A Christmas Courtship Read Free Page B

hurry across the much quieter, less well lit stableyard toward the row of coach houses at the far end.
    The doors of the Mortimer coach house were closed, but they opened easily enough as she pushed upon them. It was very dark inside, but she could just make out the three vehicles kept there, a gleaming maroon traveling carriage, a dark-blue barouche for the town, and Antony’s dashing yellow cabriolet. Everything was so quiet that she thought she was the first to arrive, but then, as her eyes became used to the darkness, someone moved behind the barouche and spoke her name. It was Antony.
    He wore a camel-colored greatcoat with a brown fur collar and Hessian boots that sported gilt spurs. An ivory-handled cane swung in his gloved hand, and his top hat was tipped rakishly back on his curly brown hair. He was tall and good-looking , with soft hazel eyes that played havoc with her heart, and as he smiled at her, she ran into his arms.
    He held her close, his cheek resting against her hair, for her hood had fallen back. For a long moment they stood in an emotional embrace, and then he tilted her lips toward his, giving her a long, sweet kiss. The smell of costmary clung to his clothes, enveloping her in an embrace of its own, and she felt weak with love for him, as if just by his presence he’d robbed her of her will.
    He drew back at last, his eyes dark as he cupped her face in his gloved hands. ‘I was beginning to think you weren’t coming,’ he whispered.
    ‘Hannah doesn’t know about the pendant, and it was an age before I could think of a suitable excuse for slipping away on myown. I told her I’d forgotten to buy the handkerchiefs I mean to embroider for Jonathan with his initials for Christmas, and she let me go at last. I only hope she doesn’t ask to see them, because that rogue Mr Gilbey charged me so much for the repair to the pendant that I had to use up nearly all my remaining allowance.’ She lowered her eyes. ‘He charged me too much in order to try to persuade me to sell the pendant.’  
    ‘Why don’t you sell it? It would make things a good deal easier for you and your father. Just think of the Christmas you could have, my darling, and the gown you could wear to celebrate our good news.’ He smiled mysteriously, stroking her skin with his thumb.
    She stared at him. ‘What do you mean?’ she whispered. ‘Simply that I couldn’t bear it any longer, and I’ve grasped the nettle. I’ve spoken to my father about us.’
    Her heart almost stopped. ‘You-you have?’  
    ‘Yes, and what’s more, he’s actually disposed to give his consent.’  
    Her eyes widened with utter amazement. ‘Do you really mean it?’ she breathed, hardly daring to hope.
    ‘He was a little reluctant at first, for reasons I have no need to explain because you know them already, but in the end he came around.’ He smiled again, his lips brushing hers, but then he became more serious. ‘There is a condition, Blanche.’  
    ‘Condition?’  
    ‘We must have more than just your father’s agreement, we must have his promise that he’ll intercede with the Duke of Norfolk on my father’s behalf.’
    She stared at him. ‘The Duke of Norfolk? But….’  
    He put a finger to her lips. ‘I happen to know that your father and the duke are friendly, and since my father needs the duke’s patronage to advance his political hopes, then it is only to be expected that my father would wish yours to speak to the duke in that connection.’  
    ‘But my father’s friendship with the duke has been in abeyance for two years now, Antony, and anyway….’  
    ‘It’s important, Blanche,’ he interrupted softly. ‘My father already has one path to the duke’s door, but another one wouldsurely be a clincher. It means more than anything to my father that he pursue a career in Westminster, and to that end he’s prepared to forgo his wishes concerning a titled bride for me.’
    ‘I-I don’t know that my father will agree