Saving Sabine

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Slowly, she opened the door that led out onto the balcony. Standing there wearing his white shirt buttoned up and his simple dark slacks, Connor seemed to be shivering. The air had a real chill to it. Instead of letting him in, she stepped out onto the balcony in front of him and closed the door behind her.

Swallowing nervously, she met his dark brown eyes for the first time in a long while.

Seeing his kind, crooked smile return to his mouth really made her know. It wasn’t just friendly banter between them.

“Why are you here?” she asked quietly. “You haven’t spoken to me in weeks!” She rubbed her arms to keep warm, silently wishing she’d just let him into her bedchamber. She silently cursed society norms.

“I know,” he said sadly, rolling his eyes. “I’ve been a right arse to ye. It’s just … I don’ know how to speak to ye like this. I’ve been very angry with ye for a while because ye … I don’ know. I had to see ye,” he stammered. Running a hand awkwardly through his curly, blond hair he looked at her with pain in his dark eyes.

Sabine folded her arms across her chest defensively. “Why?” she pressed.

His face looked like he’d just sucked on a lemon. His lips pursed and he squinted his eyes. “Sabine,” he sighed. “When ye spoke to me last, ye pushed me too far. I dinna like talking about my da’, it’s hard for me. Ye can’ understand because your da’ is exactly the kind of father ye deserve. Mine … well, he wasn’t. I snapped at ye, I though ye were being nosy and I dinna think it was any of your business. I was ready to talk to ye but then ye were courting that man,” he growled. “What do ye see in him?” he demanded to know, getting side tracked.

Sabine bit her lip, ashamed. “You’ll think I’m horrible,” she whispered.

“So ye don’ like him?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

She shook her head. “I don’t. I just felt like I couldn’t say ‘no’,” she admitted.

A small smile teased at his lips. “Good, he’s no’ very nice,” he told her. “He might be a gentlemen with a load of coin but he does no’ care for servants. It’s quite rude.”

“Why does it matter to you, Connor?” Sabine inquired. She was fishing for answers. He was standing on her balcony which meant he had climbed up the vines. Clearly he had reasons … something he needed to talk to her about.

He swallowed rather loudly. “It matters because I … I dinna like seeing ye with him. He touched your arm and kissed your cheek and it made me angry. I could no’ understand why ye chose him when we …” he trailed off, not finishing his sentence.

“When we what?” she prompted.

“It’s no’ my place,” he said quietly. His crossed his arms across his chest the same as she had.

Sabine let out an audible groan. “Can you forget about the fact that I’m the daughter of an Earl and you’re the stable hand for one minute?” she asked, exasperatedly. “Just speak your mind.”

Connor took a deep breath and met her eyes sharply. “Alright, I’ll be honest with ye,” he nodded.  “You’re on my mind … all the time,” he said slowly. Unfolding his arms, he took one of her little hands in his. “You’re the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morn, and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep. After I snapped at ye that last time we spoke I immediately regretted it. I was goin’ to apologise to ye but I heard ye were being courted by tha’ Mr Rochester so I thought I dinna stand a chance against him.