A Christmas Bride / A Christmas Beau (36 page)

He had never waltzed with her before. The waltz had come into fashion since their betrothal. But she danced it as well and as daintily as she had used to dance the quadrille or the minuet.

She looked up to his chin. “I want to thank you for letting my children ride your horse this afternoon, my lord,” she said. “You gave them a great deal of pleasure.”

“I am fond of children,” he said, and watched her raise her eyes briefly to his.

Perhaps she did not believe him. Probably she did not. And of course he had not been motivated chiefly by his love for children that afternoon, though he had liked the boy’s enthusiasm and the girl’s quiet trust.

What had he done wrong? he wondered as he had wondered hundreds—thousands—of times years before. Why had she preferred Easton to him? He had had the rank and the wealth and the prospects. It was true that Easton had been good-looking and charming with the ladies. But the man had also had a reputation as something of a rake.

Probably that had been it, he had concluded long ago. Perhaps it had been the eternal attraction of the rake. He on the other hand had always behaved toward her with perfect decorum and restraint. Perhaps she would have liked him better if he had displayed his feelings on occasion. But he had thought a display of feelings inappropriate before their wedding night. A night that had never come. Besides, he had never been easy with women of his own class.

“You are planning to make London your home?” he asked.

“For a while,” she said.

“You are joining your husband’s family for Christmas?” he asked.

She hesitated. “No,” she said. “We are going to be quiet here alone for a change. My parents went to Millicent’s in Scotland, but I decided that my daughter is too young for the lengthy journey. We are not going to stay with Andrew’s family this year.”

“Ah,” he said. “London can be sparsely populated and a little lonely at Christmas.”

“I have two young children and a sister-in-law,” she said. “We will not be lonely.”

That was the end of their conversation. He had found out what he wanted to know, and he had no wish to entertain her. He watched her as they waltzed, not taking his eyes from her face, totally unconcerned by the attention he must be drawing from the other guests—or by the embarrassment he must be causing her.

She remained calm, though he could feel a certain tightening of muscles beneath his hand at her waist.

Had she ever regretted jilting him? he wondered. Once the stars had faded from her eyes and she had realized—as she surely must have done—what kind of man she had married, had she remained in love with him, loyal to the feelings that had sent her running guiltily to his arms?

Or did she sometimes regret the man she had wronged? He supposed the answer depended upon whether she had been hostile to him or merely indifferent. Perhaps she had been hostile. Having grown up in a womanless home, he had never learned that easy charm with women that seemed to come so easily to other men. Perhaps she had actively disliked him. Perhaps she had never for one moment regretted her decision. His jaw tightened and his lips thinned.

Toward the end of the waltz he thought that she would open the conversation again. She drew breath and looked
up resolutely into his eyes. But whatever words she planned to say were not spoken after all. She let out the breath through her mouth and continued to look into his eyes as he gazed steadily back. And finally her own wavered and fell.

He felt almost like laughing. But it was far too early to gloat. His revenge had scarcely begun yet.

“Thank you, my lord,” she said, smiling at his chin when he returned her to her group at the end of the set. “That was pleasant.”

“The pleasure was mine, ma’am,” he said, bowing to her as she lifted her hand from his arm.

And he sought out Lady Mumford, complimented her on the success of her ball, bade her good night, and left the house.

J
UDITH AWOKE THE
following morning when a little figure climbed onto her bed carefully so as not to wake her, and burrowed beneath the bedclothes beside her.

“Mm,” she said, reaching out a hand and ruffling auburn curls, “am I being an old sleepyhead?”

“Yes,” Kate said. “Aunt Amy is painting with Rupert and Nurse is busy, and I escaped.”

Judith chuckled. “Did you?” she said. “Have I slept the whole morning away?”

“Did you have fun, Mama?” the child asked.

Judith laughed again and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She sat up and stretched. Goodness, someone had been in and built up the fire without her even knowing.

“I had lots of fun,” she said. “I danced all night until I thought I must have blisters on every toe.” She turned and tucked the blankets under Kate’s chin. “Are you going to have a sleep?” she asked. “Shh.”

