Mistletoe and Mayhem: A Regency Holiday Romance Anthology, page 72
“He wants to marry her,” Louisa threw in with a sideways eye roll at her sister. Then her inquisitive, green eyes settled back on Anne. “Does he not?”
Anne heaved a deep sigh, “He didn’t say as much, but…every time he looks at me I cannot help but feel that…” Her voice trailed off. “What do I do?”
“So, he has neither bad breath nor sweaty palms?” Leonora enquired for knowledge’s sake.
Anne shook her head. “Not that I noticed.”
“Then why do you object to him?” Again, Leonora ran her eyes over the admittedly dashing lord. “He is tall with thick hair and a symmetrical face. He comports himself with elegance and dances with the necessary proficiency. As far as I know, his family possesses a sizable fortune as well as a reputation free from scandal.” Her mouth closed and she blinked, her blue eyes moving to meet Anne’s. “Where is your objection?”
Anne shrugged. “I don’t know.” However, whenever Lord Gillingham drew near, there was that part of her deep down that all but told her to run. She could not explain it. It felt like a sense of dread, of reluctance as though she simply was not where she ought to be. As though she was walking in the wrong direction.
“What kind of man do you wish for?” Leonora enquired; her hands moved as though they were reaching for her notebook and pencil, ready to take notes. When she discovered them absent, the look in her eyes was one of deepest regret.
“Oh, I can tell you what kind of man she wishes for, dearest Leo,” Louisa exclaimed, her lips curled into a smile that made Anne squirm even more. “I can even tell you which gentleman it is who’s standing in the way of her seeing Lord Gillingham−or any other−in a favorable light.”
While Anne felt her insides twist and turn in dread, wondering what kind of fantastic story Louisa had cooked up this time, Leonora’s jaw dropped in curiosity. “Who?”
Louisa smiled devilishly. “Him.” Without turning her head, she let her eyes dart to the wide arch through which more and more guests were entering the ballroom.
Holding Louisa’s daring gaze, Anne raised her chin, fighting the urge to turn her head.
Leonora, however, did not hesitate for a second. Her head snapped to the side, and a moment later, the hint of a frown began to crease her forehead. “Lord Barrington?”
Anne felt herself pause, then frown. “What? That’s ridiculous!”
Louisa rolled her eyes at her sister. “I quite agree. Phineas Hawke is the last man in the world who would capture a woman’s attention.”
“You truly ought to call him Lord Barrington,” Leonora chided. “It’s a question of respect. After all, he inherited his father’s title more than four years ago.”
Louisa shrugged off her sister’s comment as though it were a ludicrous demand that did not make the slightest sense.
While Anne had grown up with the Hawke brothers, their families’ country estates closely situated, Louisa and Leonora had only occasionally spent time in their company. However, for Louisa, that had been enough to come to detest the eldest Hawke brother Phineas; and it seemed the feeling was mutual. “No, I meant Mr. Tobias Hawke,” Louisa clarified with a smile in Anne’s direction. Then she turned and her eyes sought out the man in question.
“Toby?” Anne exclaimed, wondering how on earth Louisa had come to that conclusion. “You must be jesting.” Her gaze followed Louisa’s and she found herself looking at her childhood friend. As though he felt her looking at him, his head rose, and a second later, his chocolate-brown eyes found hers. A small smile touched his lips, and he winked at her.
“See?” Louisa exclaimed in triumph. “You cannot tell me that he means nothing to you.”
Anne stared at her cousin in utter confusion. “Of course not. Why would you think that? He’s my dearest friend. Of course, he means something to me.”
Louisa crossed her arms over her chest and regarded Anne in that way of hers that said she didn’t believe a word Anne was saying.
“Truly,” Anne insisted. “He’s my friend and nothing more. To me, he’ll always be Little Toby, the boy who pulled on my braids and hid frogs in my bed.” Still, she could not help but smile at the memory, for she’d gotten back at him by hiding his homework, which had gotten him in trouble with his tutor. Toby had been furious when he’d realized it had been her, and he hadn’t simply misplaced it.
