Christmas at Embthwaite Farm by Kate Hewitt

Author:Kate Hewitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: The Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2023-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Quinn gazed at Harriet in growing alarm as she stared back at him without saying a word, her mouth slightly parted, her eyes suddenly filling with tears. What had he done? He’d meant it as a way to get to know her, nothing more than an innocent, innocuous question, but right now it seemed anything but. She was looking at him like he’d just kicked her puppy right in front of her, or worse. Maybe it had been a bit too personal, he realised belatedly.

“Harriet…” he began, only to have her shake her head and sniff.

“No…” Her voice wobbled alarmingly.

“Harriet…” He reached over to her, flinging out one hand, meaning to—what? Touch her hand? Her shoulder? Some gesture of comfort, but what he did instead was accidentally knock over her very full wine glass, and send it flying right into her lap.

“Oh!” Harriet jumped up, aghast, her lovely green dress now covered in red wine. She was sodden, dripping.

Quinn stared at her in mute horror for a few seconds before he finally found his tongue. “Harriet…I am so sorry…” He didn’t know what else to say. This wasn’t a drip or drab of wine; it was a full, large glass, poured all over her. She was soaked. He handed her his napkin, and she took it, dabbing at the stain uselessly for a moment before she shook her head.

“I don’t think…” She took a quick breath. “I’m sorry, but I think I need to change my clothes.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Quinn replied quickly. “If anyone should be sorry…” He shook his head, realising afresh what a complete disaster this was. He’d just gone and ruined their date before it had even begun! Not just with the wine, he knew, although that was certainly a major factor, but with asking that question, even if he still didn’t understand why it had upset Harriet so. The fact was it had, and he should have anticipated that. Somehow. He’d sabotaged their date, and the frustrating thing was, he hadn’t even meant to.

“Look,” he said, “what if we go back to the house? The hotel, I mean. You can borrow some of my clothes and we can take our food away with us and eat it there. Unless you’d just rather call it quits and go home.” He couldn’t keep from sounding rather pitifully abject at the thought. He didn’t want to end things already, a failure.

Harriet, Quinn thought, looked torn between the two. If he were her, he’d probably want to go home, crawl under a duvet, and never see him again. What an idiot he’d been. What an idiot he so often was. Maybe he should have heeded Perry’s warning; maybe he wasn’t ready for this.

“That sounds fun,” Harriet said finally. She did not sound entirely convinced, but he decided he’d take it.

“And I’ll pay for your dress, of course,” Quinn continued quickly. “Let me just sort out our meals.” He hurried to find their waitress, wanting to spare Harriet as much

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