His Christmas Match (A Gentleman's Guide to Once Upon a Time) (29 page)

Rosalind
sniffed as her sobs subsided, and Noah fished a handkerchief out of his pocket
and handed it to her. She wiped her nose and laid her head against his
chest.
 
He rubbed his hand up and down
her back in comfort, and soon she was calm and silent.

“Do
you wish to tell me what happened?”

She
took in a deep breath and blew out a heavy sigh.
 
“Is it necessary?”

Noah
pulled back and looked down into her upturned face. “Yes, it is. I need to know
how badly I am to maim Broadridge.”

A
slight smile tugged at her lips which helped relieve some of his anxiety.
 

“I
think his striking his head is damage enough.”

“You
didn’t injure him?” Noah asked cautiously.

She
shook her head. “He slipped on the snow and fell into one of the gazebo’s
pillars.”
 

Noah
bit his lip to keep from smiling.
 
As
much as he would have like to have seen Broadridge take such a fall, something
had happened before that incident.
 
If it
had happened after, Rosalind would have blood on her clothing. “Did you happen
to slap him as well?”

Her
eyes grew wide, and her face lost all color. “Did he tell you?”

Noah
placed a hand over her back. “No. I noticed the mark when he returned inside.”

She
visibly swallowed.
 
“What did Broadridge
tell you happened?”

His
eyes bore into hers. “Nothing.”

Her
brows creased in confusion. “Nothing? Then why are you here?”

Noah
sighed and led her to the bench where she settled, and he sat beside her.
 
“Penelope came to report to Demetrius that
you had gone outside but not returned. She was concerned about you.
 
Demetrius was going to find you when
Broadridge came inside with his bleeding head.” Noah thrust his fingers through
his hair.
 
“He claimed to have slipped
and fallen and when asked if he had seen you, said that you had gone in through
another door and said you were retiring for the night.”

Rosalind
sagged beside him as if a weight had been lifted from her.

“I
noticed the mark on his cheek and asked Penelope to check on you.
 
When she discovered you were not in your
room, I suspected Broadridge was lying to us.
 
I followed your footsteps until they led here.”

Startled,
she turned to him. “Are others looking as well?”

“No.”
He placed an arm around her shoulders and drew her to his side. “Demetrius and
everyone else accepted his word and went back to what they were doing. I didn’t
want to alert them until I found you.”

“Good,”
she whispered.

“Are
you going to tell me what happened?”

Rosalind
turned her face from him. “It is not important.”

Noah
gently grasped her shoulders and turned her toward him. “It is important to
me.”
 
He had to know what Broadridge had
done.
 
“You were holding that hoe as a
weapon when I came in, and Broadridge had been slapped, so I very well want to
know what he did to you.”

“He
saw us,” Rosalind blurted out.

The
only time Broadridge could have seen them when they shouldn’t have been
observed was during the snowball fight. “When?” he asked slowly, hoping
Broadridge had witnessed a more innocent encounter.

Rosalind
pursed her lips and stared at him.
 

“By
the rocks?”

She
simply nodded and closed her eyes.

“What
else did he say and do?”

Rosalind
bit her bottom lip and tears formed at the corner of her eyes. Perhaps he
shouldn’t press her, but he needed to know.

“I
need to know.”

She
turned away from him as if she couldn’t face him, and Noah would give her that
peace as long as he learned the truth.

“He
came out to the gazebo when he saw me go in there. He tried to kiss me.”

Noah
stiffened and balled his hand into a fist.

“When
I rejected him, he informed me that he hadn’t been sure if the rumor about me
and Thorn had been true at least not until he had seen me with you.”

Rosalind’s
head dropped, and she worried her hands together.
 
Noah placed a hand on her shoulder hoping to
offer some comfort when all he really wanted to do was beat Broadridge to a
bloody pulp.

“He
said he could offer me more than you and Thorn.”

The
words were so low Noah almost hadn’t heard them.

“I
explained that he was wrong and asked him to leave me alone.”

“Did
he physically harm you in anyway?”
 
Noah
asked in what he hoped was a calm manner when he was feeling anything but
composed at the moment.

“No.
He kept trying to kiss and hold me until I slapped and pushed him away.”

A
smile tugged at his lips.
 
Many women
would be afraid to strike a gentleman of Broadridge’s station.

“I
was at the other side of the gazebo, and he started after me again.” She turned
to face Noah.
 
“He grabbed my arm, and I
pushed out again. That is when he slipped and fell into the post.”

“He
deserved worse,” Noah grumbled then took her hand in his. “Then why did you run
away?”

Rosalind
looked at him as if he were daft.
 
“What
if Broadridge wasn’t the only person who had seen us that day?
 
What if he decided to press charges because
of who he is and who I am? What if others learned I was alone with him in the
gazebo? People already believe the rumors about Thorn. I can’t face that again.
I simply can’t.”

A
lone tear slid down her cheek, and Noah gathered Rosalind into his arms.

“I
can assure you that he said nothing, and I will ensure that he doesn’t.”

She
sniffed and brought the handkerchief to her nose. He wasn’t about to tell her
that Penelope had seen them as well. How many others had?”

Twenty-Four

“This
is my fault,” Felding said after a moment.

“No,”
Rosalind cried clasping his hand in hers.
 
“You can’t blame yourself for what people believe.”

“Ah,
but I can.”
 
Felding placed a warm hand
against her cheek. “I am the one that kept you on my lap and kissed you.”

