A Christmas Kiss by Mansfield Elizabeth;

Author:Mansfield, Elizabeth;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media Romance
Published: 2016-07-05T04:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

Wellstock said later to his cronies below stairs that he’d been sure that his master had been digging deep in the bottle when he looked into the bedroom that evening. There Lord Gyllford sat, one boot on, the other in his hand, staring ahead of him at nothing. Wellstock had stood in the doorway for at least five minutes, waiting to be recognized, and his lordship did not move the whole time. Finally, Wellstock had coughed discreetly, walked in, and pulled off the other boot. Still his lordship did not seem to notice him at all!

“Are you all right, my lord?” Wellstock had asked in deep concern. He had never known his master to make indentures. Not at all a drinking man.

Lord Gyllford had slowly focused his eyes on Wellstock’s face. “Oh, it’s you, Wellstock,” he’d said in a dead—but not a drunken—voice. “Go away, man. I’ll not be needing you.”

“But you’re not dressed, my lord, and dinner is scarcely a half-hour off,” Wellstock had remonstrated.

“Look in on Jamie, will you? I can dress myself tonight,” Lord Gyllford had said shortly.

Wellstock had taken himself off, but he’d looked back before he left, and there was his lordship in his stockinged feet, sitting exactly as he had been when the valet arrived.

Philip knew very well that he had to dress for dinner. He just couldn’t seem to rouse himself. A deep depression had taken hold of him and seemed to weigh him down like lead. The prospect of facing everyone at dinner time and making cheerful conversation only added to his misery. He felt an urge to hide away somewhere, in a corner of the cellar or the attic, as he had done when he was a little boy and had been severely reprimanded by his usually adoring and adored mother. What humiliating feelings these were for a man with a son of his own, a son whom—heaven help him!—he’d been on the verge of betraying. How could he so have forgotten himself?

His only excuse—though he knew his behavior had been inexcusable—was a strong sense (a feeling he’d not before put into words) that Jamie and Evalyn did not suit. She seemed older than Jamie, more mature, more—how could he describe it?—more at peace with herself. Jamie seemed still to be a boy, still playing games with life and flirting with adulthood. But Philip realized that he might well be rationalizing. His analysis of the situation could no longer be trusted. His objectivity had been hopelessly impaired ever since he’d laid eyes on the girl his son had chosen to marry. There was only one realization he could accept as truth: that he loved her. He could no longer fool himself about that. For almost twenty years he’d guarded himself against this emotion, only to tumble into it with the one person he should most have avoided. What evil fate had decreed that his son should attach himself to the one girl whose nature, face and voice seemed especially designed to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.