Page 12 of Lady Elizabeth’s Winter Stranger

To the sound of distant bell ringing, Tom released Elizabeth. She watched him close the door.

“You’re angry with me,” he said in the soothing tone that had allayed Cyril’s terror when he’d been stranded up the oak tree.

It wasn’t a tone that she appreciated hearing when he spoke to her. Elizabeth didn’t like to be managed. Particularly by someone who had manipulated her feelings from the first. “You don’t say.”

She stood in the center of the room and glared at him, even as her trembling hands tangled in her skirts.

Because despite everything that had happened, she hadn’t mistaken how attractive he was.

He’d looked appealing in winter outdoor clothes.

In stark black-and-white evening dress, he was the most striking man she’d ever seen.

If she didn’t know that he’d set out to make a fool of her.

He lingered near the closed door, as though he knew that if he came too near, he risked sending her running. His hands spread in an apologetic gesture. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you?” The nervous movement of her hands in her filmy, rose-silk skirts betrayed that she wasn’t in charge of her emotions. With an almighty effort, she brought her hands to her sides and kept them still.

“I’m sorry I’ve upset you. I’m not sorry I met you in the park. I’ll never be sorry about that.”

His gray eyes were sincere, and he sounded like he meant it. But he’d sounded sincere when they met, and look how that turned out. She sidled from one foot to another, until she remembered Papa doing that and how guilty it made him look. “You knew who I was.”

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, reminding her inevitably of the ruffled, laughing, magnetic man who had turned a bleak Christmas Day to gold. “Only at the end. For pity’s sake, please believe me.”

She folded her arms and resisted the heartfelt plea. “Why should I?”

His jaw firmed. “Because I’m not a liar.

The minute you said you lived in Lorimer Square and your name was Elizabeth, I guessed you had to be the girl I was supposed to meet tonight.

If I hadn’t been quite so bowled over, I probably should have guessed earlier.

” He sent her a pleading look. “Guy described how pretty you are – and how spirited.”

She narrowed her eyes on him. “Papa calls me wayward and headstrong.”

Tom shrugged. “If you think that’s going to deter me from courting you, you need your head fixed. I don’t want a docile little cipher of a wife. I want someone who turns my life into an adventure.”

She kept her defensive pose with her arms folded, although with every second, her outrage became harder to hold onto. “Wife, is it?”

He shrugged, as if he hadn’t said anything of great significance. “Probably a discussion for a later occasion.”

“There mightn’t be a later occasion.”

“Because you’ll be in Scotland with Great-Aunt Agatha and the pugs? That sounds frightful. Is putting up with my company really a worse alternative?”

Elizabeth didn’t answer that. Instead, she studied him with confusion in her heart. His gentle teasing chipped another layer off her resentment. “If you knew who I was, why didn’t you say something? Why didn’t you tell me who you are?”

He ran his hand through his hair again. It seemed to be a characteristic gesture. “You had to go.”

“Yes, I did. I’d already taken enough chances. If I’d been capable of a moment’s logical thought, I’d never have left the house at all.”

“I assume you left home in high dudgeon because of your father’s letter?”

She sighed, more of her tension draining away.

“I’d been at a house party just outside London, but I came home early because my maid was sick.

The letter was waiting for me when I arrived to an empty house.

After I read it, I felt ready to explode.

I was in such a fit, I decided to ignore good sense.

A walk in the park seemed a preferable alternative to smashing every piece of the family china.

Especially when Mamma was expecting guests. ”

“I wondered why you were on your own.”

“I took a shocking risk,” she said, bracing for him to berate her for breaking society’s rules.

He didn’t. “Perhaps, but it was lucky for me.”

“Because you had a chance to see what I was like before you had to present yourself as a suitor?”

This time, he folded his arms and regarded her with an ironic eye. “I don’t have to present myself as anything. Our time together in the park changed my mind about courting Guy’s sister, however pretty she was. Instead, I wanted to court the lovely girl who kissed me behind a holly hedge.”

She blushed. He made it impossible to remain in a snit. Her shoulders came down, and the tight clenching in her stomach eased. “So you didn’t set out to trick me?”

“When I found out you were the Elizabeth Tierney I was meant to meet tonight, I decided fate worked in my favor. I hoped you might feel the same. I’m sorry if you think I was playing spiteful games. That’s not my style at all, which I hope you’ll discover as our acquaintance develops.”

Her sigh would alert him that she surrendered. “I might give you the benefit of the doubt,” she said begrudgingly.

Several rooms away, the carolers began I Saw Three Ships. More bells. Tom regarded her with unhidden relief. “Does the benefit of the doubt extend to a kiss?”

