Compromised for Christmas

by Jane Charles

with you, so naturally I assumed you were alone.” She hastened to the door. “I will run along now. We can visit later. Please forgive my intrusion. I won’t let it happen again.”

  John had never heard anyone speak so quickly in his life. “Please, don’t go on my account. I know how much Elizabeth has missed you.”

  “Yes, Louisa, come enjoy tea with me and tell me everything that has been happening.”

  Louisa looked from Elizabeth to John and back again. “Are you sure you don’t mind the intrusion?” she asked John.

  “You are Elizabeth’s sister. That is not an intrusion. Besides, I would like to wash up. Is there somewhere I could go?”

  “Through that door on your left,” Elizabeth instructed.

  John turned the handle and entered a rather modern bathing chamber. There was a bathing tub with piped in water as well as anything else a person would need in the privacy of their room. This may be an old, rustic castle, but Danby certainly had seen that it had all of the modern conveniences. He turned and grabbed his bag off the bed before disappearing in to the room.

  He took as much time as he could bathing and readying himself to give Elizabeth and Louisa private time together, but he soon ran out of things to do, so he decided to join the ladies.

  “Has Nicholas arrived?” Elizabeth was asking as he entered the room.

  Louisa turned to him. “I rang for another cup. Please join us.”

  He took the empty chair, settled down next to Elizabeth, and allowed Louisa to pour him a cup of tea. He was interested to know about Nicholas as well. With any luck, he could be gone before his old friend arrived.

  “Not that I am aware of. Grandfather sent him after Andrew, to drag him back if necessary.”

  John remembered Andrew from school, and Julian as well. He hoped neither remembered him, though he knew it was unlikely.

  “Julian?” Elizabeth questioned.

  Louisa shrugged. “He hasn’t arrived either.”

  “The twins? Have they married, or are they still in residence?”

  “Yes, they are, but I suspect Emma will be leaving very soon.”

  “Why is that?” Elizabeth reached over to pick up the teapot and refilled her cup.

  “She married Viscount Heathfield.” Louisa leaned forward and whispered. “Heathfield only arrived at the castle yesterday and they married this morning.” She sat up. “Grandfather arranged everything. And Isabel seems to have developed an attraction for his friend, Damien Lockwell.”

  “It is a shame she couldn’t wait until all of the family arrived,” Elizabeth mused.

  “As if you have a right to judge. None of us attended your wedding. By the time any of us knew, you were already settled in the south of France.”

  John glanced at Elizabeth. “I was so anxious to make her my bride, I did not want to wait to travel here or wait for your family to travel to us.” He reached over and squeezed Elizabeth’s hand.

  Elizabeth’s eyes met his and a soft smile pulled at her lips.

  “Grandfather was furious, but I found it all terribly romantic.”

  Not only were several Whittons in residence, but there were also Heathfield and Lockwell. It is going to be impossible to convince all of them he was Jean Pierre Bouvier. The beard may offer some disguise, but not nearly enough.

  “Well, I should leave you two alone.”

  Elizabeth stood with her sister.

  “I’ll see you at supper?” Louisa asked once she reached the door.

  Elizabeth looked over at him. The dining room table with all those people was the last place they needed to be right now. Not until he figured out what they were going to do. He gave a slight shake of his head.

  She looked back at her sister. “I am not ready to face all of them yet. Tomorrow will be soon enough. Would you mind asking Cook to have a tray sent to the room?”

  “Not at all.” Louisa beamed. “I will see you in the morning.”

  John studied Elizabeth, cradling the cup in his hands. They needed a new plan, or maybe the truth. With the truth, however, came the end of their careers.

  “We have a decision to face.”

  Elizabeth set her cup aside and straightened her spine. “Go on.”

  “I can leave in the morning, without meeting any more of your family. I should have thought this through before I came after you.” He set his cup on the table and stood to pace. “I don’t know how I could have forgotten about your blasted cousins. I can’t fool them all, not to mention Lockwell and Heathfield. I may have been gone for a number of years, but I am afraid not long enough they would not recognize me.”

  “That is probably for the best. We can’t risk your future being ruined because you were here at Christmas.”