Kate chuckled and kicked the blankets away. She
bounded to her feet and scrambled off the bed. “We are going to the river tomorrow,” she said. “Aunt Amy said so. We can walk on it, Mama. It is all over ice.” And she was gone from the room.

Judith smiled and noted that the water in the pitcher on the washstand was warm. She must have been very deeply asleep. She supposed it was not surprising. She had still been awake when daylight broke and had quite resigned herself to a completely sleepless night. But as so often happens on such occasions, she had fallen asleep with the coming of day.

She had had fun indeed, she thought, her hand pausing as it poured water into the china basin. Fun! She could not recall a worse disaster of an evening.

Except that that was a ridiculous assessment. Claude had been attentive without being annoyingly so. She had mingled with ease and renewed some old acquaintances and made some new. She had danced every set except the one she had sat out with Colonel Hyde. It had been a wonderful evening. She had always loved dancing more than any other social activity.

And yet when she had come home and lain down, humming to herself, determined to remember only the gaiety and the successes, it had been he she had seen as soon as she closed her eyes. The Marquess of Denbigh, standing motionless and dark in the doorway of the ballroom for what had seemed hours and for what had probably been close to one—staring at her with that harsh angular face and those hooded gray eyes.

Why? Was he so outraged at her return to town and his domain? Was he trying to make her so uncomfortable that she would leave for the country without further delay? He had been trying to make her uncomfortable, she was convinced. She could not subscribe to Mrs. Summerberry’s assessment.

“Mrs. Easton,” that lady had said, tapping her on the
arm with her fan after he had left the ballroom not to return, “I do believe the marquess is still wearing the willow for you. Is there a chance that romance will blossom after all?”

Unfortunately, there had been other listeners, all of whom had turned interested eyes on Judith.

“Wearing the willow?” she had said with a laugh. “He never did. It was an arranged match, you know, and a mistake from the start. His feelings were no more engaged than mine. I believe he was just being civil dancing with me this evening, showing everyone that the past is in the past. And romance? I have experienced it once in my life and am now long past the age of such silliness.”

But he was not being civil. She had lied when she said that. She knew that he was being anything but civil. Apart from those few words they had exchanged at the very start, he had made no attempt whatsoever to make conversation, and she had been feeling too tense to do so. And yet he had not taken his eyes off her. She had known it though for most of the time she had not had the courage to look up into his eyes.

Had he been gazing at her because he was wearing the willow for her, as Mrs. Summerberry had put it? No. She knew the answer was no. There had been a deliberate intent to embarrass her, to discompose her.

He had almost succeeded. She had almost cracked at the end and had looked up at him, determined to confront him, to demand an explanation of his behavior. But she had looked into his eyes, those keen gray eyes over which his eyelids drooped incongruously, giving an impression of sleepiness to an expression that was far from sleepy, and she had lost her nerve.

She had suddenly been even more intensely aware than she had been since the start of the waltz of his physical presence, of his great height and that impression
of strength in his lean body that she was sure was no illusion, of some force—some quite unnameable force—that terrified her now even more than it had used to do.

For whereas eight years before she had considered him cold and unfeeling and had been afraid of being trapped in a marriage with a man she feared, now she could sense a very real animosity in him and felt like a weak victim being stalked by a bird of prey.

It was a foolish idea, a ridiculous idea. And yet, she thought as she rubbed a cloth hard over her face and neck, it had haunted her through what had remained of the night after she had arrived home. It had kept her from sleep.

At luncheon, which she and Amy took with the children, Judith announced that they would walk to St. James’s Park that afternoon for a change.

“And the river tomorrow,” she said. “We will see if it is safe to walk upon.”

J
UDITH WAS FEELING
pleased with herself when they arrived back from their walk in St. James’s. She could not be at all sure, of course, that the Marquess of Denbigh had ridden in Hyde Park that day, but if he had—and she had a strange feeling that he had—then he would have been foiled. He would have taken a lone and chilly ride for nothing.

She hoped that he had ridden there. Perhaps he would have realized by now that she could not so easily be made his victim.

