Christine Merrill – A Yuletide Invitation: The Mistletoe Wager / The Harlot's Daughter (страница 20)
Harry grinned to himself and swung again. ‘It is a dangerous business, using an axe.’
He glanced up at his wife’s friend, who had gone bone-white with cold and fear. Harry offered him the axe. ‘Here. You must try. For I expect Elise will wish you to learn the ways of this.’
Tremaine muttered low, under his breath, ‘If you think next year will find me chopping wood for the holiday, you are both quite mad. I have no property in the country, nor do I plan to acquire one. And I seriously doubt that I will be motivated to march through Hyde Park with a weapon in my hands, doing damage to the landscaping.’
‘Oh, Nicholas,’ Elise laughed. ‘What a droll idea.’
But Tremaine took the axe from Harry’s hands, and looked relieved to have disarmed him. Harry stepped back as the other man took a mighty swing at the oak, overbalanced, and fell on his seat in the snow.
‘Hmm. It does not seem that you have the hang of it yet. Best let me finish it after all.’ He retrieved the axe, and a few more chops and a stout push was all it took. There was a loud cracking noise, and he put out an arm to shield Elise. Tremaine scrambled to safety, away from the falling tree.
It crashed to the ground and they stared at the thing for a moment—Tremaine in disgust, and Elise with obvious satisfaction. Then Tremaine said, ‘I suppose now you will tell me that we must drag it back to the house?’
Elise giggled, and Harry said, ‘Oh, no. Of course not. This is still much too green to burn. This is the log for next year’s festivity. Some people save the cutting for Candlemas, but we have always done it on Christmas Eve morn. And this year it is my gift to you, Tremaine. You will need it next year, when you celebrate Christmas with Elise.’ He gestured to the enormous tree on the ground before them. ‘You can take the whole thing back with you when you return to London. The servants will take care of it in good time. They are just now bringing in last year’s log. We shall see it when we go back to the house.’
‘Mad.’ Tremaine stared at them in amazement. ‘You are both quite mad.’ Then he turned from them and stalked back to the house, sliding ahead of them on the downward slope.
Harry looked after him. ‘I do not think Tremaine appreciates my gift.’
Elise looked after him as well, trying to look stern, although a smile was playing around her lips. ‘That was horrible of you, you know. To drag the poor man out in weather like this. And so early in the morning. He abhors mornings.’
Harry tried to focus on the snow-covered back of the retreating man. Not on the beautiful woman at his side and what her smile might tell him about her intimate knowledge of Nicholas Tremaine’s morning routine. ‘A pity. For it is the most beautiful time of day. You still enjoy mornings, do you not? Or have your ways changed now that you are not with me?’
‘I still enjoy them,’ she admitted. ‘Although they are not so nice in the city as they are here. It is the best time to ride, though. For many are still sleeping from the night’s revelry, and the park is nearly empty.’
‘Oh.’ He tried not to imagine what a handsome couple his wife and Tremaine would make on horseback in Rotten Row.
‘But the city is quite empty at Christmas. And I will admit it would have been lonely to remain there.’ She hesitated. ‘I must thank you for inviting … Tremaine.’
She had remembered, too late, that she had not been included in the invitation. There was an awkward pause.
‘I am glad that you chose to accompany him,’ Harry said firmly. ‘For I would not wish you to be alone. And I hope Christmas will be very much as you remember it.’ He glanced down the hill towards the house. ‘You have brought many changes to Anneslea since we married.’
‘Really?’ She looked surprised, as though she did not realise the merriment she’d brought with her when she’d come into his life. ‘Was not Christmas a joyous time when you were a boy?’
He shrugged. ‘Much like any other day. When I was small my father was often ill, and there was little cause for celebration. My stepfather, Morley, did not hold with foolishness on a holy day. And once I came here, to stay with Grandfather?’ He shrugged again. ‘It was a very quiet festival. There was dinner, of course. And gifts.’ They had arrived back at the house. A footman grinned as he opened the front door, and they entered the front hall to the smells of pine and spices and an air of suppressed excitement. He looked around him. ‘But it was nothing like this. Thank you.’ His voice very nearly cracked on the words.
