A Regency Christmas Carol by Christine Merrill

Author:Christine Merrill
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-10-01T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

The next evening found Barbara packed as an unwelcome fourth into the Clairemont carriage, trundling through the sodden streets towards the road that led to the manor. The drizzle had continued for most of the day, as though trying to decide minute to minute whether it would be rain or snow. Barbara felt in sympathy with it. Her own heart was as changeable as the weather, still unsure whether it wished to run towards this evening and its host, or away from it.

But Anne seemed unbothered. ‘I am sure it will be a delightful time,’ she said, with a wan smile. ‘There is to be dancing. And cases of champagne. Cook is preparing a fine buffet, and a cold supper at midnight. Joseph has promised a celebration to rival anything in London.’

‘Hmmmf,’ said her father, and scowled out of the window.

Her mother said nothing at all, unwilling to acknowledge either their destination or the extra passenger they had accrued for the short journey. The Clairemont family had moved to the largest house in Fiddleton proper, with five servants and room enough to keep both a carriage and horses, but it was nothing compared to the manor. Returning to it as guests was obviously a source of irritation that they would conceal only when absolutely necessary.

But Anne seemed to feel less of it, looking from one to the other of them with a kind of desperate enthusiasm, as though she could imagine nothing better than visiting her old home only to leave it again at the end of the evening. ‘Joseph says the chestnuts are particularly good this year. He has sampled them already.’

‘I imagine he would have,’ her father retorted. ‘He goes to excess in all other things. If he is not careful he will be prone to gluttony.’

‘I doubt it will come to that,’ Anne assured him. ‘He will not sit still long enough to grow soft. It is more likely that when he is in the throes of work he will need to be reminded to eat.’

Her father muttered something barely audible beyond the word ‘trade’.

Anne fell to silence again, and Barbara could almost hear her thoughts. She was wishing that she had not brought up the subject of her prospective fiancé having an occupation at all. It was clearly another sore spot in the conversation.

She looked desperately to Barbara, who said gamely, ‘He seems a most solicitous gentleman. When I was struggling in the shop yesterday he offered to transport myself and my basket in his carriage.’

Anne gave an approving nod, as if to say she would not have thought any less of him.

Her mother responded, ‘That might just as easily show a fickle nature. What is he doing, offering courtesies to others when he is promised elsewhere?’ She narrowed her eyes at Barbara. ‘Unless you were angling after a ride?’

Anne sucked in her breath, but Barbara managed to keep her reaction invisible to the other passengers. She knew Lady Clairemont’s opinion of her. But she’d hoped to see no obvious demonstration of it tonight.

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