Christmas At Thorncliff Towers Read Free Page A

of the room. As the group disappeared into a vast hallway, Karina turned her thoughts to Constantin. Where is the stable?
    Dodging in and out of the hedges, she reached the rear of the house and a gazebo draped with pine boughs and sparkling ribbons. While she huddled under the structure, she noticed a stable house perched on a knoll. The house’s windows were aglow with firelight.
    Is Constantin inside?
    Karina’s chest hitched at the possibility.
    She ventured closer. Hearing clanging inside the stables, she decided to peer in. There, naked from the waist up, was Constantin. While he forged a horseshoe for a black stallion tethered in place by a rope, he glistened with layers of sweat. Karina wet her lips. The sight of his defined forearms and broad, muscled chest, moving like liquefied gold, aroused her—despite the chilly weather.
    He was just as she remembered. Well, perhaps he looked a little wilder. His unkempt, brown hair brushed his shoulders and fell in poker-straight strands around his face. And though his twice-broken nose prevented him from being classically handsome, his eyes—still greener than a spring glen—glittered in the firelight. They spawned Karina’s infatuation with him all over again.
    While she tingled with reignited attraction, the black stallion shot her a glare. Then it began to snort and pull on its rope. Neighing emphatically, the animal threw its head her way several times.
    Constantin’s eyes flicked to the window. Heart drumming, Karina drew away. She wasn’t ready to face his penetrating stare.
    They’d had a heated argument the night she shattered a window and stole into the kitchen at Thorncliff Towers. After Viktor was captured, Karina raced back to camp to tell Constantin. He went crazy, stuffing his belongings into a satchel before chastising her.
    “How could you let my brother get caught stealing food?” He’d roared.
    “It wasn’t my fault , ” Karina had lied.
    “I’ll never believe that.”
    When Constantin stormed off with the intention of taking his brother’s place, he unknowingly broke Karina’s heart. Her despair grew so deep that she distanced herself from others.
    For months, she wondered if they could ever be together. Karina snuck another peek at his chiseled physique. Few men have a kind heart to match their good looks .
    She prayed that Constantin hadn’t lost his sense of compassion in his time here. She also hoped that he wouldn’t consider her a piece of rubbish—now that he’d seen the finer things in life.
    Considering what she’d done, could she ever get Constantin to fall in love with her?
    Am I a witch or am I a witch?
    Lips curling, Karina prepared to enter the stable house. She had two choices. To persuade Constantin to follow her back to camp, she could trick him into drinking the bewitching elixir hidden in her bodice, or to prompt him to fall in love with her, she could prick him with the enchanted ring she was wearing.
    Decisions. Decisions.

2
    K arina was about to push open the stable door when she felt a finger pressing in her back. Whirling around, she looked into Grace Ann’s cherubic face.
    “Who are you?” the little girl asked.
    Karina shushed her. “I lost my way in the woods. Don’t worry; I’ll be on my way soon.”
    Grace Ann raised an eyebrow at Karina’s shabby dress and dirty hands. “You look like a Gypsy.”
    “I am a Gypsy.”
    “Do you know Constantin then? He’s my favorite servant. He lets me ride the horses—even though Grandmamma says I can’t.”
    Karina smiled. That sounded like Constantin.
    She studied the astuteness in the girl’s eyes. Grace Ann reminded her of herself at that age. And though Karina didn’t normally like children, an unexpected affinity for the girl tugged at her heart.
    “So, Constantin is kind to the horses, is he?” She knelt so she was closer to the child’s height.
    “Oh, yes,” Grace Ann said excitedly. “He was also nice enough to take his brother’s place here