Letters at Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page B

snowflakes from his face. “Well, everything looks ready to—”
    Mouth open around a silent word, he stopped and stared at her. His cheeks were ruddy from the cold, eyes sparkling with vigor. Chilly winds had tousled his raven black hair. Her pulse beat erratically, waiting for his verdict. No, not waiting for his verdict. She didn’t care what he thought about her. She looked fine, presentable. Pretty. Didn’t she?
    He frowned. She had the distinct impression he was going to insult her appearance. He was insulting it by staring at her with a look of such discomfort. Still, he wouldn’t dare mention it with her brother and Catherine present. It would be inappropriate and rude and—
    “What are you wearing?”
    “It’s called a dress,” she snapped, brushing past him to the sleigh. One would think she went around in rags every day.
    He helped her in and hopped inside. “I just hadn’t seen that one before, that’s all.”
    She rolled her eyes. “You haven’t seen most of my clothes. You’ve been gone, remember?”
    Geoffrey rocked back on his heels. “Well, I suppose Catherine and I will take the other sleigh. You two will be all right, won’t you?”
    “I’ll take care of her,” Hale assured him, handing her a lap throw.
    “I was worried about you ,” Geoffrey muttered as he turned to leave. Catherine followed, sending a sly wink to Sidony before she let Geoffrey help her inside. At least one person believed in her.
    They started off behind Geoffrey’s sleigh as the melody of jingling bells filled the crisp winter air. True to Hale’s prediction, the horses were slow and skittish under his rein at first, but they smoothed out under the steady pace.
    Wind whipped around their faces, stinging her with icy drops and stealing the air from her lungs. They sang Christmas carols to start, when the sleighs moved slowly enough to be heard. God rest ye merry, gentlemen; Let nothing you dismay. Her high voice mingled with Catherine’s, their song underscored by the low baritone of the men. Until they turned off the lawn onto the road and horses sped up, and the wind ate up her words. O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. She fell silent, smiling, exhilarated, almost forgetting why she was annoyed at Hale…until she noticed him peering at her strangely.
    She sighed. “Do I look so awful?”
    “What?” He seemed startled. “I never said that.”
    “You’re looking at me as if I’ve grown a second head.”
    “You look…different.”
    “Different. Well, you should have seen me in my grand ball gowns. They can turn the plainest girl into a princess. You wouldn’t have proposed to me in the form of a wager then,” she huffed.
    “Probably not,” he murmured. A laugh drifted back from the sleigh in front of them. He nodded to them. “Why haven’t those two gotten married yet?”
    “Because men are inconstant?” she offered sweetly.
    He shot her a brooding glance. “But your brother didn’t leave.”
    The only time Catherine had spoken of her late husband, there’d been a hollow look in her eye. “I don’t think she wishes to marry again.”
    “Her, too?” he asked wryly. “You can start a club. The Ladies Against Matrimony.”
    “I don’t have a problem with marriage.”
    “Ah, so it’s just me you object to.”
    He was goading her, but this was exactly the subject she wanted to breach. “Why didn’t you write? Just tell me, and I might understand.”
    “You don’t really wish to know, Sidony. You’re asking for an excuse when I have none.”
    “No, I want to know the real reason.”
    “You won’t like it,” he warned.
    “Maybe not, but I deserve it. I deserve it because you asked me to marry you. I deserve it for sending you off with my innocence that night. The least you can do is tell me what happened.”
    To her surprise, he nodded resignedly. Though he didn’t begin speaking immediately.
    Instead he flicked the reins and turned them off on a side road.
    “What