Page 17 of A Diamond for Christmas (Diamonds of the First Water #6)

“ I love him,” Caroline declared. She glanced at Geoffrey, and he winked, giving her strength. “As deeply as you love Mother,” she said to her father. And then she addressed her would-be father-in-law. “And as assuredly as you love Lady Diamond.”

The barman took that moment to deliver a carafe of ruby-red wine and two glasses. With haste born of the tension that had Caroline’s nerves stretched taut, Geoffrey poured them each a full glass, and they drank a hardy sip.

“That may be, Lady Caroline,” said the Earl Diamond, “but you cannot marry tomorrow morning. You cannot marry my son until his mother and your mother arrive.”

Caroline’s mouth dropped slightly open before she regained her composure.

“My mother is coming? Here?”

“With my mother?” Geoffrey asked. “Together?”

“In the same carriage,” her father assured her.

“Impossible,” Caroline murmured, thinking she would have to see the two women descend from the same coach to believe it.

“When they arrive, which may be by the end of tomorrow if they followed the same path as you, then we shall have one of these anvil weddings,” Lord Diamond said .

Her father shook his head slowly. “It might be better to get one of the innkeepers to do it.” They all turned as one to look at the barman who was blowing his nose on a rag and drinking what appeared to be a large glass of whisky.

“Or some type of official person, if not an actual vicar,” her father continued. “Your mother will have a fit if you let a blacksmith marry you.”

Caroline considered all the demands her mother might make when she arrived. The wedding could be delayed for days if not weeks.

“This is why we eloped,” she protested. “We are not supposed to wait for family or worry about the officiator. Next thing, Mother will arrive and want to order a special gown.”

“You should have traveled as quickly as Diamond and I did if you wanted to elope without interference,” her father said, “not dillydallying up the countryside, stopping each night.”

As he said the last word, his gaze turned to Geoffrey. His expression became a scowl. “I’m sure you had separate rooms for the journey.”

Caroline pressed her lips together, but Geoffrey swallowed his wine in a gulp and began to cough, spluttering the wooden table with droplets. His father reached around and began to pound his back until he held up his hand.

She was glad when Geoffrey said nothing. It was better not to respond than to offer an outright lie.

“There is nothing for it,” she said, changing the subject. “We shall have to wait for the ladies. Hopefully, the weather remains clear. Now, I shall eat my stew and get a good night’s sleep, for I vow I have barely —” she cut herself off.

What a ninny! She nearly told both the fathers how little sleep she’d had the past two nights. And how would she explain that?

“Both inns were extremely loud,” Geoffrey said into the awkward silence .

“A good thing this one seems perfectly quiet,” her father said tightly, continuing to glare at Geoffrey.

Caroline felt the heat rush to her cheeks. She could never have imagined sitting at a table with three noblemen, one of whom was her father, with the prattle being about her sleeping or not sleeping, as the case had been.

Another mortifying moment occurred when they retired. The barman led her and Geoffrey upstairs to a room. A single room.

“I told you,” Geoffrey said, “we need two.”

“You said the other was for your servants,” the man protested. “In any case, this is the last one, and both your trunks have been put inside by your footman.”

“My son will sleep with me,” Lord Diamond said, averting disaster. “Grab your case.”

Hurrying to avoid the sight of their trunks resting side by side taking up all the floor space, Geoffrey hefted it into his arms. She stood aside so he could exit the small room.

“Goodnight, Lady Caroline,” he said politely as if they’d never been entwined naked in each other’s arms. And he disappeared from view around her father, who stood with his arms crossed in the hall.

Just like that, without even being able to give Geoffrey a kiss, she found herself alone in the room where a single lamp had been lit and three small chunks of coal were smoldering.

“I’m in the room directly beside yours,” her father said as a warning more than to reassure her of her safety. Then he closed the door on her astonished face.

As it turned out, she slept like the dead after stripping off her outer garments and climbing into the soft bed in her shift. However, in the morning, two astonishing things happened.

“Did you see the snow?” she asked Geoffrey, who was seated in the room across from where they’d eaten the night before. The hearth was glowing, and he was the only one there, reading an old newspaper and drinking tea .

He rose to his feet upon her entrance.

“I couldn’t miss it. There was a large gap in the window glazing in our room, and the snow started blowing in last night before we stuffed my father’s handkerchief in the hole.”

“It’s beautiful,” she exclaimed with a sigh.

“Not when it’s on your counterpane,” he said. “Besides, the only beauty I see is you.”

With that, she walked directly into his outstretched arms, and they shared a kiss. Her body tingled when his mouth touched hers, and she couldn’t help pressing close.

“A fine sight for a father to see on Christmas Eve.”

Belatedly, they sprang apart. With cheeks flaming, she faced her father.

