A Christmas Affair (5 page)

“Well, at least we shall be able to enjoy one meal in un
interrupted peace,” Mrs. Herrick opined as she helped herself to a second helping of the Stilton cheese Cook had served in lieu of dessert. “I can not imagine why you insist upon having those loud children present at mealtimes, Amanda. It simply is not done in proper households. Is that not so, Colonel Stockton?” She flashed him a coquettish smile.

Upon learning their visitor was brother to the current duke of Stonebridge, the elderly lady had gone out of her way to converse with the colonel. Had she been a few decades younger, Amanda would have suspected her of having set her cap at him, and as it was she could only blush at her aunt’s forward behavior.

Justin shared his hostess’s aversion to the old woman’s marked preference for his company, but he was far too well-bred to show it. He hid his impatience behind a carefully blank facade, replying to her question with a coolness that was just this side of polite. “I would not know how it is done in other households, Mrs. Herrick, but for myself I see nothing wrong with sharing the meal with the young ones. They are, after all, part of the family.” He turned a much warmer look upon Amanda.

He noted she had changed from the yellow gown she’d been wearing earlier that afternoon into a severely cut gown of black bombazine. The unfashionably high waistline and puff sleeves betrayed the garment’s age, as did the worn, black velvet ribbons that served as the gown’s only decoration. He also noticed she had rearranged her fiery hair into a stately coronet of braids, and his gaze lingered admiringly on the curve of her cheekbones.

Aware he’d been staring at her like a moonling, he stirred himself and said, “I hope, ma’am, that you haven’t banished your brothers to their rooms on my account. I have no objections to their chatter, I promise you.”

“That is very kind of you, Colonel,” Amanda replied, grateful for his unexpected support in this. “But in lieu of . . .
everything, I thought it best that the twins and Belinda take their meals in their rooms.”

“Belinda?”

“My youngest sister, and a most engaging scamp she is too,” Amanda answered, her expression softening at the thought of the little girl. She’d been but a few months above her second birthday when the coach accident claimed her mother’s life, and Amanda had raised her more as a daughter than a sister.

“I see,” Justin said, frowning as he realized how little he really knew of the Lawrence family’s situation. “Have you any other brothers or sisters I know not of? I only heard Daniel speak of you and Miss Amelia, of course.” He sent the sad-eyed blonde sitting at his left-an encouraging smile.

Amelia blushed at the smile, feeling slightly flustered by the colonel’s polite attentions. He had discarded his uniform for an evening coat of black velvet and a pair of cream-colored breeches, but he was still very much the officer, she thought. “Our younger brother, Stephen, is away at school,” she answered in a shy voice, not meeting his piercing gaze. “But we have sent for him.”

“Your half brother is what you mean,” Mrs. Herrick interjected with an indignant scowl. “
He
is not a Lawrence.”

“No, but he is our brother in every way that matters, and we are all very proud of him,” Amanda replied, furious that her aunt should air their family’s differences before their guest. She knew full well what the old lady was really saying, and it was all she could do not to upend the coffeepot over her black turban.

“What school does he attend?” Justin may not have been in full possession of his faculties, but he could still sense the underlying hostility in the small room.

“Exter.” Amanda was more than happy to turn her shoulder on her quarrelsome relation. “He is top in his forum in Greek and mathematics. And what of you, sir? What school did you attend?”

“Eton, of course.” He pretended to be affronted. “Is there any other?”

Following dinner they retired to the parlor for a glass of sherry. Amanda noted the colonel was imbibing rather freely, and if his flushed cheeks and overly bright eyes were any indication, he was well on his way to becoming foxed. She frowned at the realization, disliking the notion that he should be so lax in his personal habits. She cast about in her mind for some topic that might distract him.

“Tell me more of your plans for the holidays, Colonel,” she said, giving him an inquiring look. “You mentioned your brother was expecting you; will you be spending Christmas together?”

Justin paused in the act of raising the brandy glass to his lips and blinked at her sleepily. He seldom drank so deeply, but the fever in him had made him thirsty enough to forget his usual discretion. “I shouldn’t think so Miss Lawrence,” he answered, unaware he was slurring his words. “His Grace prefers the lights of London, while I am more partial to the country. Like as not I’ll pass the holiday at Stonebridge Hall.”

