His Christmas Match (A Gentleman's Guide to Once Upon a Time) (20 page)

Before
she could form another thought, her eyes grew wide and she shouted. “Take
cover!”

Sixteen

Noah
turned at Miss Valentine’s yell just in time to see four snow balls flying in
their direction.
 
One struck Broadridge
on the shoulder; Miss Valentine deftly moved away from one aimed at her which
left Lady Jillian unprotected.
 
The ball
hit Lady Jillian squarely in the chest.

Lady
Jillian’s mouth popped open in horror, her body stiffened, and she simply stood
there. Her hands were shaking out to the sides, and she sputtered something
incoherent as if she didn’t know what to do.
 
“How dare they?” She finally cried.
 
“Don’t they know how to behave any better?”

Noah
did his best not to laugh, but the rage mixed with fear on Lady Jillian’s face
was rather comical.

“I
will see that you are punished!” She yelled toward where the snowballs had come
from. She turned to Noah and Miss Valentine. “They should be in the schoolroom
with their governess and tutors learning how to be gentlemen.
 
You would expect such behavior from street
urchins,” she insisted when glancing at Miss Valentine “but not the son of a
lord.”

Miss
Valentine stiffened at Lady Jillian’s words but said nothing.
 

“They
were just having a bit of fun,” Noah insisted.
 
Though he agreed the children should not have thrown snowballs at the
adult guests, he was rather glad they did. It was the first break in Lady
Jillian’s restrained and rigid composure, and he was rather glad to see that
she had an emotion.

The
door opened, and Lady Meadows stepped outside. “Oh dear, Lady Jillian, I am so
sorry.”

Lady
Jillian wheeled on Lady Meadows.
 
“Those
children,” she hissed, “are nothing but brats. Perhaps you should see about
better instructors for them if they are allowed to run wild.”

Lady
Meadow’s eyes grew wide, and she took a step back. “I am sorry,” she said
slowly. “I will see that they are punished.” She glanced at Noah, Lord
Broadridge, and Miss Valentine. “Was anyone else struck?”

“Miss
Valentine,” Broadridge answered in a clipped voice.

Lady
Meadows looked at her with concerned. “Were you injured?”

An
impish smile formed on her lips. “By a snowball?” she chuckled, “no, I am
unharmed.”

Lady
Meadows sighed, and her shoulders relaxed.
 
“Still, I will see that the boys are made to apologize and determine
what form of punishment they deserve.”

“A
switch perhaps,” Lady Jillian muttered on her breath.

Noah
sliced Lady Jillian a look. Not only would she probably never allow her
children to play, but apparently she would take a switch to them if they
misbehaved.
 
The boys shouldn’t have
thrown snowballs at the adults, but Lady Jillian was over reacting.

Miss
Valentine was looking into the woods from where the snowballs had come and bent
down and scooped snow up in her glove and began patting it.
 

A
smile pulled at his lips.
 
“Perhaps you
should allow Miss Valentine and me to teach them a lesson.”

Miss
Valentine’s eyes narrowed conspiratorially and a wicked smile formed on her
lips.
 

Lady
Jillian looked to Miss Valentine and then the snowball she held and back to
Noah. “Lord Felding, you cannot be serious and intend to engage in a snowball
fight,” she said in a tone that would make any haughty duchess proud.

“I
am very serious, Lady Jillian.” He looked at Broadridge whose eyebrows were
raised, eyes wide, and mouth pinched as if he were appalled at the idea.

“What
say you Broadridge?”

“I
think not,” he sniffed.
 

The
gentleman was worthless, and Noah turned back to Lady Meadows. “Do you mind?”

She
laughed.
 
“I believe it is exactly what
they deserve.”

Noah
knew he would have her blessing but thought to gain permission first.
 

“You
aren’t actually going to go after them?” Lady Jillian demanded.

He
hitched a brow.
 
“I intend to do exactly
that.”

“Well,
I shall await you inside.” Her chin lifted, and Lady Jillian strode for the
door with Broadridge following close behind.
 
Demetrius rushed out just as they reached the house.
 
“Your sister is unharmed,” Broadridge
informed him coolly.

“Oh,
I am sure she is,” he answered without concern. “However, I anticipate there
will be a fight and am determined not to be left out.”

Noah
noticed for the first time that Demetrius had on his great coat and
gloves.
 
Behind him he could see Penelope
standing at the window grinning at them. Had she not been ill yesterday, she
would be out here as well.
 

“Why?”
Lady Jillian asked somewhat confused.
 
“Nobody threw a snowball at you.”
 

Did
the lady have no sense of fun?

“I
must defend my sister,” Demetrius answered with authority and seriousness.

Lady
Jillian turned back to Noah.
 
“If Mr.
Valentine is going to punish the boys for his sister, why don’t you come inside
with us?”

The
sweet yet cold smile was back on her lips as if she hadn’t been screaming and
suggesting switches a few moments earlier.

“While
I will allow Demetrius to defend Miss Valentine’s honor…”

Lady
Jillian brightened “You mean to defend mine?”

Noah
glanced quickly at Broadridge who was inching closer to the door.
 
“That is your brother’s duty.”
 
He focused back on Lady Jillian.
 
“As the boys also threw at me, I intend to
exact some revenge.”

Lady
Jillian pursed her lips, and her nostrils flared before Lady Jillian turned on
her heal marched through the door her brother had opened.
 

