payton pulled the pins from her hair, allowing her gathered waves to hang freely down her back before she threw herself on the chaise in Marce’s gold and red office. Her long, mahogany curls trailed on the rug below where she lay, but she paid it no mind.

The room was startlingly empty without her eldest sister on her throne behind the feminine desk. How many times had Payton been summoned to this very room while Marce held court over her younger, impertinent, disobedient siblings? She’d been beckoned to attend her sister when she was caught pickpocketing with Ellie when they were only twelve. She’d been hauled into the room by Garrett when he found her cheating at cards at a dinner party. She’d been taken to task in this very room when Marce discovered her slipping into her upstairs window after a night wandering Covent Garden.

It all seemed a lifetime ago. And childish.

She’d been so contrary in her youth.

Difficult to believe that she’d changed so much since her arrival at Ashford Hall.

When had her actions begun to have such severe consequences? When had her words taken on such import? Her plans for her independence, her life to come, had developed since she’d moved out of Craven House. They’d become more real and encroaching, if that were even possible; as if she were only now coming to understand the gravity of her choices.

And why had the baron taken any interest in her?

He’d all but ignored her since their kiss, only joining her and the children for meals. Nothing more.

She scoffed at Damon’s earlier declaration. He planned to spend his evening away from Ashford Hall, as well. The man hadn’t spent so much as a single evening outside his townhouse in all the weeks she’d lived there. He rarely even left during the daytime, but he thought to go out tonight. But why even speak of it to her?

She ran her hands through her loose hair, her fingers tangling in the long waves, and she had to tug several times to free them.

Footsteps sounded in the hall, likely Mr. Curtis coming to collect her to return to the baron’s house. It was as they’d done over a dozen times since she’d taken the position as the Ashford governess, the only difference being that she knew that Damon would not be home when she returned.

Where could the man have gone?

The door to the office opened without a knock, and Payton twisted on the chaise, her head hanging off the side.

“What in heavens are you doing?” Her brother filled the open doorway.

From her vantage point, Garrett was upside down…the entire world topsy-turvy.

“Wallowing,” she offered. “You?”

“Hiding,” he mused, sinking onto the chaise beside her.

“I never thought I’d say this, let alone admit it to you. However,” she paused, shifting her head back onto the chaise, “I miss Marce…and Jude.”

“What of Samantha?” he jested.

Payton wrinkled her nose. “She can remain abroad with Ridgefeld.”

At that, Garrett chuckled, setting his hand on her outstretched legs. “Sam is a bit of an oddity, is she not?”

“We are all peculiar in our own way; however, she lacks Jude’s empathy.”

“What do you know of empathy?” he asked.