A thrill ran through her, although she hadn’t altogether yielded to the Christmas romance in the air. “We’ll see.”

That charming smile appeared for the first time since they’d come into the library. “I should have borrowed some mistletoe from the drawing room. By George, I doubt there’s a bunch of mistletoe or a sprig of holly left in Cumbria.”

A faint smile lengthened her lips. “The family loves Christmas. You’ll have to get used to that if you’re marrying into the Tierneys.”

His eyebrows rose, although a light in his gray eyes reminded her of how he’d looked after he kissed her in the park. “Am I marrying into the Tierneys?”

“I’ve known you for less than a day.”

“And you’ve spent far too much of that time being angry with me.” He stretched his hand toward her as he stepped closer. “Am I forgiven?”

After a hesitation to make the point that she hadn’t fallen completely under his spell, Elizabeth curled her fingers around his.

She liked how his hand felt in hers. It was pleasantly warm and firm and the calluses on his palm hinted at an active life.

The Stanton Morley-Bridges she’d imagined had been weedy and soft and pale as a daisy.

She was very glad that he wasn’t the Stanton Morley-Bridges she’d imagined.

Unable to resist, she heaved a much more theatrical sigh. “I suppose so.”

“Thank you.” This time, his smile was one of the happy ones that set her foolish heart dancing. “May I kiss you now? Our quarter hour is nearly done and if I’m to play propriety from now on, I’m not sure how much kissing is ahead of us.”

“If you must,” she said, as a tide of expectation made her breath catch.

His smile broadened. “You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”

She couldn’t help smiling back at him. “I might have carried on like a hoyden today, but I don’t want you thinking that you needn’t make an effort. I do have choices other than marrying you, you know.”

Tom was back to looking at her as if she was the brightest star in the sky. She rather liked it. “Great-Aunt Agatha?”

“Caithness is beautiful in its brisk way.”

“Yes, gales and rain and heaving seas always make me feel the joys of spring.”

“Me, too.”

He edged closer. One hand slid around her waist. She was sure that he’d notice her shiver of pleasure. “Not to mention the hundred men who have already proposed.”

Papa and his big mouth. “A slight exaggeration.”

“Only a slight one, I’m sure,” he murmured, bending his head but not kissing her yet.

He teased her, the devil. “If you’re planning to kiss me, I’d do it now, or we’ll have an audience.”

Laughter turned those quirky, fascinating features brilliant. “You’re so fierce.”

“Do I frighten you?” she asked drily, sliding one hand over his shoulder.

“I’m absolutely bloomin’ terrified,” he whispered.

“Good,” she said, knowing that he didn’t mean it. She stretched up to close the distance between them just as he lowered his head the last fraction of an inch.

Their lips met with a sizzle that made her quiver with delight.

Heat zapped through her, and her heart raced with excitement.

She sighed and arched into his chest. Now that he wasn’t dressed for outdoors, she could get close to his body.

She ached to get closer still. To dispense with clothing altogether.

By the time he raised his head, she was giddy and dazzled and breathless and eager for more. Her anger was forgotten. As she struggled to keep her balance, she caught his arms. Her attention focused on his face. Tom looked as overcome as she did.

She licked her lips, tasting him there. He groaned and briefly closed his eyes. “Don’t do that, or I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

Need extended between them, as tangible as a rope of gold. But then a burst of applause from the hall provided an unwelcome reminder that this was neither the time nor the place to succumb to their sensual impulses.

“I won’t call you Stanton,” she said.

The intensity faded from his expression. “That’s fine.”

“And I’m not making any commitments.”

“I understand that. I’m not proposing.”

That surprised her. “Ever?”

The teasing glint was back. “We’ll see.”

She couldn’t help laughing as she stepped away. “You’re a dreadful man.”

“The worst.” He caught her hand. “Now we ought to go and find Guy, who seems to have no concept of time at all.”

“I do love my brother.”

Tom laughed and reached out to tuck in a stray curl that the kiss must have dislodged. “The best of fellows indeed.”

“And the perfect chaperone.”

“Yes, we must employ his services again. I’d like to steal a few more kisses.”

“Good thinking.”

They drifted toward the door, then stopped at the sound of a discreet knock. “I’ve given you as long as I can, but I think the carols are nearly done,” Guy muttered from the corridor. An excellent chaperone indeed.

“We’re coming now,” Tom said, although he paused to subject Elizabeth to a serious stare. “So we have an understanding, my lady?”

“That you’re going to court me?”

“Yes, and that sometime very soon, I’m going to ask you to be my wife.”

Excitement made her heart crash against her ribs, but she adopted an airy tone, as she released Tom’s hand and turned the doorknob. “Very well. But will I say yes?”