Val cleared his throat. “I wished to be sure that you are well . . . and I . . .” Myrtle stared at him with those gigantic eyes; they were large circles. “And I . . .” He didn’t have the words. And in the end, Val dropped a bow. “I am so very glad you are. I should . . . see to the other passengers. If you would?” With that, he stalked off, leaving Myrtle speechless for the first time in all the time he’d known her, standing there and wishing he had the right words . . . for her.

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Her brother spoke with their family’s driver, Kinley.

Dallin had ridden like mad on horseback to reach her, he’d said, but at some point, the servant who’d been driving the carriage had caught up.

It was not her brother she watched, however.

Her gaze remained on Val’s retreating figure.

Val, who paused periodically to ask after the passengers, who nodded when he spoke. And the sight of him, ensuring the well-being of those strangers . . . It was impossible for Myrtle to love him any more.

Tears threatened.

That was why he’d come for her.

Because he’d wanted to be sure she reached her family without incident.

She’d intended to spare him that sense of responsibility, and now she thought about the terror that must have plagued him when he’d come upon the scene of the accident.

Finishing up his discussion with the driver, Dallin drew the door open and offered Myrtle a hand to help her inside.

She lingered, her gaze following Val as he offered his help to the people who’d been riding in the carriage with her when it hit an icy patch and careened off course.

He’d come for her.

And it should mean everything to Myrtle.

But it didn’t.

Because he’d not really come for her. He’d come to look after her. For if he had come for her, he’d be with her now, and she’d not be joining her brother inside their family’s carriage.

Myrtle willed Val to look back.

He did not, however.

Why should he? a voice taunted. He’s always been determined to see after you only as long as your family was gone. Now they’d returned.

Reluctantly, Myrtle let Dallin help her inside.

He followed, drawing the door shut behind them. “The chap is as strange and taciturn as they say,” he remarked as he rubbed his hands together.

That was what he’d say? “He is not strange,” she said sharply, glaring at her brother. “He is a good man. Honorable, and he is the one outside helping—”

She caught the glint in her brother’s eyes and made herself shut up.

Her cheeks flamed hot, and unable to meet that knowing stare, she looked away.

“Are we going to talk about it?”

She pulled her gaze from the window and stared blankly at her brother.