Heat
stole into her cheeks.
 
She wouldn’t
trade those moments for anything in the world. It was probably the only time
she would ever be kissed by a gentleman, and it was a memory she would always
cherish.
 
“I was ruined before I ever
came here, Lord Felding.”

He
studied her. His thumb brushing back and forth across her cheek. “What happened
with Thorn?”
 

Rosalind
stilled. “I thought you knew.”

“I
know what he told me from what he remembers. I am assuming you had a clearer
head.”

She
chuckled. Even though there was no humor in the result of the situation, it had
been rather comical until Lady Filpott arrived.
 
“One of my charges was ill, and I was on my way to inform Lady Filpott.
 
I knew it was late and didn’t wish to disturb
her, but the child woke burning with fever.”

Felding
nodded for her to go on.
 

“I
was walking down the hall where the guests were given chambers, on my way to
the bedchamber of Lady Filpott, when Thorn stumbled up the stairs and directly
into me.
 
I could barely hold his weight
to keep him from crashing to the ground and taking me with him.
 
We fell against the wall which is probably
what alerted some of the guests.”
 
In
truth, she had stumbled so that
her
back was against
the wall, and Thorn ended pressed against her. He had pulled back and stared
and told her how lovely her eyes were, but Felding didn’t need to know every
detail. “He reeked of brandy and was none too steady on his feet,” she chuckled
again.
 
“I helped him to the chamber not
that he was very quiet despite how many times I tried to shush him.
 
When we reached his room, I made the gravest
error.”

Felding
straightened. “How so?”

Rosalind
blew out a breath.
 
“I pushed him into
his room and got him seated on the bed.”
 
She looked up and smiled. “My brothers have been in a similar state
before, and I knew he would likely fall face first just inside the door if I
didn’t see him to his bed.
 
As I turned
to leave, he grasped my hand and asked me to stay. That is when Lady Filpott
entered the chamber.”

Felding
groaned.
 

“She
refused to believe the truth and insisted I was setting Thorn up so that he
would seduce me and then be forced to marry me.”
 
Rosalind grimaced.
 
“Between
Thorn
hitting the walls on his way to his chamber, and Lady Filpott’s shrill voice,
every guest in the wing was now aware that I was in his bedchamber.”

Rosalind
faced Felding more fully. “When I explained that I was trying to go to her
about her sick child, Lady Filpott only became more enraged.
 
If I really cared for her child, I would not
have set about seducing Thorn, and I was dismissed on the spot in front of
several witnesses.”

“Thorn
did try to explain,” Felding prompted.

“Yes,
the next morning, but it was too late.”
 
Her
face burned again. “It didn’t help that he kept asking for his angel to come
back while Lady Filpott was screeching at me.”

Felding
grimaced.
 
“Now that I have kissed you,
I’ve compounded the matter.”

She
would not let him take responsibility for something she was an equal partner
in. “It does not matter, Lord Felding.
 
If you are correct, Broadridge will say nothing and after tomorrow we
will leave, and I will return to the Sandlin household where I belong.”

* * *

Noah
studied her.
 
Rosalind did not belong in
Phoebe’s home unless she was a visitor.
 
“I only feel that I make this right, Rosalind.”

She
eyes him askance.

“You
recall that I mentioned that I wished to speak with you in private?”

Rosalind
nodded and seemed to be holding her breath. Was she worried about what he would
say?

“My
intention was to ask if you would mind if I called on you.”

Her
eyebrows drew together in confusion. “Call on me?”

“Yes,”
he smiled. “I’ve found that I quite enjoy your company and thought to see if we
might spend more time together once the party was completed.”

A
lovely rose spread across her cheeks. It wasn’t the first time she had blushed
since they had been in the orangery.

“Would
you have an objection to my visiting?”

Rosalind
glanced down at her lap and shook her head.

Noah
placed a crooked finger under her chin and lifted her face so that he could see
into her sapphire eyes.
 
“It would not be
as friends you understand.”

She
licked her lips and nodded.

Everything
was settling in as it should be.
 
He
would call on Rosalind to determine that his attraction to her was not as
fleeting as the one he once felt for Lady Jillian. Then, he would court her and
gain permission to marry her.
 
Maybe they
would be wed before the Season, and he would have the opportunity to show her
London.

She
blinked up at him not saying a word. He wished to know what was going on in the
pretty head of hers but would ask at another time.
 
At the moment, her full lips beckoned
him.
 

Noah
lowered his mouth to hers drinking in the taste of her sweetness and leftover
tears. He tilted his head and delved as Rosalind’s arms came up and wrapped
around his shoulders.
 
Noah fought the
urge to sweep her up onto his lap. If he gave into one desire, what would stop
him from giving in to more? As it was, he longed to test the weight of her
beasts in his hands, experience the smoothness of her skin,
drink
from the nectar of . . .” Noah yanked himself back from the kiss and blew out a
breath.

Rosalind
blinked up at him.
 
“Is something wrong?”

He
shifted to find a more comfortable position though he doubted it would be
possible until he stepped out into the cold of the night. He might just need to
sit in the snow.
 
“Nothing is wrong,”
Noah assured her. “But, have no doubt of my desire.” He kissed her quickly, intentionally
not lingering over those luscious lips, and pulled back. “My desire for you can
only be held off for so long.” He stood and offered his hand to her. “We should
return to the house. I am sure Penelope is anxious for your return.”