“About the fan,” Avery said, turning to him. “We really need to talk about it.”
Walker scanned the room again and stiffened.
“I appreciate the gesture,” Avery went on, “but…” She trailed off to follow his gaze, since he was no longer listening to her.
Walker couldn’t help it, because he’d found Sue. She’d just entered the ballroom from the front hall, dressed in a neat navy-blue skirt and blazer with a pale-blue blouse buttoned up to the top. Her straight black hair was done in one long braid down her back, glints of silver running through it like decorative thread.
She wasn’t alone. Beside her walked another, taller woman, with the straight, dark hair of his people, high cheekbones, a full, curved mouth and sharp eyes that missed nothing, just as he remembered them. A woman Walker hadn’t seen in years.
Elizabeth Blaine.
His promised bride.
And now Avery had caught sight of her, too.
“Who’s that with Sue?” Avery asked, but her stomach tightened, and she had an awful feeling she didn’t want to know the answer to her question. Sue wouldn’t have brought any old last-minute guest to Win and Angus’s wedding.
That was the woman Walker was supposed to marry—it had to be. The reason he’d asked her to give him one more day.
Avery had known something had to happen before he proposed to her tomorrow, but she’d never expected this.
Walker looked surprised, too.
Maybe he’d forgotten his would-be bride was so beautiful.
Tall, regal, with straight dark hair that framed expressive dark eyes, her heritage clear in her features, her pride evident in her bearing, the newcomer was everything Avery wasn’t, and she fought a sudden urge to take Walker’s hand and remind him of what he’d said that morning—that he wanted to be with her—because surely one look at the woman with Sue would make him forget everything else.
In vain she reminded herself of Walker’s intensity as he’d promised to propose to her. The way he’d looked at her like he wanted to kiss her, hold her—do so much more.
Because now he was looking at the newcomer, and she was a woman made for him. A match in every way. She was as beautiful as he was handsome, had as much presence as he did, shared his heritage—and Sue’s affection, evidently. Walker’s grandmother oozed satisfaction.
No… triumph. That was the word for it.
Now Avery understood why Sue had never approved of her for Walker.
“Stay here,” he commanded and took off across the room before she could say a word, shouldering his way through tight knots of people in his hurry to greet his guests.
Without thinking, Avery followed as swiftly as she could, the long skirts of her Regency gown hampering her. She was desperate to know what was going on. Had to hear what Walker would say to the newcomer. She trusted him—when he’d said he wanted to marry her, she knew he’d meant it.
He wasn’t the kind of man to lie.
But how could she compare to this woman?
“Who’s that with Sue?” Riley intercepted her halfway across the ballroom. Avery kept going, but Riley fell in behind her, holding a hand over her barely-rounded belly as if to protect her unborn child.
“She’s the one. The woman Walker’s promised to,” Avery hissed over her shoulder. He hadn’t said as much, but who else could she be?
“Are you sure?” Riley lifted her head to get a better look. “Wouldn’t Walker have told you she was coming?”
“I don’t know.” Her heart beat hard, and she was finding it difficult to breathe. She couldn’t say why she was panicking, except she’d thought she’d found a happily-ever-after once before. Thought she’d been on her way to the altar.
She’d been wrong.
Riley linked arms with her, and they pressed forward. “He doesn’t seem happy about her being here.”
Avery craned her head to look again, her heart lifting with hope. Walker had reached the two women, but he was talking only to his grandmother, ignoring the beauty by her side, who was surveying him with a stony expression.
Riley was right, Walker looked angry rather than pleased to see her. She was being ridiculous. If Walker said he was going to marry her, he meant it. There was no way he’d play with her affections. Not Walker.
As she watched, he finally turned to the newcomer, and Avery’s stomach lurched again as some strong emotion flashed between them. Maybe not love, but—
Understanding. A deep kind of knowing that only years of proximity and connection could bring.
Avery stopped. Riley hovered near her. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to find out what they’re saying?”
Avery wasn’t sure she dared. She’d felt beautiful earlier taking part in Angus and Win’s wedding ceremony, sneaking glances across the aisle at Walker, who had stood up with the groom. Walker had looked so handsome in the Revolutionary War uniform the men always wore to Base Camp weddings.
He still did, but Avery felt frowsy in comparison to the cool beauty who stood by his side. Her deep-blue gown made Avery’s Regency dress seem silly. Her straight, dark hair fell in a perfect curtain, not a strand out of place, while Avery’s had gone frizzy in the unusual heat.
And that look they’d exchanged—
Avery didn’t know Walker half as well as this woman obviously did.
“Come on. Let’s get to the bottom of this.” Riley tugged Avery forward determinedly until they could hear what Walker and the women were saying. Avery’s hands were clammy, and she wiped them on her skirts, then wished she hadn’t.
“Aren’t you even going to say hello?”
That was Sue upbraiding her grandson for his lack of manners. Avery watched as Walker turned to face the newcomer again. “Elizabeth.”
“Walker.” Elizabeth looked him up and down, a trace of amusement touching her lips. “You’re looking very… revolutionary.”
Avery’s shoulder’s straightened. No one got to make fun of Walker—or of Base Camp’s traditions.
Walker hesitated, and Avery knew Elizabeth had flummoxed him.
