The Spinster's Christmas by Camille Elliot

Author:Camille Elliot
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Camille Elliot

Gerard flattered himself that he was not a complete ass-head and agreed to take a dinner tray in his room. He thought the solitude would appeal to him, but the knock on the door as he finished eating roused his spirits.

“Come,” he called.

The door opened and Miranda peeked inside. “I have brought Maddox, and another poultice, and Ellie.”

“You will remain outside whilst I apply it, Miss Miranda,” Maddox said as he stepped into the room.

“I have seen your master in his shirt-sleeves often enough when we were children.”

“You are children no longer, Miss Miranda.” And Maddox closed the bedroom door.

His words reminded Gerard of last night—not the attack, but what had happened just before. He knew he ought to regret it, but he did not. Kissing Miranda had made him feel more anchored than any other time since he’d been back in England, even when he was home with his parents.

His emotions had been in turmoil because he was not whole, and while he was not as mad with frustration as he had been when he’d first awakened in the hospital, he yet resented the situation with all his being. He could not subject any woman to this, especially not Miranda, whom he had known nearly all his life.

And yet he had kissed her, a woman who was not his, who could not be his.

Maddox applied the poultice, which was blessedly warm this time, then covered his master’s limbs properly before allowing Miranda and Ellie to enter the bedroom. He left them with the door wide open.

“Isn’t it past your bedtime, miss?” Gerard said to Ellie.

“I wanted to play jack-straws with you,” she said, climbing onto his bed to sit beside him. She wore a dressing gown that was too large for her.

Miranda settled into a chair nearby. “Ellie could not sleep, so I brought her with me.”

So he played jack-straws with Ellie.

“You are cheating, miss,” he said after the first game.

“Am not.” Ellie yawned.

“I fear she learned to cheat from Paul,” Miranda said.

He gave Ellie a mock frown. “You are also a competitive little Captain Sharp.”

“That she learned from Cousin Laura.”

In the middle of the second game, Ellie curled up on the bedclothes and went to sleep, her mouth slightly open, and breathing with a little whistle.

Gerard stared at her. “I must say that no woman has found me such a bore that she fell asleep on my bed.” He did not realize how warm that sounded until it came out of his mouth. He had been too long at sea, or perhaps he was simply too awkward with his tongue.

But Miranda was not offended, nor was she flustered by the scandalous comment—she simply began to pick up the jack-straws. “Perhaps you are being repaid for a woman’s broken heart,” she said lightly.

“I have not broken any hearts while at sea.”

Miranda did not reply, but gave him a sidelong look. Perhaps it was the bright color of her eyes, but he had never before seen an expression of greater incredulity.

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