In this century? It was the second time she mentioned it as if she didn’t come from the one they were in. What did she mean? He watched her walk off. He didn’t call her back or go after her. He’d head home and find out who sent her the invitation. Who at the castle knew her? Commoners were rarely on the invitation list. So, why was Aria Darling’s name on it? Was the invitation to one or both of Gable’s children? Sarah and Elspeth were maids for his stepmother. The duchess sometimes invited them to her balls. Yes, that had to be it.
Miss Aria Darling was unusual.
He rode off and didn’t realize he was smiling until he was halfway home.
Harper was the first person he met once he left Ghost to his stable hand and returned to the castle.
“Where have you been?” she asked, following him into his rooms. Basically, the entire west wing was his.
“You know your father wants you to take your guard when you ride off.”
“I fought a war, but I need guardsmen to protect me now?”
“Even in war, you had a regiment at your back.” Harper defended his father.
At your back. An odd thing to say. Where had he heard it before? He stopped so suddenly, she walked into his back. He turned to stare at her. “She speaks like you.”
“Who?”
“The woman staying with the Gables. Do you know who sent her an invitation to my stepmother’s ball?”
“Are you saying she received one?” Harper asked. “Who is she?”
“Aria Darling fromNewYorkCity.”
Harper looked as if she stopped breathing.
“A pretty name, I agree,” Gray told her, continuing through his rooms in the castle.
“Yes, it is,” Harper said. “Did you go out to find her?”
“Yes.”
“And did you?”
“Uh huh,” he replied, using her words.
“What happened?”
“We sparred,” he told her while she followed him into his bedchamber.
“You sparred with a woman?” Harper asked with a doubtful smirk.
“She was well-trained. She bested me.”
Harper stared at him, open-mouthed, when he turned to her.
“Harper?”
“Mmmh?” she mumbled.
“Are you fromNewYorkCity?”
She snapped to attention and shook her head. “Just because someone speaks like another person doesn’t mean they came from the same place.”
“It usually does.”
“You speak like me,” she pointed out. “That doesn’t mean you come from the north, like me. You picked up my words and some of my accent because I raised you.”