“Alone?” The question was out before Amanda could help herself, and she immediately colored with mortification. She prayed the colonel didn’t think she was attempting to learn his marital status, as Aunt Elizabeth had been doing earlier.

“Except for the servants.” Justin shrugged his shoulders carelessly. The effects of the spirits he had inadvisedly consumed were beginning to make his head swim almost as badly as the fever, and he wondered if he would be able to make it to his room before disgracing himself in front of the ladies. He set his half-empty glass on the table beside his chair and rose somewhat unsteadily to his feet.

“If you ladies will pardon me, I believe I shall retire now,” he said, knowing better than to attempt a bow. “Thank you for your kind hospitality, Miss Lawrence. I only wish we
might have met under more felicitous circumstances.”

“As do I, Colonel Stockton.” Amanda was hard-pressed not to laugh at the preciseness with which he enunciated each word. He was obviously very much in his cups.

Justin blinked down at her, suspecting that beneath her prim smile the little minx was laughing at him. Ah well, there was nothing he could do about it now. The most vital thing at the moment was that he make it to his room.

“I’ll have the footman assist you, sir.” Amanda took pity on him-and rose belatedly to her feet. Even though she disapproved of heavy drinking, the colonel was still her guest, and it would not do to leave him to stumble to his room on his own.

“That is quite all right, ma’am.” Justin’s flush intensified. “I am perfectly capable of—”

“Nonsense, sir,” she overrode his objection with her usual firm sense of command. “The hallways are not as well lit as they should be, and I wouldn’t want you to become lost. Come,” and she laid a firm hand on his arm ,determined to guide him from the room.

The moment her flesh touched his, she was aware of having made a terrible error. The colonel wasn’t bosky, she realized with horror; he was burning up with fever! She no sooner reached this conclusion when he gave a low groan, collapsing at her feet with a loud thud.

Chapter Three

“Well!” Mrs. Herrick exclaimed, shooting the fallen man a disapproving frown. “This is a fine way for a guest to conduct himself, I must say! But then, what else can one expect of a soldier?”

“He isn’t drunk, Aunt,” Amanda replied impatiently as she bent over him. She laid a hand against his throat, her alarm growing at the threadiness of his pulse. “He has the fever.”

“The jug fever, mayhap,” Mrs. Herrick grumbled, taking another sip of sherry. “My late husband was oft given to heavy drinking, and I daresay I can tell when a gentleman has distinguished himself.”

Amanda withheld comment, turning to her younger sister, who had joined her beside the colonel. “Have Linsley send one of the footmen for Dr. McNeil,” she instructed in gentle, but firm tones. “And then have him fetch Colonel Stockton’s valet. I’m sure he will know what to do.”

After her sister had dashed off to do her bidding, she turned her attention back to her patient. The colonel still hadn’t regained consciousness, and she winced at the fever she could feel blazing in him. She stared down into his flushed features, and after a moment’s hesitation her fingers went to the starched cravat knotted beneath his chin.

“What do you think you are doing?” her aunt de
manded in outraged accents. “Amanda, you scarce know this man!”

“What has that to do with anything?” Amanda asked, continuing to unravel the cravat. When it was loosened she pulled it away from his throat, praying it would help his breathing. The wide chest beneath the proper black evening jacket was rising and falling in an uneven rhythm, and she wondered if she should remove the jacket as well. She was debating how best to accomplish this when Aunt Elizabeth gave a choked cry.

“What do you mean what has that to do with anything?” she exclaimed clasping her hands to her bosom. “It has everything to do with it, you ninnyhammer! Only a . . . a Jezebel would calmly strip a strange man of his garments in so brazen a manner!”

“Then, I would suppose that makes me a Jezebel,” Amanda replied without even looking up. She decided against removing the tight-fitting jacket, fearing it would do more harm than good, and turned her attention instead to his waistcoat of rose and silver brocade. She was reaching for the buttons when Amelia returned, Linsley and the colonel’s valet in tow.

The squat man knelt beside Amanda, unceremoniously nudging her aside as he examined his employer. “It be the fever, all right,” he said when he had finished. “We’d best be gettin’ him to his rooms.”

