Page 66 of Once Upon A Bear

“I wouldn’t do that,” he assured her. “If something is important to you, then it’s important to me. And as much as I’m not worried about it, I recognize that you are. So we’ll figure it out together. I promise. You don’t have to face this on your own.”

There was a lump in her throat that wouldn’t go away, because for the first time, she didn’t feel quite so alone.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I have a question,” he said, stroking her palm with his thumb, which was incredibly distracting. “May I officially court you? Because you are the best thing in my life, and I don’t want to lose that. And I certainly don’t want you running away from me and my family again,” he teased.

“I wasn’t running away from you,” she protested. “I was just leaving the ball.”

He lifted a brow. “You left without telling me goodbye,” he pointed out.

Guinevere’s cheeks colored. “Perhaps I did leave hastily,” she admitted.

“Perhaps,” he mimicked in a high-pitched voice. “You ran away.”

“I did no such thing,” she teased, her cheeks flushing pink.

Gideon smirked. “Is that a yes?”

“Yes,” Guinevere said, the word spilling out far more easily than it ought to.

“Will you come back with me tonight?” he asked. “I know it’s late, but you can spend the night in a guest room, if you’d like. I think my mother, Sophia, and Beatrice might string me up by my ankles if I returned without you.”

She grinned, because she had no doubt that Beatrice was capable of doing exactly that, and even if she wouldn’t, Alexander absolutely would—and would probably take great enjoyment in doing so. “I suppose we can’t have that.”

She got to her feet.

“And there’s no need to bring anything, unless you’d like to,” Gideon said. “Whatever you need, we will have.”

As much as she believed him, Guinevere didn’t wish to be without a few things. So she quickly gathered a dress for tomorrow and her satchel and threw them over her shoulder, rinsing out the tea mugs while Gideon banked the fire.

“Are you ready, miss?” he asked, offering his arm. “May I escort you home?”

“It’s your home, not mine,” she pointed out.

“We could change that,” he teased—then quickly backtracked. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

She linked her arm through his and smiled up at him. “We can figure it out together,” she said.

And they would. She had no doubt.

Off they went, the moon providing light for their way as they walked hand in hand through the woods. When they passed his den, Gideon paused, turning to face it.

“I am so thankful that you saved me,” he whispered, turning to her.

Guinevere instinctively wrapped her arms around him. He took a deep breath and held her tightly.

“You saved yourself,” she said. “I only helped.”

“We saved me together,” he said with finality.

“I suppose we did.”

“And I look forward to doing things together for a long time,” Gideon said.

Even as her cheeks flushed, Guinevere agreed. She looked forward to that, too.

Chapter twenty-six