He
probably shouldn’t have been so rude, but perhaps it will lessen her attachment
to him.
 

Noah
joined Miss Valentine and her brother at the edge of the snow-covered
terrace.
 
They were looking toward the
woods.
 
“Do you know where they have
gone?”

Without
making any indication or gesturing with her head, Miss Valentine said, “They
are off to your right behind the bushes. I was able to watch as they slipped
behind trees.”

“Do
we have a plan of attack?” Demetrius asked.

Miss
Valentine let the snowball drop and sighed. “Let them think we gave up.”

The
three of them stood in discussion quietly as if they had dismissed the
children.
 
Noah pointed in the opposite
direction of where the boys were.
 
Demetrius nodded to the stables, and they
began talking about horses.
 
Miss
Valentine appeared to be listening, but she continued to scan the woods
whispering on occasion the movement of the boys.

“I
will show you my mare,” Demetrius said loudly.
 
“She is a beauty.”

He
turned toward the stables, and Noah offered his arm to Miss Valentine.
 
She lifted the hem of her skirt and daintily
followed him through the snow after they left the path.
 
Once they were out of sight of the children,
they stopped.

“They
are close to the building. I can see through the woods.”

“The
orangery,” Noah confirmed.

“If
we circle and come up from behind, we will surprise them.”

The
three nodded and silently slinked off around the far side of the stables and
into the woods.
 
As they went, they
gathered snow. Demetrius held out his arm and Miss Valentine and Noah formed
snowballs and piled them on top of each other.
 
By the time they reached the lads, there were a dozen ready to be
thrown.

As
they came close to the boys from behind, the trio ducked behind a larger bush,
lifted the snow balls, and took aim. The first four hit their targets with
deadly accuracy, and the boys yelled and scattered.
 
Noah and Miss Valentine each scooped up a
snowball for each hand and took off after them.
 
There were only three adults to the four boys, and they opted to let the
youngest be while they pursued a target.
 
The boys darted behind trees and fired back causing the adults to stop
and duck.

* * *

Rosalind
took cover behind an outcropping of rocks.
 
Her heart thumped from the exertion, and she couldn’t remember the last
time she felt this invigorated. How long had it been since she was engaged in a
snowball fight? It had to have been at least ten years ago if not more.
 
She had forgotten how much fun it was.
 
As a child, her siblings, Felding, and his
sisters had similar fights and when they finally tired, they would wander into
the house where the cook set them up with biscuits and chocolate. She smiled at
the fond memories.
 
When her brothers
went off to school, they engaged in play far less. She had looked forward to
every time they returned home for a holiday.

She
glanced around to determine her location. She was on the far end of the
orangery, and the boys were not much further ahead of them.
 
Her shelter of rocks, more like small
boulders, was out of place in this setting.
 
The tree line thinned to her right, and she could almost see the
Meadows’ manor house situated on a small incline.
 
She followed the path with her eyes, or what
she determined to be a path, past the boulders and to the building.
 
It must be the pathway from the house to the
orangery, and the rocks that currently sheltered her from the snowballs of the
boys were probably decoration.
 

Rosalind
turned and went up on her knees glancing to where the boys had run. A snowball
whizzed past her head, and she ducked quickly.
 
Demetrius had gone around the other side of the orangery, and she
anticipated he would come upon the boys from a different direction. At the
moment, they seemed to be focused only on her.
 
She settled her back against the rocks and began forming more snowballs.
No doubt they thought to get the best of a mere girl. Well, she would show them
a thing or two.

Felding
darted from a tree and dove for cover stopping at her booted feet.
 
More snowballs flew as one hit his exposed
leg.
 
He drew himself up and crawled to
her side until his back rested against the rocks beside Rosalind.
 
He turned to her, and their eyes locked both
wearing matching grins on their faces.
 
He was breathing as hard as she had been earlier and continued to let
out puffs of white smoke in the cool air.
  

“The
boys are out of options,” Felding said and glanced around the rocks.
 
“One direction is a lake, which Meadows has
forbid them from going near until he determines if the ice is frozen enough to
be on, and the other is the back of the Meadows’ home.
 
The woods end, and they will be out in the
open.”

“Unless
they hold their position and wait for us to quit,” Rosalind said.

Felding
hitched a brow. “You aren’t giving up are you, Miss Valentine?”

“Hardly,
Lord Felding.” She chuckled.

His
blue eyes darkened as he studied her.
 

“Demetrius
went along the opposite side of the orangery,” she said.

Felding
gestured to the pile of snowballs Rosalind had managed to form and hitched an
eyebrow. “Always prepared.”

She
simply shrugged. Rarely had they been on the same team as children.
 
The girls usually defended themselves against
the boys who were always convinced they would win because they were older and
superior even if the girls outnumbered them.

Roseland
picked up a snowball and went up on her knees again to look out over the
rocks.
 
Her eyes narrowed as she tried to
see through the trees. A ball came at her from the left and she ducked quickly
losing her balance and fell onto Felding’s lap.

Startled,
she simply looked at him.
 
“My pardon.”

Instead
of helping her back to her position, Felding’s arm tightened about her
waist.
 

What
was he doing? She wasn’t hurt. “I should get up,” she whispered.

“Not
yet,” he said right before his lips descended on hers.

His
cool lips against hers had the opposite effect on her body as it warmed from
the inside.