Lady Osbaldestone And The Missing Christmas Carols by Stephanie Laurens

Author:Stephanie Laurens
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: 0
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

As Melissa had only recently graduated to her parents’ table when they were dining with company, she was pleased to have been included at her grandmother’s board as a matter of course. She was somewhat surprised to find Jamie, George, and Lottie also at the long table, but apparently, through their activities the previous year, the trio had earned the interest and, indeed, the respect of the adults gathered, none of whom seemed to think the children’s presence odd. All the adults interacted freely with the three children and with Melissa. As the questions and chatter ranged back and forth, she relaxed and joined in and found herself enjoying the meal and the company much more than she’d anticipated.

Although an attempt was made by the ladies to steer the conversation along unfraught paths, with Reverend Colebatch, Christian, and Richard at the same table, inevitably the talk turned to the upcoming Christmas events.

Richard had tried to keep his mind from the sense of impending failure that haunted him over the carol service, which seemed destined to be canceled because of his inability to play without written music. To say he felt guilty on multiple counts was an understatement; he wished there was some way for him to give the best performance of his life to the village that had so readily taken him in, but…without the music, that wasn’t going to happen.

Whether by luck or by design—and he suspected the latter—Lady Osbaldestone had placed him beside Faith Collison in the middle of one side of the long table. That had certainly helped in keeping his mind off the carol service and the missing book of carols; with her sweet face, her pretty eyes framed by her spectacles, and her gentle, compassionate, yet determined nature, Faith effortlessly fixed his attention and lured his senses.

With their conversational scope widened by being in general company rather than alone in the church, they chatted over inconsequential things—what sort of trees each liked, whether they preferred country or town to live in, whether they liked to ride and what sort of horses each favored; they shared preferences and experiences and discovered they had many of the former in common. Looking past the glint of Faith’s spectacle lenses and smiling into her eyes, he managed to forget about the dark cloud that hovered over his and the village’s collective head.

Then Reverend Colebatch sobered and said, “Many of the villagers mentioned how concerned they are over the possibility of the carol service not going ahead.” His expression anxious but, as ever, mild, he looked around the table. “I took it upon myself to assure them that, even if we have to make do with only a few carols, the service, as such, will take place.” He looked at Melissa, Richard, Faith, Jamie, Lottie, and George, all seated along the opposite side of the table, and went on, “I thank Heaven that we decided, this year, to switch the order of the carol service and the pageant. That will allow us two extra days—indeed, until Friday afternoon—to find our missing book.

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