Page 28 of A Wolf for Winter

“I have a thing for underdogs. But take that soccer ball outside, okay? I’ll give you all another package of cookies when you’re done playing, but only if you keep that ball outside. Deal?”

“Deal!” He clutched both cookies and ball to his chest, realized he couldn’t hug her with his arms full, so he just rushed forward and leaned against her leg. “Thanks, Mistress Lilac!”

He dashed to join his friends, the other boys and his little sister crowding around to congratulate him on not dying after encountering a Hawthorne. Sally had cookie crumbs sticking to her cheeks as she rushed out of the Hall to finish their game.

The smile on Lilac’s face didn’t last. At the sight of all the booths now full of vendors proudly displaying their wares, and the knowledge that she couldn’t join them, her heart sank back down into her toes.

She was in the middle of contemplating how she was going to disappear upstairs when she caught Boar’s warning side-eye. No Hawthorne was allowed to leave the Faire. And not because they were the family’s representatives, but because of the Rule of Three. If any hinkery arose, their power was stronger when used together.

And she’d truly lost her chance to escape, anyway.

The village’s bachelors had found the jewel of the Hawthorne crown and were flocking her way.

Beyond them, Boar signaled for her to smile.

And so begins a week of smiling hell.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

To her surprise, Rose reached Lilac before the bachelors did.

“What are you doing here?” Lilac whispered past the smile plastered on her face. By the Green Mother, every muscle keeping her lips spread in that gesture of friendliness were already aching and threatening mutiny. “You’re supposed to be at the refreshment table.”

“I told you,” Rose whispered back. “I’m here to find my mountain man. These guys can’t all be here for you.”

“Boar’s going to blame me and—”

“And would you rather be alone? Or would you rather have a wing-woman? You’ve told me for years how insufferable you find all this.”

“Fine.” Though it was a huffed admission, Lilac was glad for her sister’s support. Rose put her back against hers, like they were facing off against the world together. When she found Lilac’s hand, Lilac squeezed her sister back. “Thanks.” Maybe this would be fun this year, watching all the suitors falter against Hurricane Rose’s barrage of a personality.

“So?” she murmured.

“I spy with my little eye,” Rose began, “someone tall . . ..”

That narrowed it down only slightly.

“Handsome . . ..”

Again, a minor winnowing.

“Delightfully muscular.”

Lilac flushed at the shameless lust in her sister’s voice.

“Blond . . ..”

Green Mother help me, she groaned inwardly. She’s describing Allen.

The caretaker was headed straight for them, after all. And (she was still loath to admit) looking quite spectacular in the outfit the Hall had seen to provide him with—the burgundy vest accented both his broad shoulders and his trim waist and somehow turned his blond hair a richer gold. Little H’s and holly sprigs were embroidered in a matching gold thread along the lapels and hem.

Catching her watching him, he winked in that infuriatingly teasing way of his. Like he didn’t obviously know she disliked him.

She gave one sculpted eyebrow an imperious arch in reply when the back of the bachelor pack prevented him from coming any further. She wasn’t going to help him get through, not even if it was on official Hawthorne business, that’s for sure. If he needed to talk to them, he’d have to muscle his way forward.

Some traitorous part of her wished he would, for he was just as Rose was describing, even the “roguishly charming” part. Lilac would flat-out reject him, of course, for what he’d done last night, but she realized she wanted him to pursue her. Probably because he was the only man who had met her and hadn’t.

“With blue eyes,” Rose finished.