“Well, he’s not Little Toby any longer,” Louisa remarked with a sideways glance at Tobias’s tall stature, “and neither are you Little Annie.” Her green eyes became thoughtful for a moment before she took a step toward Anne. “I dare you, dear cousin, to look at Tobias not as the boy you knew but as the man you could marry.”
Anne’s heart stumbled in her chest. “Marry?” she exclaimed, not certain if in horror or something other; something she couldn’t quite name. “I could never marry him!”
“Why not?” Leonora interjected curiously, her watchful eyes going back and forth between Anne and her sister. “I must admit that he, too, possesses most amiable qualities. Judging from both your characters, I’d say the two of you would suit.”
Louisa rolled her eyes at her sister yet again. “Marriage is not a science experiment, Leo,” she snapped, then sighed before a slow smile spread over her face. “It should be about passion. You should choose someone who sets your blood on fire and steals your breath away.” Her smile deepened as she looked at her sister. “Have you learned nothing from Mother and Father?”
Indeed, Anne’s aunt and uncle had gone against convention, against their parents’ wishes and gotten married because they’d been in love. And even today, after thirty years of marriage and six children, they still looked at one another like love-sick youths.
It was…inspiring?
“Lou, I don’t disagree with your notion of passion in marriage,” Anne stated, “however, Toby is my friend. He’s like a brother to me. I could never marry him.”
Louisa laughed, “A brother?” Her gaze moved to her sister and then back to Anne. “Well, considering you don’t have a brother, I can understand that you have no frame of reference. Still−”
“You’re beginning to sound like Leo,” Anne pointed out with no small measure of enjoyment.
Louisa rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Don’t try to distract me, for it will not work. I love you dearly, and I will not see you married to a man who will no doubt make you miserable. You need to follow your heart in all truly important endeavors, or you’ll come to regret it.”
“But my heart tells me that−”
“Does it?” Louisa challenged. “Truly? Or have you simply never looked at Tobias in any other way but through the eyes of the little girl you once were?” Her eyes lit up. “In fact, I dare you to look at him right here, right now, and see him as a man grown, not as a boy.” She came to stand at Anne’s side, her gaze pointed across the ballroom to where Toby and his brother were conversing with a group of gentlemen. “Look at him,” she whispered in Anne’s ear, “and ask yourself if you truly see him as Little Toby still.”
Anne drew in a shuddering breath, reluctant to do as her cousin bid her. Still, her gaze moved over her childhood friend, and she knew that she loved him. She loved that teasing spark in his dark brown eyes. She loved the way his gaze strayed to hers every so often. She loved the confidence that existed between them. Always had she known his secrets. Always had he confided in her as she had confided in him. His smile warmed her heart and made her feel special as though it was for her alone.
She loved him.
But did that mean she was in love with him?
Clearing her throat, Anne turned to look at her cousin. “I don’t know what you hope to accomplish, Lou, but Toby is my friend. He’s always been my friend, and−”
“He could be your friend and your husband,” Louisa pointed out. “One does not exclude the other.” Her gaze narrowed. “Have you ever kissed him?”
Anne’s eyes flew open. “Of course not!” The thought alone was ludicrous…wasn’t it?
“Well, then I think you should,” Louisa stated, “to…” she paused and cast a somewhat annoyed look at her sister, “to test your theory.”
Leonora’s face brightened at the thought of an experiment. “Indeed, a kiss would prove quite telling in determining how you feel about him. It will certainly tell you whether or not you love him as a brother.” Again, her fingers moved as though they longed to grasp that elusive pencil and jot down the parameters of Louisa’s proposed experiment.
Panic welled up in Anne’s heart, and she shook her head vehemently. “You’re mad!” she exclaimed in a hushed voice, looking from one cousin to the other. “You cannot truly suggest I walk up to him and kiss him? I’d be ruined!” More than that, it would forever alter the friendship between them. If she kissed him, they could never be Little Toby and Little Annie again. What if she lost him?
The thought was too terrifying to bear!