“Is it serious?” Amanda asked, biting her lip as she studied Colonel Stockton’s still form. He hadn’t moved so much as a muscle since his collapse and she was beginning to fear for his life.

“Serious enough” came the terse reply as the valet motioned the remaining footmen to step forward. “He all but died of it in Spain. I told him ’twas folly to travel so soon after our return, but he’d not listen to me.”

Between the four men they managed to carry the colo
nel up the narrow stairs. Amanda stayed below long enough to instruct her sister to wait for the doctor’s arrival and then dashed up the stairs, ignoring her aunt’s indignant cries that she remain. They’d already removed Colonel Stockton’s outer clothes and were putting a nightshirt on him when she strode boldly into the room.

“This be no place for a lady, miss,” the valet said, pausing in his ministrations long enough to shoot her a warning look. “I’ve nursed him through this before, and I can tell you ’tis not a pretty sight.”

“I didn’t expect that it would be,” Amanda replied calmly, elbowing the footman to one side as she stood over the bed. “But nonetheless I will remain.”

The valet’s sharp blue eyes moved over her resolute features, and then a slow smile stole across his wrinkled face. “Aye, miss,” he said at last, “I can see that you will.”

The footman fetched them basins of cool water, and while the valet, whose name proved to be Williams, saw to the colonel’s more personal needs, Amanda carefully bathed his hands and face. They were repeating the process for what seemed the dozenth time when Linsley arrived with the doctor.

If he was surprised to see Amanda tending her guest in such a fashion, the young doctor was too polite to show it, concentrating instead on his patient. He felt the colonel’s pulse, listened to his heart through a tube, and then turned to Amanda.

“I am afraid I must ask you to step out in the hall, Miss Lawrence,” he said with no trace of the usual deference he showed her. “I must examine Colonel Stockton in greater detail, and I can not do that with you in the room.”

She opened her mouth to refute his request, and then decided she was being foolish. The colonel’s health was the main issue here, not her own willful nature. Besides,
she thought with a smug grin, she could always return once the doctor had concluded his examination.

“Very well, Doctor,” she said, inclining her head coolly. “I shall be in the parlor. Please let me know the moment you have finished your examination,” and she departed from the room, her small chin held high in the air.

Amelia and Aunt Elizabeth were waiting in the parlor when she returned, and it soon became obvious that the elderly lady had worked herself into an agitated state during her brief absence. “This is beyond the outside of enough!” she began before Amanda had even taken her seat. “Bringing a diseased person into the household when you must know that I am susceptible to fevers! How can you be so selfish?”

“With a great deal of practice, ma’am,” Amanda replied, her lips curling in a mocking smile as she gazed at her aunt. She was not the most tolerant of persons to begin with, and she’d been through too much this evening to endure the older woman’s catty remarks.

Mrs. Herrick’s mouth opened and closed several times before she managed a strangled “How dare you!”

“Again, ma’am, with a great deal of practice,” Amanda returned, clearly unrepentant. “This is still my home, and until such time as you claim it, I will say and do as I please. A fact you would do well to remember.” She added this last part by way of warning, knowing her aunt’s vicious ways all too well.

“And if you don’t mind your manners, missy, that time will come sooner than you think!” Mrs. Herrick retorted, rising to her feet in majestic rage. “A fact
you
would do well to remember!” And she stalked out of the parlor, calling for her maid in strident tones.

“Oh, Amanda, must you always be pulling caps with her?” Amelia sighed, shaking her head at her older sister. “You must know that it only makes her worse!”

“I know.” The sudden burst of defiance had faded, leaving Amanda feeling curiously drained. “And I don’t mean to; it is just that she is so vexing sometimes.”

“I know.” Amelia’s smile was loving as she squeezed Amanda’s hand. “And you do seem to rise to her taunts like a trout to a fly.”

Amanda smiled at the image her sister’s words invoked; but before she could reply, there was a tap on the door, and the butler stuck his head inside.

“The doctor’s finished now, miss,” he said his weathered face lined with anxiety. “He asks that you come at once.”

Amanda murmured a quick apology to Amelia and then hurried from the room, her heart pounding with trepidation as she mounted the stairs. The room Colonel Stockton had been assigned was in the newer part of the house, removed from the family quarters by a broad hallway. She paused outside the door, gathering her courage to face whatever lay beyond.