A knock at the door interrupted them. Broderick walked in. “Her Grace, the Dowager Duchess of Hollingsworth,” he announced.
Nathan’s brows snapped together. “Mother?”
The dowager strode in with her cane in one hand and her fur muff on the other. She shook the snow from her muff, marched over to her son, and waited for him to bend down and kiss her cheek. “I’m afraid leaving is impossible, Hollingsworth. I just arrived, and the road is completely covered by snow. It looks as if we’ll all be spending the holiday together, here.” A foxlike grin spread across her face.
“Oh dear,” Elizabeth uttered. She slid into the nearest chair and let her forehead rest on her palm.
“Perfect. What else could go wrong?” Nathan asked.
A footman walked through the door and whispered a few words to the butler, who promptly intoned, “Your Graces, may I announce the arrival of Lord Anthony Gillette, the Earl of Atwater?”
Evie beamed. “Uncle Tony!”
Chapter Ten
ELIZABETH PLACED A shaking hand on the arm of the chair. Dear God, Tony. Tony had been a steadfast friend to her for many years, and that was all he was to her. But she understood how it might look to Nathan and his mother to have the Earl of Atwater arriving for Christmastide. Tony lived at a neighboring estate and had paid a call on Elizabeth once or twice at the very beginning of her time here. Slowly, over the years, he’d come around more often, and Elizabeth had eventually told him about the problems in her marriage and the reason why her husband and her other daughter never came to visit. Tony was often gone to London, and when he returned, he kept Elizabeth abreast of some of her husband’s doings, though usually she didn’t want to hear much. Apparently, over the years, Nathan had escorted a few widows to the theater. He’d escorted a few others to the opera. Eventually, Elizabeth had asked Tony not to tell her any more. But Tony was her closest friend here in the country, and Tony adored Evie and had been nothing but gentlemanly and honorable to both of them. He did not deserve the scene he was about to encounter.
“I nearly didn’t make it, Lizzie.” She heard his voice before she saw him come round the corner. “What with this weather—”
Tony, holding large gifts under each of his arms, stopped as soon as he spied the occupants of the room.
Nathan had narrowed his eyes when Tony had said “Lizzie,” and Elizabeth winced. She and Tony had long ago agreed to be less formal and call each other by their given names. But it had to seem positively scandalous to Nathan and his mother.
Elizabeth jumped up from her seat and quickly crossed the fine rug to greet her friend. “Merry Christmas, Lord Atwater,” she said in an overly bright voice. “Won’t you join us?”
Tony glanced around the room, obviously sizing up the situation quickly. His ready smile never left his face. “Why, I’d no idea that Lady Genevieve would be here. If I’d known, I’d have brought gifts for everyone.”
“Oh, no need to worry on that score,” Elizabeth said in an unstable voice. She couldn’t look at Nathan or his mother. It was all too awkward. She took the gifts from Tony and set them on a nearby table.
Tony turned to the other occupants of the room. “Hollingsworth, good to see you.” He held out his hand, and Nathan stood and shook it. “It’s been a while. I usually see you only in London.”
“Right,” Nathan replied in a voice that sounded as if it had been etched from stone.
“Your Grace,” Tony said next, bowing to the dowager.
“Lord Atwater,” the dowager intoned icily with barely a regal inclination of her head.
“It’s good to see you, Uncle Tony,” Evie said from her perch on the sofa next to her sister. “Thank you for the Christmastide gift.”
Elizabeth winced again. From the disgruntled look on Nathan’s face, he didn’t appreciate Evie referring to Tony as her uncle.
“Don’t mention it, dar—” Tony cleared his throat. “Don’t mention it, Evie. I’m pleased to see you back from school. Your hair looks quite beautiful.”
Evie beamed at him and blushed. “Thank you. This is my sister, Lady Genevieve Hollister.” Evie flourished a small hand toward Genevieve.
“I could only guess she was your sister,” Tony said with a small smile tugging at his lips. “There is a bit of a resemblance, is there not?”