‘You’re welcome, Harry.’ Her eyes were very round, and misty blue in the morning light. Then she looked away from him quickly, letting a servant take her outer clothes and enquiring about tea, which was already poured in the library, just as it had been in years past. It was still early, but any guests who had risen would be in the dining room taking breakfast. For a time it would be just the two of them, alone together.
In the library, she glanced around the room with a critical eye. And Harry noted with some satisfaction that she seemed unconcerned by the presence of only two cups on the tea tray. Apparently, after his disgrace in the woods, she did not care that Tremaine would be left to fend for himself.
‘Do you mean to have Rosalind here for Christmas from now on?’ she said softly.
‘It depends, I suppose, on whether Morley allows it. But I do not know what I would have done without her help this year.’
Elise looked up from her cup, her eyes still wide with sympathy. ‘Does she know that the family recipes as they are written are not accurate?’
‘Eh?’
‘Rosalind. There are changes in the Christmas recipes, and she should remember to remind Cook.’
Harry waved a dismissive hand. ‘I expect she will manage as best she can. It will be all right.’
‘Perhaps I should help her.’
‘No,’ Harry said, worried that her sudden interest in the menu was likely to take her away from him again. ‘There is no need, I’m sure. No one will notice if things are not quite up to standard.’
She stared at him. ‘Really, Harry. You have no idea how difficult a house party can be.’
He looked warmly at her. ‘Only because you made it look so easy, my sweet. But you need not bother.’ He gave a slight sigh. ‘I will want you here tonight, of course. When it is time to light the Yule Log. For it is still very much a part of you, since you helped me to choose it. And I’ve still got a piece of last year’s log, so that we may light the new one properly.’
Her agitation seemed to fade, and she smiled a little, remembering.
‘If we have any regrets from the old year we can throw them on the fire,’ he announced. ‘Next year we shall start anew.’
She set her teacup down with a click. ‘And behave as if none of this has happened?’
He sighed. ‘Is it really necessary to retread the same ground? If you are ready to come home, then I see no reason to refer to any of this again.’
‘If I am ready to come home?’
He had spoken too soon, and ruined all that had gone before. For the coldness had returned to her voice, and she was straightening up the tea things and preparing to leave him.
‘Perhaps I should go to my room and dress for the day. If you will excuse me?’
He followed her to the door and in a last act of desperation held up a hand to stop her as she crossed the threshold, touching her arm and pointing above them. ‘Mistletoe.’
She frowned. ‘You can’t be serious.’
‘Not even for old times’ sake?’
‘Certainly not.’ She reached up and caught the thing by a twig. She pulled it down, then threw it to the floor at his feet.
He stared at it, unsure whether to be angry or sad. ‘Pity. I would have quite enjoyed it. I think it is your kiss I miss the most. But there are so many things about you that I miss it is hard to tell.’
‘Miss me?’ She laughed. ‘This is the first I have heard of it. It seems to me that you are managing quite well without me, Harry.’
‘It bothers you, then, that I have put Rosalind in charge?’
‘Not particularly.’
‘But something has made you unhappy again. Are you ready to discuss why you are here?’ he asked.
‘Whatever do you mean?’
‘You have come back to me, Elise, just as I knew you would. It was no real surprise, seeing you. I had a devil of a time persuading Tremaine to take the invitation, but I knew if he came you would not be able to stay away. And I was right.’ He looked at her, searching her expression for some evidence that she was weakening again.
‘It should not be so terribly strange that I would wish to return with him. I lived here for several years, and associate many happy memories with the place.’
Harry sighed. ‘Do you really? When you left I thought you never wished to see the place again. Or was it just the owner you wished to avoid? Because you must have known I’d be here as well.’
‘I hold you no ill will,’ she insisted, staring at him through narrowed eyes and proving her words a lie. ‘And, since you have not said otherwise, I assume you agree that our separation is for the best.’