‘Then proceed, sir. Have you have come to threaten me with arrest again?’
Oh, dear. This would be one of the days when Father was clear of memory and in a foul temper. Barbara’s mind worked furiously to come up with a distraction that would separate the pair of them.
‘On the contrary, Mr Lampett. I have come to ask for your help.’
This was so shocking a request that it reduced the whole Lampett family to silence.
Mr Stratford used the pause to his advantage. ‘You know that I mean to reopen the mill in a few weeks, and that there are likely to be more workers than positions available? This concerns me greatly.’
‘It does?’ her father said, stupefied at this reversal of positions.
‘You know the people better than I, for I am near to a stranger. I can think of no one better qualified to help me find other employment for them. I would compensate you, of course, for it would take a fair amount of your time. Then, if I can persuade Robert Breton to be its patron, we will likely be reopening the school. You would be needed there as well—either as a teacher, or in an advisory capacity.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’ And clearly her father did not. The onslaught of new ideas had stopped his anger in its tracks.
‘You need not make a decision now. Think on it for a time. I am opening Clairemont Manor this evening for the annual Tenants’ Ball. Perhaps there will be time for us to discuss it then. But feel free to share my ideas with any in the village you might meet. They are in no way secret. I mean to find employment of some kind for all those who are willing to work.’
‘I will. I will at that. Margaret!’ He gestured to his wife. ‘We must go to church immediately. We will see many of the men affected. I will broach the subject to the vicar as well.’
‘You will broach it after the last hymn,’ her mother said severely.
‘Of course.’
But Barbara could see by the look in her father’s eye that he was unlikely to hear much of what was preached, and would spend the next hour scribbling pencil notes in the back of his prayer book that would become a stirring and inspiring speech on the subject.
Father grabbed for his hat and opened the door, as though he’d quite forgotten that there was a guest present.
‘One more thing before you go, sir.’ Stratford touched his arm. ‘Might I request your daughter’s hand in marriage?’
‘Certainly,’ her father muttered. ‘Margaret, what have I done with my muffler?’
But her mother could manage nothing more than a squeak of surprise.
‘It is on your neck, Father,’ Barbara said weakly.
‘Very good, then. Let us go to church.’
Her mother recovered her composure and shot an exasperated look around the room. ‘After we have tied your neckcloth, Bernard.’ She struggled with his collar button and the rumpled linen. ‘We shall go on ahead—and you, Barbara, shall meet us there. Mr Stratford, if we do not see the pair of you in the family pew before the end of the first hymn … Well, I do not know what we shall do. But I trust you to behave as a gentleman.’
‘I do not know why you would, ma’am,’ Joseph said with a smile. ‘Perhaps you do not know me as well as the rest of your family does. But you can trust me in this, at least. I will take good care of your daughter.’ He gave another respectful bow as Barbara’s parents withdrew, leaving them alone.
Barbara shot a helpless look after them as the door shut. Then she turned to face Joseph. ‘And just what is the meaning of this, Mr Stratford?’
‘I should think that would be obvious,’ he said, with another smile. But there was no mischief in it. He was looking at her as if he had never seen anything so wonderful.
‘There is nothing obvious about it. Was it not just two days ago that you made public your betrothal to Anne Clairemont?’
‘And this morning I broke it.’ He reached out to take her hand, running a weather-roughened finger across the back of her knuckles.
‘You did not,’ she said, pulling her hand away from him. ‘Anne will be heartbroken.’
‘She most certainly will not,’ he answered back. ‘She is utterly besotted with my friend Robert, and thoroughly glad to be rid of me.’
‘You knew?’ She breathed a little deeper knowing that the dark secret she had uncovered was no secret at all.
‘I concur with her. They are very well suited. But to make sure that there is no trouble with her father I am selling Bob the house. Lord Clairemont will have what he wants, and Anne will marry the son of an earl and the man she loves. And no one will be forced to marry into trade.’ Then he looked at her more seriously. ‘Not even you, if you do not wish to. Marry me, that is.’
‘It might be the wisest thing,’ she admitted quietly. ‘After what happened the other night.’
‘You could marry me because it is the wisest thing to do,’ he agreed. ‘But I would rather you didn’t. If it is only out of concern for your reputation I would understand. But I was rather under the impression that you had strong feelings for me.’
Must I confess everything again? Though it is true that I love you, I am tired of being your plaything. She bit back the foolish words that she wanted to say, and fought the desire to throw herself into his arms quickly, before he found a way to ruin it all again. ‘I would much rather hear your reason for wanting to marry me. What could I possibly have that you need, Mr Stratford?’