Gena eyed Tony warily until her father prompted her with an obvious warning glare.
“It’s nice to meet you, Lord Atwater,” she said, but she didn’t sound a bit happy about it.
“Please come and sit,” Elizabeth said to her friend. Her eyes begged Tony to stay. He nodded nearly imperceptibly. He understood. Thank heavens. He could tell she was under duress and needed him. Elizabeth mentally sighed. She could always count on Tony. Of course, the man probably had little choice. If what the dowager said about the weather was true, he couldn’t leave if he wanted to. Actually, was it true? At any rate, discussing the weather seemed the safest option at present.
“How are the roads, my lord?” Elizabeth asked as Tony took a seat to her right.
“Quite impassable, I’m sorry to say. If I’d known how dreadful they were, I wouldn’t have risked it.”
“A pity,” the dowager remarked, her patrician nostrils flaring slightly.
Tony glanced at the older woman. “Yes, well, I left Mother at home to be safe.”
“Oh, that’s why you left your mother at home,” Nathan drawled.
“Yes, er, quite,” Tony replied, tossing Elizabeth a private what-exactly-is-going-on-here look.
Elizabeth counted three to steady her nerves. There was no way to make the situation less awkward, so she did what any self-respecting hostess would do. She rang for tea.
“So,” Tony said, settling into his chair, his legendary smile returning to his face. “Tell me how you all decided to . . . spend Christmastide together.”
“It was our fault, Uncle Tony,” Evie admitted quietly. “I met Gena at school, and we decided . . . well, I decided I wanted to meet Father, and Gena wanted to meet Mother. So we . . . switched.”
Tony coughed. He beat his chest with one fist. “You switched?”
“Yes,” Gena said, apparently taking to the subject. “I convinced Evie to cut her hair because of the pine sap, and we taught each other everything we needed to know. Except how to play the pianoforte properly,” she added with an unrepentant grin.
Elizabeth shook her head at her daughter. “Pine sap? And I shudder to ask where you learned that song you played.”
“That was the only song I knew,” Gena admitted with a shameless giggle.
“I think Father knew it wasn’t me the moment I didn’t run into his arms and hug him,” Evie said.
Tony whistled. “So, you both were discovered and—”
“And I brought Evie back home immediately,” Nathan replied tightly. “However, now the roads are impassable and we are stu—”
“We are planning a family Christmastide celebration,” the dowager interjected, stamping her cane on the rug.
Elizabeth closed her eyes. There was no way Tony hadn’t heard the emphasis the older woman had placed on the word family.
AS BRODERICK SERVED tea, Elizabeth surreptitiously glanced at Nathan. She tried to guess his mood. Was he angry? Resigned? Bored? She couldn’t tell. He’d always been maddeningly unreadable. That, apparently, hadn’t changed. However, one thing had. The man looked better with age, devil take him. She’d always found him handsome. In fact, she’d been quite agog at his good looks when she’d first met him at seventeen. Dark, slightly curly hair, piercing sapphire eyes. He was tall and broad-shouldered and had the smallest crook in his nose that she’d dreamt of kissing. Of course, after their wedding ceremony and first year of marriage, she’d decided that dreams and reality were two very different things. She and he had been at odds from the moment they’d spoken
their vows. Nathan had been flippant about her beliefs and had constantly quarreled with her mother, while she herself had never been good enough or happy enough for him.
The fighting had only intensified after the babies were born, and when the girls were three months old, Elizabeth had left London for the country. Nathan had demanded she return the children, and Elizabeth had steadfastly refused. Finally, he’d written her a proposal. He wasn’t about to give up both of his children, but he could take Genevieve back to London and Elizabeth would keep Evangeline in the country. Elizabeth had refused the proposal at first. She couldn’t give up one of her babies. She just couldn’t. But as the weeks had passed and their arguments hadn’t diminished, she’d realized that Nathan’s offer was the best for all of them. It was the only way she could be rid of him nearly entirely without losing both of her daughters. And so Nathan had hired a wet nurse and taken baby Gena with him to London.
