A Christmas Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

answer, then realized she had none. Even though she had been distressed by something she could not name when she spoke with Mr. Wayne, Lord Cheyney had treated her with respect and kindness. Judge a man by the company he keeps . Whose voice was that? A man’s voice that reached out of the jumble of her lost memories, but she could not guess who might belong to it.
    â€œYou know nothing of me,” she said softly.
    â€œNeither do you know anything of yourself or of me.” He sighed. “Do you deem yourself trustworthy?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYou answered that quickly. Have you recalled something?”
    She shook her head as she held the precious page, her only connection with what had been, close to her heart. “I would not have reached the position of abigail if I were deemed untrustworthy.”
    â€œTrue. Therefore I shall trust you with the important details of what I have told my grandfather. Serenity Adams is a young woman who looks much like you. She has been well educated and is respected throughout the Polite World for her gracious skills as a hostess as well as her sense of humor. When we met at Almack’s, where Miss Adams was sponsored by her uncle, who is retired from the army, we were much taken with each other. Our first outing together was a luncheon on the banks of the Serpentine with friends.” He frowned. “Or mayhap it was at the duchess’s rout near the end of the Little Season. Blast it! I never thought I would be called upon to recall every absurd detail.”
    â€œI doubt if your grandfather recalls every detail either.”
    His frown cleared. “You can say that only because you have not met my grandfather yet. He may be reaching the seventieth anniversary of his birth, but his mind is more sharply honed than most men half his age. I am sure he recalls every single detail.”
    â€œThen how can you expect to betwattle him?”
    â€œI am not sure we can. Felix is often wrong, but in this I believe he is right. I owe my grandfather the truth, but not until after his birthday celebration on Christmas Eve.” He hesitated, then asked, “So will you be a part of this madness?”
    She did not hesitate, because, like him, the ones she loved depended on her. “Yes.”

Four
    Cheyney Park was everything Serenity had anticipated. Beyond its ancient gate in what once had been a curtain wall of a hilltop fortress, the stone front of the house that spread across the hill had been darkened by years of sitting alone on its lonely moor. The steep road leading up to it offered a view of the undulating hills leading off into the distance, but she saw no other sign of houses. A few trees had found a foothold against the winds and storms off the North Sea.
    â€œIt is fearfully isolated here,” Lord Cheyney said quietly.
    Serenity peeked back over her shoulder to find him looking at her as if she were a puzzle he could solve if he only stared at her long enough. It unsettled her that he had discerned her thoughts again, as he had too often in the past day while they continued his interrupted journey to Cheyney Park, when she could not unravel the tangle of twisted memories herself.
    He leaned toward her, and she fought not to cringe away. After all, if she were to do a good job persuading others that she was his betrothed, she could not recoil each time he came near. Yet it was difficult to act as if this stranger were her fiancée.
    â€œThere,” he said, pointing past her.
    â€œWhat? Where?”
    His chuckle warmed her ear before slipping along her neck like the sweetest caress. “Look past that copse. There are several cottages in the dale beyond. Mayhap you will be able to see, through the fog, a sliver of smoke rising from one of the chimneys.”
    â€œI see it!” She smiled, trying to ignore her own pleasure at his closeness. That was something she must put an end to at once. This was no more than a pantomime.