Jane Goodger by A Christmas Waltz Page B

her.
    “Can’t say.”
    But when Amelia’s eyes welled with tears, the woman’s face softened almost imperceptibly. “Probably out front in the store.”
    “Thank you.” Amelia dashed away the tears and hurried toward the store, praying Dulce was lying about Carson disappearing. It couldn’t be true. Couldn’t. He’d formally proposed. He’d asked her brother’s permission. Please, please be here. Let this all be a bad dream. Please.
    But the minute she walked through the shop’s back door and Boone looked up to see her, she knew. “He’s gone,” she said, her voice dead.
    Boone gave her a long stare, then simply nodded.
    Amelia slumped against the wall, and Boone took a step toward her as if fearing she was going to faint. She held up a hand to stop him. “I’m fine,” she lied. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the pity in his face. She didn’t even feel surprised, really. It was more a sense of the inevitable, as if she’d known all along that her dreams would never come true.
    How many times had she done this to herself, created a fantasy life that could never match reality? She’d spent her childhood, alone in a dreary manor, dreaming of a family that, one by one, had died and left her. Why, after a lifetime of failed dreams, should she start believing they’d come true now?
    Finally, she said, her eyes still closed, “Did he leave a note?”
    “Not that I saw.”
    “Then how do you know he’s gone? He could be just…” She tried to think of a scenario that would justify a man not being around for his fiancée who’d just traveled halfway across the world to see him, and could not. “I can’t believe it.” But she could. She did.
    Amelia pushed herself away from the wall and walked to the counter, where Boone stood looking at her like she was some abandoned orphan, which was exactly what she was. She hugged her arms around herself, feeling completely lost and more frightened than she’d been in a long time. Not since she’d awoken from being so very sick, only to find that her mother and father were both dead, had she felt this completely bereft. “Did he really take your money?”
    “He sure did.”
    “I’m so sorry. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t…” She stopped because her throat closed up and she didn’t want to cry in front of this man again. She’d already done that once, which was unforgivable and completely ill-mannered. Instead, she forced a smile. “I’ll go home, then. It will be as if I was never here. I’ll just pack my things and be gone as soon as the train comes by. When is it next due?”
    “Two days.”
    She’d had no idea the train didn’t come by daily. The thought of staying in his place for even that long was almost beyond bearing. She wished she could blink her eyes and be home at Meremont with her brother, and everything could go back the way it had been before she’d turned into such a foolish, ridiculous child. “Can you put up with me for two days, or would you like me to go to the hotel?” she asked pleasantly, ignoring the fact that her voice was shaking, that her entire body was shaking.
    “You can stay here,” Boone said, almost angrily. Amelia was perceptive enough to know he was angry with his brother and not her.
    “Well, then. It was a lovely visit and I’ll try to keep out of your way for the next two days.”
    The two were distracted when the bell above the shop’s door jingled loudly and a woman came in. It was difficult not to stare at her, and Amelia used all her proper upbringing not to. The woman darted in, as if she were being chased. She wore a large, floppy straw hat and had a colorful bandana over most of her face. What Amelia could see of it was pockmarked and scarred, and it was clear that something, not disease, had marred her terribly. She looked at Boone to gauge his reaction, and was completely stunned. He was smiling.
    And God, he was beautiful when he smiled.
    “Julia. Good morning.”
    The