A Christmas Kiss (25 page)

“She thinks they were stolen, yes,” Philip said.

“And then they showed up in Miss Pennington's box?” she asked incredulously.

“So it appears.”

“Lord love me! Miss Trevelyan ain't thinking it was
me
that copped 'em, is she?”

“Your name wasn't mentioned,” Philip assured her.

“Praise be for that!” she said, relieved. Then her eyes opened wide and she grew pale. “She surely wouldn't suspicion Miss
Evalyn
!” she asked, horrified. The two men didn't answer but just stood watching her. “Oh, me lord, not
you
! Miss Trevelyan, she ain't got eyes for anyone but her own self, but you … well, everyone below is always saying 'ow ye're up to the mark and nobody could tip you a rise. You can't believe such a thing! Why, anyone knowin' Miss Evalyn would swear she could no more do such a thing than cut her 'and off!”

Philip's tense face relaxed a trifle, and he patted the girl's shoulder. “Good girl, Nancy. I'm quite of the same mind. We'll talk no more of this diamond business now. But what I can't understand is how a plucky girl like you could have let your mistress go away in a snowstorm, without a word to us.”

Nancy hung her head. “There wasn't nothing I could do. She was plumb set on it. She was so 'eart broke, I couldn't argue.”

“Heart broke? What do you mean?”

“Someone must've 'urt her some way. She wouldn't say 'ow.”

Philip glared at his son, but the boy was looking at Nancy with completely innocent interest. He showed not a sign of guilt or misgiving.

“But how did she go, Nancy?” Jamie was asking. “She couldn't have
walked
in such weather.”

“I can't say, me lord.”

“Can't say, or won't?” Philip asked sternly.

Nancy kept her face lowered and her eyes on her shoes.

“Listen to me, girl, and listen carefully,” Philip said to her warningly. “I know you think you're being loyal to Miss Pennington, but if she's lost or without shelter somewhere out there in that storm, you won't help her by keeping secrets. Now you sit down over there and think it over, while I have a little talk with my son. Come, Jamie.”

With those grim words, he stalked off to the study, Jamie following at his heels. “Close the door and sit down,” he said, between clenched teeth. Jamie looked at him perplexed. He had never seen his father so agitated. He was pacing in front of the fire in angry strides, his mouth set in a hard line.

“I don't think you need worry so about Miss Pennington,” Jamie offered, sitting down gingerly on the edge of a wing chair. “She's quite able to take care of herself. She's really a redoubtable girl, you know.”

“So you've told me repeatedly,” his father said curtly. “You amaze me, Jamie. I find your lack of concern completely baffling.”

“I'm not lacking in concern, sir. I'll feel much more comfortable about Evalyn when I hear she's safe and sound.”

“Safe and sound?” Philip asked in a voice heavy with sarcasm. “And how do you propose to get that news? By post, next spring, if the lady should honor you with a letter?”

“Well, I suppose that's one way,” Jamie said, nonplussed. “Or I may hear about her from friends, or one way or another.”

Philip groaned. “Does it occur to you that perhaps you should go to look for her, to make
sure
she's safe and sound?”

“Go to look for her?” asked Jamie, standing up in surprise. “In this snow? But why? If she chose to leave, I don't see what I can do about it.”

“Confound it! What sort of a man are you?” Philip shouted, pushing Jamie back into the chair. “I never thought to hear my own son talk like a loose screw, and a cowardly one at that! Don't you feel any responsibility for her at all?”

“Responsibility? But why?”

“Why?
Why
? Need I tell you why? You brought her here, filled her with high expectations, and then you proceeded to ignore and humiliate her in every possible way! Finally, the poor girl could bear it no longer and ran away. And you have the effrontery to stand there and ask why you should feel responsible?”

“Hang it, sir, you're talking utter balderdash!” said Jamie, jumping up from his seat again. “I don't mean to be disrespectful, but your notions sound positively gothic! I know I brought her here, but I didn't think you'd expect me to dance attendance upon her, or entertain her! Nor do I think she expected any such thing!”

