Letters at Christmas Read Online Free PDF

carriage dress with velvet-lined pelisse. A few curled tendrils artfully escaped the matching bonnet.
    There. She stared at herself in the mirror, pleased at the poise and sophistication reflected back at her—and mildly disconcerted. When had her transformation happened? On the first ball, the second? Her bosom was fuller, her stance straighter. The blue eyes that stared back at her twinkled with some secret. This not-Sidony would fit very handsomely beside the not-Hale downstairs.
    On the last step of the staircase, she paused, suddenly shy. It would have been even more special to go on this ride as his betrothed. So why couldn’t she say yes?
    But she couldn’t.
    Looking sharp wasn’t enough. She wished she could know his intentions, his heart.
    If he loved her, even a little, it could work. But if he was only marrying her because he’d had his fun and now he wanted a convenient and proper wife, then she could not. If he were marrying her out of a sense of duty, from having taken her virginity, or worse, pity because she had not yet married, then she would die of embarrassment.
    With a resolute breath in and out, she stepped into the breakfast room. A steaming mug of cocoa sat in her usual place. She took a sip while staring out the window to where Hale helped the stable boys harness the horse. He moved with a new graceful economy. Even through the window she could see the dark tan of his skin.
    She remembered the weather-roughened texture beneath his clothes—of his sides, his back. He had been strong before he left, healthy and virile. But last night she’d felt a subtle difference in even the most innocuous of places. His skin was tougher and tanned and what else? Roughened by the weather and scars turned white with healing. Had he been injured? She didn’t like to think of it.
    She couldn’t stop thinking of it.
    Outside, she found a woman beside the first sleigh. Catherine was the widow who lived south of Pendle Hill—close enough to ride but long enough to make overnight stays preferable. She and Geoffrey had been special friends since well before Sidony was supposed to understand what that meant. Being unmarried, Sidony knew she was still not supposed to understand. But she did, of course. She and Hale had figured out the particulars together. It had been inevitable, really. He had practically lived with them, having no other family, and she had loved him. Still loved him, if she were honest.
    Honesty was overrated.
    Catherine smiled and greeted her with a kiss on each cheek. “You look absolutely lovely.” She lowered her voice. “Hale will certainly agree.”
    Feigning surprise, she said, “Oh, do you think so?”
    They walked arm in arm to the second sleigh, where the men were bickering over proper positioning of the harness.
    “It’s too high,” Hale was saying. “It’s pushing pressure onto their neck, not their shoulders.”
    Geoffrey shook his head. “How long has it been since you even rode? If I need advice about sea currents I’ll be sure to ask you.”
    “A man never forgets.” He patted the horse who snorted contentedly. “And look, Petra remembers me too.”
    “Because you slipped her an apple.”
    Sidony and Catherine shared an indulgent look. Geoffrey and Hale rarely argued indoors, but when it came to matters of horses or anything sporting, they were at each other’s throats.
    Hale bent to help the groom load hot bricks in the floor of the sleigh.
    Geoffrey turned to her, raising a brow. “You look sharp. What’s the occasion?”
    She sighed. Really, they would allow her no dignity. “These are my clothes.”
    “Right. Well, I realized that now you’ve come out, and Hale is here, we need a chaperone, don’t we? We’re lucky Catherine was available on such short notice.”
    “Hmm.” Sidony doubted chaperoning was on his mind when he’d invited Catherine. Still, the widow would keep her brother distracted so she could question Hale.
    Hale straightened and wiped stray