Winter Wonderland Read Free Page B

wedding. It was one of those affairs given to honor her husband’s coming into his titles. After a year of mourning for his father, Lawrence Traherne, the fourth Earl of Shallcross, was ready to celebrate his new position. It was a happy time, a time of celebration in the family, for not only had their year of mourning come to an end, but Terence, the second brother, had become father to a bouncing boy, and Barnaby, who’d been an excellent student despite his shyness, had won his Oxford degree with honors.
    To celebrate, Lawrence had taken the whole family to London for a season of gaiety. Many of the ton held fêtes for the new Earl. During that season, Honoria had often tried to entice the shy young Barnaby to accompany them to the festivities being held in his brother’s honor, but Barnaby had been too shy to go. This time, however, something had made him change his mind.
    Honoria was delighted. She’d looked forward to this particular affair, for it was being given by her good friends, Lord and Lady Lydell. She remembered how excited she’d been as she’d climbed the stairs of the Lydell town house in Portman Square, her husband holding her right arm, and Barnaby, her left.
    But as soon as they approached the ballroom doorway, Honoria was struck with misgivings. Perhaps she shouldn’t have urged Barnaby to come. Honesty demanded she admit to herself that she’d not thought things through. She’d been too eager, too hasty. Barnaby would not be presented at his best. There had not been time to prepare him properly. He’d not been schooled in ballroom etiquette; he’d not been warned of the many social pitfalls; he’d not even been dressed to advantage. The boy’s hair had not been cut, his borrowed coat now seemed a poor fit, and his breeches positively baggy when compared with the exquisite tailoring exhibited by the other guests. This is all my fault , she berated herself. I should not have permitted him to attend his very first ball so ill-prepared .
    She could sense that poor Barnaby, too, was beset with doubts, though not from the flaws in his costume or the gaps in his education, for he was too naive to be aware of them, but from the shyness that was so much part of his character. But Lawrence pulled him into the ballroom before she could prevent it. And before they’d had a chance to adjust to the noise, Barnaby spotted Miranda Pardew!
    Honoria, following his gaze, felt her heart sink. Right before her eyes, the boy became bewitched. She could not blame him; the laughing young woman attracted the eye of many of the gentlemen present. But of all the women in the room, this one was the last she would have chosen for her shy, inexperienced brother-in-law.
    But her husband, with typical male ineptitude in these matters, would not heed her warnings. Before she could persuade him to change his intent, Lady Lydell came up to them, linked her arm to Honoria’s and, without giving her a chance to object, bore her off to make the social rounds. As she moved away, the last words Honoria could hear were her husband’s: “Come, boy,” he was saying, “and let me introduce you to that charming creature who has you gawking.”
    Honoria had wanted to wring his neck. She kept looking back over her shoulder, wishing urgently that she could find a way to keep her husband from throwing Barnaby to the mercy of the room’s most notorious flirt. But her hostess’s strong grip was irresistible. She tried to signal her alarm to Lawrence by means of meaningful glances, but the Earl did not receive his lady’s mental messages. He merely pushed the boy onward to what Honoria feared would be certain disaster.
    Later, at home, after everyone in the household had gone to bed, Honoria learned how right her feelings had been. She came downstairs to find Barnaby brooding before the embers of the sitting room fire. With gentle prodding, she drew the story out