Philip stared at his son in amazement. “Gothic?” he exclaimed. “Sit down, you fool! You think I'm behaving like a gothic father when I expect my son to treat the woman he is going to marry with some affection?”

Jamie gaped at his father stupidly. “Marry?
Me?
”

“Yes, you! How can you ask a girl to marry you when you haven't the least notion how to go on in such circumstances?” Philip ranted, too preoccupied with his outrage to comprehend his son's reactions.

“I think you must be foxed!” Jamie gasped. “What on earth made you think that Miss Pennington and I were to be
married
?”

Philip stopped his pacing and fixed his eyes on his son's bewildered face. “You told me so yourself,” he said sharply. “You told me so the evening of the day you arrived home.”

“One of us must be touched in his upper works!” Jamie exclaimed angrily, jumping to his feet a third time. “I never could have told you anything so preposterous!”

“I see nothing preposterous about it! I couldn't have misunderstood you. I remember it distinctly. You said … you said that you and Miss Pennington had an understanding … or some such phrase. Didn't you?”

Jamie shrugged. “I may have said something of the sort. Evalyn and I did have a kind of understanding.…”

“Aha! Then I didn't misunderstand.” He glared at his son impatiently. “I told you to sit down!” he growled.

“I
won't
sit down! Not until we have this thing cleared up. If you think our understanding—Evalyn's and mine—had to do with marriage, you're out in your reckoning!”

“Well, what sort of understanding did you have?”

“It had to do with helping her to find a new post.”

“A new
post
? What can you mean …?” His breath caught in his throat. “You mean you never had any plans to
marry
?”

“Many? Of course not! How could you
think
such a thing?”

Philip had the distinct sensation that the floor lurched under his feet. He put his hand to his forehead. “Pardon me, Jamie, but I'm beginning to feel too old for all this. Let's both sit down.”

“I'm sorry about all this, father. If I'd known what trouble she would cause, I'd have left her on the Carberys' doorstep,” Jamie said, returning to his chair.

“No, no,” said Philip, sitting down opposite Jamie and leaning back wearily. “You could not have left her there. You've behaved quite well. I see that now. It's
I
who—Good Lord, what have I done?”

“Done?” Jamie asked bewildered. “I don't see how you can blame yourself for Evalyn's behavior.”

But Philip understood at last. He had taken her in his arms and had seen her look up at him with that innocent face full of warmth and joy and trust, and he had thrust her aside. The recollection made him wince in pain.

“What is it, sir? What have
you
to do with this coil?” Jamie asked.

Philip shook his head. “I've been unbelievably stupid,” he said in a constricted voice, “and caused all this hobble myself.”

“Does it have something to do with the diamonds?” asked Jamie, utterly confused.

“Hang the diamonds! Of course not! I'll wager anything you like that Evalyn doesn't know a thing about them.”

“Then what hobble are you speaking of?”

“The only hobble that concerns me—that she's run away.” He got up and paced the room again. “Tell me, Jamie,” he asked more quietly, “did Evalyn—Miss Pennington—understand why she was brought here? She could not have misinterpreted your intentions as I did, could she?”

“No, not possibly. I explained the whole plan to her quite carefully.”

“Plan? Just what was this plan?”

“I asked you to invite her here so that she could spend the holidays with us, to permit Aunt Clarissa to get properly acquainted with her.…”

“But why? Doesn't that in itself sound like the plans of a bridegroom—to permit his family to become acquainted with his prospective bride?”

“I assure you that
that
aspect never occurred to either of us. Evalyn knew why I wanted Aunt Clarissa to know her. She had been discharged without recommendation, and I wanted my aunt to write one for her. In fact, we hoped that Aunt Clarissa would know of a household where Evalyn's services might be needed.”

“I see. And that was
all
that was between you?”

“That was the whole of it.”

“I … er … dislike to pry into your private affairs, Jamie, but I must know. Are you quite sure … without any doubt at all … that you are not … in love with Miss Pennington?”

Jamie laughed. “I'm dashed if you don't sound exactly like Reggie!”

“Like Reggie? What on earth do you mean?”