“Seeing your daughter in love should be a fine sight, indeed,” she told him. Then she realized what he’d said. “Christmas Eve! Is it?”

She looked at Geoffrey. “I hadn’t realized.”

He appeared equally astonished. “Nor I. I suppose we had our minds on other matters, and the month slipped away.”

Lord Diamond came in looking concerned. “I may head out to find the ladies. They should still be about five hours away. The snow has stopped, so I doubt they will get stuck anywhere, but I don’t want to risk it.”

“I’ll go with you,” her father said.

She felt a tingle of anticipation. She and Geoffrey would be left alone again. By the quick smile upon his handsome face, he realized the same thing, quelling it just as quickly when their fathers stopped discussing their travel plans.

“We’ll trust you to remain here,” Lord Diamond said.

“And unwed,” her father added.

“Of course,” Geoffrey answered. “I would offer to go, too, but I don’t want to leave Lady Caroline alone in this place.”

“Hear now!” said the barman as he brought in tea service. “That’s uncalled for,” he repeated his words from the night before, sounding as if he were used to having his establishment slighted. “We have no trouble in this inn.”

“You have a broken window,” Lord Diamond said, “giving us a chilly night.”

The man’s eyebrows rose, but he set down the plain wooden tea tray. “We’ll put some wax paper on it if you’re staying another night.”

“I believe we are,” Lord Diamond said.

The barman rubbed his hands. “Don’t usually have our rooms all filled for two nights in a row by the same folks.” And he wandered off, presumably to tell Mattie in the kitchen the good news.

“I’ll have a cup of tea,” her father said, “and one of those scones before we go.”

Lord Diamond shrugged, but in two minutes, all four of them, including both the fathers, were tucking into scones with cream and thistle jelly.

Caroline wondered how terribly disloyal it would be if she and Geoffrey married and left as soon as the men went in search of their wives.

And then a third astonishing thing happened. The front door of the inn opened, and the two mothers blew in along with a frigid gust. Caroline could see it all through the open sitting-room doorway.

“Mother!” she exclaimed, jumping up, causing the three men to do the same.

The two ladies turned in amazement and stumbled into the room.

“Isn’t this a fine how-do-you-do!” Caroline’s mother exclaimed. “We’re out in the brutal elements, and they’re all inside here warm as toast. And eating it, too.”

They all started talking at once.

“Did they marry?” Lady Diamond asked.

“How did you get here so quickly?” Lord Chimes asked.

“Did you stop them?” Lady Chimes asked.

“Are the horses in good condition?” Lord Diamond wondered .

“Would you like tea?” Caroline offered.

“Is this the best inn in the area?” Lady Diamond asked, looking around.

“Hush,” Geoffrey said. That made the four parents stop and stare at him with varying degrees of annoyance. “Please, ladies, won’t you sit and warm up? We’ll get more tea and scones.”

At the commotion, the barman wandered in. “I don’t have any more rooms,” he said, rubbing his hands with glee at being full up. “But I’ll bring more tea and my wife’s scones.”

“We won’t need more rooms,” Lord Diamond said. “These ladies are with us.”

Caroline considered that statement. They certainly would not need another room if she and Geoffrey married that very day.

“My father and Lord Diamond were about to head out and find you, thinking you still hours away.”

Her mother made a face, and Lady Diamond raised a perfect eyebrow.

“It looked to me as though they were stuffing their potato traps, not the least bit worried over us,” the latter said.

“How did you get here so quickly?” Lord Chimes repeated his question while he dragged more chairs to the table.

“We didn’t stop the second night. The innkeeper’s wife had an elbow for weather, and she said —”

“I beg your pardon,” Geoffrey’s father interrupted. “Did you say an elbow for weather?”

“Yes,” Lady Diamond said. “Her elbow twinges when snow is imminent.”

“And it was twinging,” Lady Chimes agreed. “We ate our supper and continued on with fresh horses.”

“But how did you find us here?” Geoffrey asked.

“Your carriage is parked directly across on the square. I hope no one steals it. ”

“Hear now!” said the barman, who was carrying in another tea tray, piled high with scones and jam.

“That’s uncalled for,” Caroline, Geoffrey, and the two fathers said at the same time as the barman.

The ladies looked at all of them as if they were lunatics.

“If we’d stayed at the last inn,” Lady Diamond said once she had a cup of tea in hand, “we might have spent our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day trapped there, too.”

“How brave of you,” Lord Diamond said, looking fondly at his wife before taking another bite of warm scone.

“Never mind that,” Caroline’s mother snapped. “Are these young people married?”

Caroline’s father answered. “We told them they couldn’t do so until you arrived.”

Her mother pursed her lips and shook her head while Lady Diamond observed her with interest. Hopefully, she wouldn’t mind having Caroline for a daughter-in-law.

“Do you condone this marriage now?” her mother asked her father.

Caroline held her breath.