And it was strange, she thought, repairing the damage made to her hair by her bonnet before going downstairs to the drawing room for tea, how she was assuming that the meeting in the park the afternoon before had been no accident. But how could it not have been? How could he have known?

The thought made her shiver. It was time for tea.

“We must buy some holly and ivy and other greenery,” Amy was saying to the children, who were also in the drawing room for tea, as had been their custom since arriving in town. “And how dreadful to be talking about buying when they have always been there for the gathering in the country. But never mind. And we will need some bows and bells and other decorations.”

“We are going to buy them?” Rupert asked.

Amy frowned. “We must make as many as possible,” she said. “It will be far more fun. There are boxes and boxes of decorations at Ammanlea. Here we must begin with nothing. But it will be fun, I promise you children. Perhaps we can even make a Nativity scene somehow.” She smiled brightly.

“Perhaps after we have been down to the river tomorrow,” Judith said, “we can go shopping and buy some length of ribbon to start making the bows and streamers. Shall we, Kate?”

The child’s eyes grew round with wonder.

“I still think Christmas is going to be dull with no one else to play with,” Rupert said dubiously.

Judith smiled determinedly. “We will play with one another,” she said. “And there will be so many good things to eat and only the four of us to eat them that we will all burst and never be able to play again.”

“We must sing carols while we make the decorations,” Amy said. “I wonder if we could go carol singing about the square, Judith. Do you think the people here would think we had quite lost our senses? I will miss going caroling more than anything else.”

Amy had a sweet voice and was always the most valued member of the carolers who traveled about the neighborhood at Ammanlea every Christmas. She would be missed that year.

“Perhaps,” Judith said, but was interrupted by the
appearance of her father’s butler, who had come into the room to announce the arrival of a gentleman below asking if he might call upon Mrs. Easton and Miss Easton.

“Upon me, too?” Amy said, brightening.

“The Marquess of Denbigh, ma’am,” the butler said, inclining his head stiffly.

“We are from home,” Judith said.

“Oh, famous,” Rupert said, jumping to his feet. “Perhaps he has come to give me another ride, Mama.”

“Riding,” Kate said, clapping her hands.

“Oh, how very civil of him,” Amy said. “Do show him up.” But she flushed and looked at her sister-in-law. “I am sorry. Judith?”

Judith felt rather as if someone had punched her in the ribs. “He is calling on both of us?” she asked. “Then please show him up, Mr. Barta.”

“Famous,” Rupert said. “I think he is top of the trees, Mama.”

Another of Maurice’s phrases.

Kate moved from her chair to sit on the stool at Judith’s feet. Judith stood.

“Good afternoon, my lord,” she said, clasping her hands before her when he entered the room.

Amy swept him a deep curtsy and beamed at him. “How very civil of you to call, my lord,” she said. “It is quite as cold outside today as it was yesterday, is it not?”

“It is indeed, ma’am,” he said. “But I am afraid I played coward today and called out my carriage.”

“Good afternoon, my lord,” Rupert said.

Kate half hid behind Judith’s skirt.

“Ah, the children are here, too,” the marquess said. “And good day to you, sir, and to the young lady who believes that she is invisible although I can clearly see two large eyes and some auburn curls.”

Kate chuckled and hid completely behind Judith.

“Won’t you be seated, my lord?” Judith said coolly.
“The tea tray arrived a mere few minutes before you. I have not even poured yet.”

“Then my timing is perfect,” he said, seating himself as Amy resumed her place. “I came to assure myself that you have recovered from the exertions of last night’s ball, ma’am.”

“Yes, I thank you,” Judith said. “It was a very pleasant evening.”

He looked penetratingly at her while she looked coolly back. She scorned to lower her eyes in her own drawing room.

“And to assure myself that you took no chill from your walk in the park yesterday, ma’am,” he said, turning his attention to Amy.

“Oh, no,” Amy said. “We walk every day, you know. And it is my opinion that it is fresh air and exercise that keeps a person healthy and free of chills. Huddling by a fire all day and every day is a quite unhealthy practice.”