‘My heart,’ he said simply. ‘I think you must have taken it with you when you left yesterday. It is not clockwork, as you said. If it was, I should be able to replace it.’
‘You are clever with machines,’ she admitted, doing her best to still the fluttering in her own breast.
‘It turns out I am flesh and blood, after all. And likely to make quite a mess of things if I am allowed to go on like this. I have given up my fiancée and my manor. I have walked through the village handing over so much food that I am not sure there will be anything left for supper—nor money to buy more, now that I have promised to employ the whole village. And to top it off I will likely frighten my London investors by letting the rabble into the house this evening.’ He held out his open arms. ‘I am a disaster in the making, Miss Lampett. Someone should take me in hand while I still have a penny left in my pocket.’
‘Not me, surely,’ she said with a little smile. ‘For I would not change a bit of you. It was a wonderful thing you just did for Father.’
‘I doubt it will solve all his problems,’ Joseph said, taking her hand again. ‘But perhaps, if he has a purpose and a different direction for his energies, we might harness a portion of his madness and do some good with it.’
‘That is a far cry from threatening him with a one-way trip to Australia,’ Barbara noted. ‘That was the tune you were singing to me just a few days ago.’
‘I find I cannot stomach the idea of a father-in-law who is a convict,’ he said, with a wry twist of his mouth. ‘I might be in trade, Miss Lampett, but even I have some standards.’
‘You seem quite sure I will accept you.’
‘Because I will not take no for an answer.’ He dropped to one knee then, and gave her hand a squeeze. ‘I have seen the future, Barbara. While I cannot claim that I will die if you do not have me, I am quite certain that it would not be worth my living without you.’ He dropped his head to plant a kiss on the back of her hand, humbled and at her feet.
‘Oh, do get up.’ She nudged at him with the toe of her shoe. For she’d had a sudden memory of what had occurred in the little alcove the last time he’d knelt before her. And she was sure her face was burning bright red.
‘Not until you say yes.’ He looked up hopefully. ‘I have no ring to offer you, but you may have whatever you like. And I promise that I will not waste money on a gaudy parure with a tiara that you do not need.’
‘That is the most outlandish thing I have ever heard,’ she said. ‘What sort of man gets down on his knees and swears that he will not buy his wife jewellery?’
&nbs
p; ‘One who is so totally undone by love that he is no longer sure what he is saying.’
‘You are undone by love?’ She was not sure she believed him. But she quite liked the sound of it.
He nodded. ‘And running out of time to plead my case. The church bells have stopped. Soon your mother will be coming back to box my ears.’
‘Then I had best take you, hadn’t I?’ She stepped back and tried to tug him to his feet. ‘For I rather like your ears just as they are.’
‘Do you, now?’ He stood and caught her around the waist, pulling her close for a kiss. ‘I like yours as well. And your nose. And your eyes. And your fingertips.’ He followed each revelation with a brief kiss to the honoured feature, and then put his mouth to her ear and whispered several other things that he appreciated, but that she was quite sure she should not let him see again until the banns had been read.
‘It is Christmas,’ she reminded him. ‘And broad daylight. We are expected elsewhere, and already late.’
He sighed. ‘Then put on your bonnet and we will be off.’
‘I suppose you’ve brought your carriage again?’ she said, tying up the ribbon on her new hat.
Then he proved to her that he had truly changed. For he reached into his pocket and tugged on his gloves, before setting his hat upon his head. ‘Actually, no. It is not far, and such a nice day I did not bring it. We shall have to walk.’
‘Together?’ she said with a smile.
‘I would have it no other way.’
IMPRINT: Historical eBooks
ISBN: 9781460800669
TITLE: A CHRISTMAS BETROTHAL: CHRISTMAS AT MULBERRY HALL/SNOWBOUND AND SEDUCED/A REGENCY CHRISTMAS CAROL
First Australian Publication 2011
Copyright © 2011 Carole Mortimer/Amanda McCabe/Christine Merrill
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilisation of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the permission of the publisher, Harlequin Mills & Boon®, Locked Bag 7002, Chatswood D.C. N.S.W., Australia 2067.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
CHRISTMAS AT MULBERRY HALL
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
SNOWBOUND AND SEDUCED
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Epilogue
Author Note
A REGENCY CHRISTMAS CAROL
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Copyright
A Christmas Betrothal Page 38