Elizabeth had cried so much that first year that she’d thought she could never cry again. But she’d made a life for herself here in Kent. She brought food and clothing to the villagers and tenants. She became friends with Tony and his mother. She taught her daughter how to ride, and they had a large menagerie of animals on the estate that Evie grew up playing with. They were content here, if not happy. Oh, why oh why did the dowager have to go and ruin it all by tricking her into sending Evie to that blasted school?
Broderick arrived with the tea service just then, jolting Elizabeth from her thoughts just as the dowager said, “So, Lord Atwater, when are you leaving?”
Chapter Eleven
NATHAN STROLLED THROUGH the library with his hands in his pockets. He let out a deep breath. God’s teeth, that had been awkward in there earlier with Atwater. There was really no excuse for his mother’s rude behavior, but Atwater had handled it with humor to spare. “If you’ll point me to some snowshoes, I can be off immediately if you wish,” the earl had responded with a grin to the dowager’s rude question. And while his mother had looked as if she might just be tempted to go fetch him the snowshoes herself, Elizabeth and Evie had both immediately chimed in and said they wouldn’t hear of such a thing and he should stay until the roads were clear.
Tea had been served, and immediately after, Nathan had quickly made an excuse of needing a bit of exercise to get out of that room. Elizabeth had also excused herself to see to the sleeping arrangements, and his mother had appropriated both girls to show her the Christmastide garland in the dining room. That had left Tony Gillette alone in the drawing room, sipping his tea and probably wondering what the hell had happened. Nathan couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the earl. He’d always liked Tony. They’d been friends when they were boys. But Nathan could easily dislike him if he thought the earl was sleeping with his wife. If Nathan found out that was true, he would knock the earl’s teeth down his throat, childhood friend or not.
Nathan made his way out of the library and into the large corridor that housed the portraits of all his ancestors. He hadn’t seen these paintings in so long. It was like coming . . . home. On more than one occasion over the years, he’d wished he hadn’t promised Elizabeth he’d never bother her here. He’d wanted to come, to visit, to see the home where he’d grown up, to ride across the fields he’d ridden across as a boy, to see Evangeline. Every time he’d begun to write Elizabeth a letter telling her that he intended to pay a visit, he’d ripped it up and tossed the bits in the fireplace. He’d been too damn stubborn to come back, to admit he’d banished himself from a place he missed. Of course, he hadn’t particularly wanted to see Elizabeth, but he had been curious about her over the years. His mother hadn’t admitted she was visiting her regularly. She’d only told him from time to time that she’d heard a bit of gossip that Evie and Elizabeth were healthy and doing well, and as long as Nathan continued to hear that, there had seemed no need to disturb them and their life here. A life that obviously included Tony Gillette.
Nathan rubbed the back of his neck. Blast it. If Elizabeth had gone and fallen in love with his neighbor, Nathan had only himself to blame. Elizabeth was a beautiful woman. Beautiful and poised and clearly changed from the girl she’d been twelve years ago. When they’d met, he’d been dazzled by her beauty, obvious wit, and charm. But as soon as the marriage had taken place, and his mother-in-law had begun to wheedle her way into their marriage, everything had changed. Why had Nathan never considered the possibility that she had changed again over the years? It had been foolish of him. When Tony had walked into the drawing room, she’d looked nothing short of horrified. That proved she loved him, didn’t it? Or at least had an inappropriate relationship with him? If they were merely friends, surely she wouldn’t have been so aghast by his presence in front of her husband.
Yet Nathan knew he had no right to be jealous. Yes, they were husband and wife, but he’d made it clear when they’d decided to live apart that Elizabeth was free to do what she liked as long as she didn’t give birth to a bastard and shame him. That hadn’t happened, of course, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t in love with Tony. Why did her being in love with Tony seem so much worse than her going to bed with Tony? Nathan hadn’t exactly been celibate all these years himself. He’d had a good time with the odd widow upon occasion, but none of them had held his interest for longer than a few weeks, and he had certainly been discreet.