“You’re right on that account,” Leonora pointed out reasonably, the tip of her forefinger tapping against her lips as she thought. “We need some kind of pretext.”
“How about a mistletoe kiss?” Louisa suggested, wiggling her brows as she looked at Anne.
Anne huffed out an annoyed breath. “It’s not Christmas.”
“It will be soon,” the two sisters said as one. Why was it that the second her cousins finally found some common ground, it was to her disadvantage?
“The Archibald Christmas house party is not far off,” Leo pointed out, her eyes slightly squinted as she no doubt counted out the days.
Louisa’s face brightened. “I like how you think, Sister.” Now, that was a first!
“You cannot be serious,” Anne stated feebly, getting the disquieting feeling that no matter what she said she could not win this.
Smiling gently, Louisa reached out to tuck another stray curl behind Anne’s ear. “Listen, you know that I’m right even if you cannot admit it right now. You care for him, and you need to know how much before you make a decision to marry anyone.” Her green eyes were soft and kind, and Anne knew that despite Louisa’s tendency to push people into something they did not want to do, her actions sprang from a deep sense of concern. She cared, deeply, and Anne loved her for it.
“What if…?” Anne began, not certain what it was she wanted to ask.
“If the kiss makes you think of Little Toby hiding frogs in your bed,” Louisa said with a smirk, “then you laugh it off and continue your friendship as before. If, however,” her cousin’s gaze grew imploring, “it makes you want to swoon into his arms and never let go, then I think it’s fair to say that you do not see him as a brother.”
“I agree with that assessment,” Leonora threw in, an equally sympathetic smile on her face as she stood shoulder to shoulder with her sister, her clear blue eyes looking into Anne’s.
Not knowing what to say, Anne stared at her two beloved cousins. She could not deny that what they said made sense; however, there was one aspect neither one of them had considered yet. What if Tobias would forever see her as Little Annie? What if their kiss would prove that she loved him, but he would forever see her as the little sister who’d discovered his secret hiding place for the biscuits they’d stolen from the kitchen and eaten them all? What if Tobias could never see anything more in her?
What if kissing him would break her heart?
Chapter Two ~ A Disaster Waiting to Happen
Near Windmere Park, England, December 1801 (or a variation thereof)
A few days before Christmas
Anne was tempted to throw herself out of the moving carriage. No doubt, the heaps of snow covering the countryside would dampen her fall, allowing her to emerge from such an admittedly drastic measure unscathed. Then she could pick herself up, dust herself off and begin walking back the way they’d come.
Back home.
Away from Windmere Park.
Away from Louisa and Leonora.
Away from…Tobias.
Admittedly, she might freeze to death; however, at present, Anne couldn’t say that the thought bothered her overly much. Indeed, any place seemed preferable to being locked up in a moving carriage with her two beloved cousins as well as their snoozing grandmother on her way to Windmere Park, Lord Archibald’s Christmas house party and all that it entailed looming in her future. Why on earth had she agreed to attend? She had to have been mad; after all, this couldn’t end in anything else but utter disaster.
Louisa and Leonora would make certain of that.
“How soon would you say we perform this experiment?” Leonora asked her sister as she tapped the back of her pencil on the notebook in her lap. “I do not believe it wise to rush things.”
Seated next to a squirming Anne, Louisa laughed, “Oh, I wouldn’t mind pushing them both under the mistletoe the moment we arrive.” She grinned at Anne’s shocked expression. “The sooner, the better.”
Leonora frowned. “It ought not be too obvious,” she pointed out. “After all, no one ought to know what we’re about. If indeed Anne realizes she sees him as a brother, it needs to be clear that the only reason they kissed was because they happened to end up under the mistletoe. Nothing more.”
“Should we make a wager?” Louisa suggested with a wide, wicked grin, her strawberry blond curls tucked under a fur-lined hood. “Brother or no brother?”
Leonora frowned. “Ladies are not to wager,” she pointed out; still, a hint of intrigue rang in her voice.
Anne heaved a deep sigh. “Would it make any difference if I objected to this?” she asked, looking from one cousin to the other.
