Page 62 of Once Upon A Bear

It didn’t matter that since she’d gotten to know him, she didn’t want to just fix him and then leave him behind, thrust him out of her life like she did with everyone else she healed.

There was something about Gideon that called to her, that made her feel warm and safe, that made her dare to believe that she could have more than she’d ever dreamed.

But he was at a ball, dancing with everyone else, and he probably hadn’t even realized she was gone. And even as the rational side of her hoped that he never would, she desperately wished that he would notice her absence and come after her.

Because if he did, perhaps she could believe that there could be something between the two of them, no matter how much she knew that there shouldn’t be.

Chapter twenty-four

Gideon

Where had she gone?

Gideon scanned the crowd for Guinevere, but he couldn’t find her anywhere. He’d finally managed to get away from the bevy of young ladies hoping to marry a Rendon brother and was hoping to dance with Guinevere at least once more before the evening came to an end. But she was gone, and he had no idea where.

He grabbed Kellan’s wrist as his brother walked past him and said, “Have you seen where she went?”

“Who?” Kellan asked.

“Guinevere,” Gideon said, trying not to let the frustration leak into his voice. How did his brother not know who he was talking about?

His brother had a knowing look in his eye, and Gideon glared.

He didn’t have patience for this right now. Guinevere was the only girl he’d had eyes for all evening, no matter how many his mother, Kellan, and the other mothers in the room had thrown at him, and she was gone.

“I don’t know,” Kellan said with a shrug. “I didn’t see her leave, but I saw her talking to Sophia. You could ask her if she knows.”

As yet another hopeful mama approached him, Gideon grimaced and hurried away before he could be caught up again. He had to find Guinevere.

He made another lap of the ballroom, asking each of his family members if they’d seen where she’d gone. None of them had. Sophia said she’d been talking to Caspian. His mother was chatting with the Duchess while Liliana played with her daughters, twirling in circles in the corner. Kellan was oblivious, and his father was in his study with several other gentlemen, having a drink away from the hubbub.

None of them knew where Guinevere had gone.

She must have left. Or she was doing an incredibly good job of hiding from him.

He was scanning the ballroom one last time, hoping to find her honey-colored hair in the crowd, when he ran into someone.

“Sorry,” he exclaimed as he stumbled back, turning to see Alexander’s bemused face.

“You’re looking for Guinevere,” Alexander said.

He should have gone to Alexander first. “I am.”

“You won’t find her,” Alexander said with a shrug. “She told Beatrice she was leaving.”

Gideon tried to think what had happened that might have made her leave. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“Yes,” Alexander said simply.

Gideon looked at him, eyebrows raised, waiting for the man to elaborate. Must he be so confusing?

“You’re not chasing after her,” Alexander said with a grin, as Beatrice arrived next to him and tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow.

That was why she’d left?

“She thinks she doesn’t belong here,” Beatrice said softly.

“She said that?” Gideon asked.