Nathan moved into the music room. Evie apparently spent a great deal of her time here. She’d told him as much during their journey today. The room had also been redecorated. It was bright and white, a happy place, much different from the dark colors of his mother’s reign in this house. And she had the nerve to call his study dingy? In fact, now that he’d had a chance to look around, Nathan realized that the entire main floor had been redecorated, and every room for the better. The changes were obviously Elizabeth’s doing. He never would have thought the unhappy girl he’d married so many years ago would have made this house into more of a home than it had ever been.
He glanced out the window of the music room and spied Gena and Evie playing together in the snow. Apparently, they’d finished their tour of the dining room with their grandmama. They were bundled up in their overcoats. Both wore scarves and mittens and were chasing each other around in large circles, laughing and shrieking with delight. A lump formed in Nathan’s throat. His daughters, playing together. It was the first time he’d ever seen it. They’d been denied that privilege for twelve years of their lives. Had he failed them? By God, he’d do right by them now.
Chapter Twelve
ELIZABETH HAD HURRIED from the awkwardness in the drawing room to the kitchens to find the housekeeper. “Please see that rooms are made up for Lady Genevieve, His Grace, and the dowager.”
“What about Lord Atwater, Your Grace?” Mrs. Henderson asked.
“Oh, yes, Lord Atwater, too.” She’d nearly forgotten that Tony would be forced to stay overnight due to the weather. He normally went home at the end of the day when he visited.
“Your Grace, should I make up His Grace’s bedchamber then?” the housekeeper asked, not meeting her eyes.
Elizabeth nodded hesitantly. “Yes, I think that’s best, Mrs. Henderson.” But her voice shook, too. Nathan’s bedchamber was adjacent to her own and had an adjoining door. She couldn’t very well justify not having the duke stay in his own bedchamber, and she found it far too awkward to ask the man if he preferred to stay in another room. Besides, there was no need to involve the servants in her little familial drama. No doubt they all gossiped about the fact that the lord of the manor hadn’t been home in over a decade. No need to add to the talk.
There was no help for it. Elizabeth would have to go up there later, to a room she hadn’t entered in over twelve years, and ensure it was acceptable. The hostess in her demanded it. Where was the Christmastide wine?
SHE KNEW SHE would find Tony in the conservatory. It was his favorite area of the house. He was partial to plants and growing things.
“It’s lovely, isn’t it?” She sighed, rubbing her fingers across the leaves of a potted palm.
“Where are the children?”
“They asked if they could play in the snow. I said yes. I want them to spend as much time together as they can before—” She glanced away and folded her arms over her chest, her lungs so tight she couldn’t breathe.
“Before Hollingsworth takes Gena back?” Tony asked softly.
Elizabeth nodded. She lifted her chin toward Tony’s glass. “Drinking early?”
He arched a brow. “I’m surprised you aren’t drinking yet, what with the return of the prodigal duke.”
Elizabeth slumped onto a nearby white ironwork bench and stared down at her slippers. “I can’t say I haven’t been wishing for wine. Oh, Tony, what am I going to do? This whole situation was a complete surprise. I mean, I realized the girls had switched, but I didn’t expect him to just arrive here without so much as a note. I thought I’d have more time to prepare.”
“So I gathered.” Tony held his glass down in front of her face. “Care for a sip?”
Elizabeth began to wave it away, but then she thought better of it, took it, and downed a good fourth of the contents, coughing as the liquid burned her throat. “Thank you. I believe I needed that,” she said once her coughing ceased.
“I don’t doubt it,” he said with a laugh, taking back his glass.
She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. For what happened in the drawing room earlier.”
“No need to apologize, Lizzie. It’s not as if you could have warned me.”
All I Want for Christmas Is a Duke Page 5