  “It is yours, too.” He took her hands and pulled her to stand before him. “That is, if you wish to continue working for the Home Office.”

  “I do, which is why we can’t risk them meeting you.”

  “How will you explain my disappearance?”

  Elizabeth pulled away and walked to the fireplace. “I am sure I will think of something.” She turned suddenly and grinned. “I’ll tell Grandfather he scared you off and you are probably halfway to France.”

  “That is rather insulting, since the only thing he ordered me to do was get you with child. A man would not run from that.”

  Her face once again turned a lovely hue of rose, and it was not easy to forget that a bed sat not far away. Would it be so bad to give up working for England, settle down, and have children with Elizabeth?

  John stifled the thought. How would he support a wife, the granddaughter of Danby no less? He had no skills other than those used to benefit England. He supposed he could beg his father for his allowance. No, he didn’t want to do that either. He was a man and should support his wife and children with whatever means it took. He would just need to figure out what those means were.

  “What do you care what they think? Jean Pierre doesn’t really exist. It isn’t as if John Trent is running from the thought of bedding his wife.”

  “And, he never would.” He took a few steps forward and drew Elizabeth into his arms and kissed her gently. “What do you think of your family knowing the truth?”

  Elizabeth pulled away. “No. There are so many of them, all of England would know before the first of the year. I could not go back to doing what I love.”

  John pulled her back to him. “Did you really love it all that much?”

  Elizabeth bit her bottom lip. “It wasn’t as exciting as I dreamed it would be. After the first few months, it was easy to move about in the palace, serving Napoleon as if he were any other man, passing on what bit of information I could lay my hands on. It became so easy it became boring, I suppose.” She moved away to sit on the bed. “The most excitement I have had in the last two years was when we needed to escape.”

  “You were lucky, as was I, to work in our positions for so long.”

  “Still, it was better than the alternative.”

  “Which is?”

  “Another Season in London with Grandfather pushing different lords in my direction.”

  As elegant as Elizabeth appeared at the moment, she would fit in well in the ballrooms of London, but he knew she would lose patience with those dandies within the first hour.

  He settled on the bed beside her. “Since you don’t want to return to society, I assume you still want to continue working for the Home Office?”

  She turned to look at him. “Yes. Don’t you?”

  So much for the two of them having a future. “Very well. I will leave here early and take care to avoid any of your family.”

  “I’ll explain that you, that…oh, I’ll think of something by then.”

  Elizabeth watched John move about the darkened chamber as he dressed and packed his belongings back into his bag. She wanted to ask him to stay. She was not ready to part from him again. The first time was difficult enough; today it was
doubly so. But to ask him to stay meant asking him to give up life as he knew it, and that was something she would never do.

  He straightened and paused, bag in his hand. She rose from the bed to approach him. No words were spoken this morning. What was there to say? Instead, he dropped the bag and pulled her close. His lips told her everything she needed, and tears stung at the back of her lids.

  John pulled away and looked down at her. “Be safe.”

  Elizabeth forced a smile. “You too.”

  He turned to open the door and stepped out into the hall, colliding with someone stalking towards the stairs.

  “Trent, what the hell are you doing here?”

  “Bloody hell.” It was said low, but Elizabeth heard John just the same.

  “Get in here, both of you, before you disturb the entire household.”

  Her cousin Nicholas and John stepped inside. It was John who pushed the door closed, while Nicholas stood, arms crossed over his chest, feet braced, looking back and forth between the two. Oh, this was not going to go well at all. Nicholas tended to be a tad bit protective and wasn’t afraid to use his fists.

  She rushed forwards to hug her cousin. “Nick, it is so good to see you. How have you been?”

  He didn’t return her embrace but glared at John. “Where is your husband, Jean Pierre?”

  Elizabeth’s eyes sought John’s. She would let him explain who Jean Pierre was.

  John took a step back and leaned against the door. “I am Jean Pierre Bouvier.”

  “The hell you are!” Nicholas turned on her. “What is going on here, Elizabeth?”

  “In France, he is known as Jean Pierre Bouvier.” It wasn’t an