All is Mary and Bright: A Christmas Regency Romance (Belles of Christmas: Frost Fair Book 2) by Kasey Stockton

Author:Kasey Stockton [Stockton, Kasey]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Golden Owl Press
Published: 2020-10-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Mary clasped the ruby earrings on her earlobes, twisting the backs until they tightened just enough to stay put. Her maid, Price, continued to pin curls high on her head, forming what she hoped would be an elegant coiffure. Mr. Lockhart was coming to dine, and Mary needed everything to be perfect.

Father was depending on her.

Price pulled the old, pale green ribbon from the table and strung it through Mary’s hair, tucking the ends into the folds of her curls. She stepped back, clasping her hands before her and nodding.

Mary tilted her head to the side, faintly touching the base of her gathered curls. “Thank you, Price. It is quite lovely.”

She had not expected the first time she saw Mr. Lockhart again after such a distance to be in a public tea room with a table of chocolate cups and her hosts between them. His skin was darker than she remembered—a likely result of the long journey he’d just sustained—and his eyes were brighter, his hair longer. He was just as handsome and courteous as she recalled.

But appearances aside, seeing Mr. Lockhart in the flesh had given her anxiety of the acutest kind.

Not only had the man been real, flesh and blood standing before her, but he was going to marry her. The last time she’d seen Mr. Lockhart, marriage was still an abstract reality, something far away that she would have plenty of time to come to terms with. Now, her upcoming marriage stared her in the face.

“If that’s all, ma’am?”

“Yes, Price, that is all. You may go see to my mother.”

Price dipped her white-capped head and scurried from the room. It was unfair to require so much of the maid; she not only had to see to all the mending, washing, and caring for both Mary and Mama, but also needed to dress them both and manage their hair. The first thing Mary planned to do when the vows were complete was hire a new lady’s maid and leave Price to her mother and half the work she was presently enduring.

One last look in the mirror, and Mary smoothed her ivory gown, tugging at the sage green overlay. She picked up her long, ivory gloves and left the room, pulling them into place as she descended the stairs.

She had one hour before she would need to place herself in the drawing room to await Mr. Lockhart, and she planned to spend that time in a book.

The house was quiet and calm, as the rest of the women were sequestered in their rooms preparing for dinner. Mary let herself into the library, crossing the room to where she had left her book the evening before on the small table beside the wingback chair, and pulled up short when her eyes lit upon the earl seated on the sofa opposite.

He stood, offering her a bow. “Good evening, madam.”

“My lord.” She dipped her head, pausing before the chair. “I only came to retrieve my book. I shan’t bother you.”

“You are no bother.

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