“To the wager or the experiment?” Leonora asked to clarify.
“Both.”
Louisa shook her head, laughing. “Not in the slightest. After all, you agreed to this.”
“Did I?” Anne asked with a frown. “I don’t recall that I did. What I do recall is objecting to this from the start.”
Pencil balanced between two fingers, Leonora placed the tip of her forefinger on her lips, her blue eyes thoughtful. “She’s right,” she told her sister. “She never agreed.”
Louisa shrugged. “A minor detail.” She grinned at Anne. “One to be neglected. Now,” her gaze moved back to Leonora, “how do we do this? I’m willing to wait a day or two, but that’s all I’m willing to concede.” She eagerly rubbed her hands together, a gesture that made her look almost villainous. “If we can’t push them, then we need to lure Tobias.” She looked at Anne. “You’ll be waiting under the mistletoe, and we’ll make up some excuse to send him your way.”
Anne was about to object−again!−when Leo stilled, pencil frozen in mid-air. “What if, before Tobias can reach her side, another gentleman happens to step under the mistletoe with her?”
Louisa frowned, clearly displeased to have a flaw pointed out in her plan. “Then we simply have to time it well.” She looked at Anne. “The second you see him move toward you, you step forward and under the mistletoe.” She sighed rather exasperatedly, “Seriously, ladies, it cannot be that hard. Countless people get kissed under a sprig of mistletoe every year.”
Leonora nodded. “Yes, but perhaps not by the right person.” Her blue gaze shifted to Anne. “I hear Lord Gillingham will be in attendance as well.”
Anne groaned…without knowing why. After all, the young lord was perfectly amiable. There was no good reason for her to dislike him.
“Very well,” Louisa exclaimed, her gaze moving from Anne to Leo and back. “This is what we’ll do. Anne, you wait near a conveniently situated mistletoe. Leo, you then fetch Tobias while I make certain that no other gentleman interferes.”
Leonora frowned. “How?”
“I don’t know,” Louisa replied with a nonchalant shrug, not the slightest hint of doubt or concern in her voice. “I’ll think of something. If I must, I’ll trip them.”
For a second, Leonora looked horrified, her gaze momentarily darting to their sleeping grandmother seated beside her, before she inhaled a deep breath−clearly, her sister’s exaggerations were nothing new to her−and asked, “What would you say is a conveniently situated mistletoe?” The tip of her pencil came to rest on a blank page in her notebook, ready to jot down notes.
Unfortunately, Louisa merely shrugged. “I’ll know it when I see it.”
Leonora sighed in disappointment.
Leaning back in her seat, Anne looked out the window as she spotted a large estate on the horizon. It sat snugly surrounded by tall-growing trees on one side and wide open expanse on the other. Powdery snowflakes drifted down to settle upon the evergreen trees standing like sentinels around the cream-colored estate, its darker roof in stark contrast to the white landscape. The path leading up to the front of the house snaked in wide curves through the snowy blanket around them, and Anne spotted another carriage a little way ahead of them.
No doubt Lord Archibald’s house party would once again be well-attended, and the thought of countless people witnessing what would no doubt be one of the most embarrassing moments of her life made Anne contemplate flinging herself out of the moving carriage once again.
“Don’t even think about it!” Louisa warned, her eyes oddly penetrating as she looked at Anne.
Frowning, Anne turned to her cousin with an innocent face. “What? What are you talking about?”
“I can see what you’re thinking,” Louisa stated with confidence. “You’re thinking of running off, which is why I feel compelled to tell you that you won’t succeed.” A warm smile spread over her face before she reached out and gently patted Anne’s hand. “Don’t worry. We’re only doing this to help you.”
Anne sighed. “I simply don’t think−”
“Fine, try this,” Louisa interrupted. “Close your eyes and−” Her brows drew together in disapproval. “Close your eyes!” When Anne finally complied, she continued, “Now, imagine you’re standing in front of Lord Gillingham.”
A shudder shook Anne, but she forced her eyes to remain closed, knowing she would never hear the end of it if she didn’t.