“Not two days past, he asked me the very same question about Marianne!”

“Marianne? How ridiculous! She's only a child. You couldn't be in love with her.”

“Yes, so I told him. But he's in love with her himself, you see, so he …” His voice trailed off as an idea hit him with a shock. Could his father, who had seemed so impervious to women all these years, possibly have fallen in love with Evalyn? No, it wasn't possible. Not his father!

“Reggie?” Philip was asking. “In love with Marianne? You can't mean it!”

“Why not? You didn't think it strange for me to be in love with Evalyn, and she's a far less likely girl for either Reggie or me to be taken with.”

“I don't see that at all. Marianne is only seventeen, a mere child. Whereas Evalyn—”

“Evalyn must be
years
older than I,” Jamie declared, his eyes fixed on his father's face with a penetrating gleam.

“She's twenty-two,” his father said with some asperity. “Exactly your age.”

“Oh,
is
she?” Jamie asked innocently. “Well, perhaps she's not old, exactly, but she seems so to me. As I assured Reggie, I'm not in the petticoat line, but even if I were, Miss Pennington wouldn't be at all my style. Too serious by half.”

“Rubbish! She has an irrepressible sense of humor.”

“Does she, sir?” asked Jamie with a mischievous twinkle. “How clever of you to have observed it.”

Philip shot a glance at his son, caught the look and reddened to his ears. “Never mind, jackanapes,” he said with a rueful grin. “I'll brook no disrespectful quips about Miss Pennington or myself. A whisky-frisky, greenheaded, rope-ripe court-card like you cannot be expected to appreciate the qualities of a lady like Evalyn. I dread to think of the platter-faced, addle-brained fidget you'll eventually bring home to marry.”

Jamie grinned broadly and jumped to his feet. “Well, whoever she is, sir, she couldn't be half the woman you've chosen,” he said, wringing his father's hand with enthusiasm. “I must be a greenhead not to have noticed before that you and Miss Pennington are perfectly suited.”

“Don't fly into the boughs too soon,” Philip said, getting up from his chair and crossing to the wide window behind the desk. “Now that I understand the circumstances, I am painfully aware that it was my own stupidity that drove her from this house. She must be found! There will be time later to determine whether
she
thinks we're suited.”

“You're right, of course,” Jamie agreed, his smile fading. “I'll ride out immediately. If we're lucky, she'll not have got beyond Ashwater.”

“Take a damper, boy!” said his father firmly. “Who asked you to go?”

“You did, not five minutes ago. The flattering names you called me are still ringing in my ears. A cowardly loose-screw, I think you said. And quite right, too.”

Philip came quickly to Jamie and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. “Forgive me for that, Jamie. It's been bellows to mend with me ever since I laid eyes on the girl. I thought it was you who had driven her away, but of course, that isn't the case. So go back to our guests and forget what I said. I'd be much obliged if you would.”

“Would you indeed?” said Jamie mockingly. “And what's to become of Miss Pennington, out there in God knows what kind of scrape? I refused to go before, because I thought it was none of my business, but that's not true any more. So I think I should set out at once, don't you?”

“Am I to understand by those remarks that you think your father too old and doddering to ride out in the snow?”

“Cut line! You did ask me before, did you not?”

“Only because I thought it was your responsibility. Now, I am happy to say, it is mine, and I intend to see to it. So if you'll excuse me, I'll get started.” And he walked swiftly to the door. With his hand on the knob, he hesitated. Slowly, he turned back to his son. “Jamie,” he said soberly, “this matter is too serious for hoaxing. Please be straight with me. Are you absolutely
sure
you're not in love with Evalyn yourself?”

“Oh, I love her!” Jamie replied with a wide grin. “I truly do. But only as a mother, I assure you, sir. Only as a mother!”

Eighteen

Nancy had taken to biting her nails again. She had not done it since she was a child, but sitting here in the hall waiting for his lordship to reappear had made her so nervous that she found herself chewing them. Three nails had already been badly reduced, and she was starting on a fourth when the study door opened and Lord Gyllford emerged. She jumped to her feet and made an awkward curtsey.