Season for Surrender Read Free

of tongs.
    For the first time in years, Lady Irving traveled without the comfort of her French lady’s maid, who had recently married and been allowed a holiday. Thus far, Louisa had observed that this privation had decreased her aunt’s never-plentiful patience.
    The countess frowned at Louisa. “Not fretting about missing the family Christmas, are you?”
    â€œI’ll answer that with the heartiest ‘no’ you can possibly imagine,” Louisa said.
    Her aunt shot her a sharp look. “Yes, I suppose you would.”
    In recent months, “family” had meant Louisa’s stepsister, Julia, and brother-in-law James, at whose country house she’d been living. Kind and protective, they hadn’t wanted Louisa to accept the unexpected invitation to Lord Xavier’s house party. Though Xavier and James had been friends for years, Xavier had handed the shocking news of James’s and Julia’s first assignation to one of London’s tawdriest scandal rags. Terribly unkind of him, though Julia and James had soon married. They enjoyed life in the country and were now expecting their first child.
    Whereas Louisa had spent the preceding months cataloguing their library. And as quiet weeks stacked up, she’d catalogued herself along with the books, and she wasn’t at all satisfied with the entry:

    Oliver, the Honorable Louisa Catherine.
Twenty-one years of age. Spinster. Tallish. Dark
hair and eyes. Shy of strangers. Inclined to be
sharp-tongued. Over-fond of books .

    At least she was broad-minded. No one could deny that, considering her family’s scandal had involved the end of Louisa’s own engagement to James.
    As it hadn’t been a love match, she hadn’t been deeply hurt when James turned instead to Julia. Still, there was no sense in ending the year as a hanger-on to their wedded bliss. At this house party, she hoped to add a few lines to her Louisa catalogue.

    Got kissed.
    Found some interesting new books.
    Made peace between James and Xavier and convinced the polite world of my charm.
    Got kissed some more.

    That would be her Christmas gift to herself. With the holiday only four days away, and the New Year approaching, it was time for a change. Past time.
    â€œYou’re blushing, my girl,” Lady Irving said. “Not thinking of something you shouldn’t, are you?”
    â€œI’m so pure-minded that I can’t imagine what you’re talking about,” Louisa lied. “It’s warm in this carriage, that’s all.”
    â€œHmph.” Lady Irving darted a sidelong glance at Louisa as their carriage rolled to a halt. “Already thinking about the books, are you?”
    â€œHow well you know me, Aunt,” Louisa said, though the blush remained on her tattletale cheeks.
    When Xavier had sent his invitation, he had offered her full access to his country house’s library. Clifton Hall was known to have a magnificent collection, from incunables to block-printed books, and Xavier had written that he would be honored if Louisa amused herself with it, since he had heard of her valuable work in James’s library. As though tugging James’s three thousand books into order had been of interest to anyone but Louisa.
    Still, she accepted the polite fiction, for it gave her what she needed: an excuse to escape the worried eyes of her sister and brother-in-law. An excuse to leave them alone in their cozy nest for Christmas. An excuse to go somewhere new, if only to a new library.
    But she was determined to see more than that.
    She accepted a footman’s hand and hopped out of the carriage after her aunt. Her feet landed on bright white gravel, and the faint scent of hothouse orchids wafted from a series of pots lining the stately Tudor home’s facade. Clifton Hall was a patchwork of gray and brown trimmed stone, tall and wide and ostentatiously battlemented, with back-flung wings of half-timbering and red