Page 24 of Mr Winterbourne's Christmas

“—silly little fool was too busy showing off,” he said tightly. “Running around like a schoolgirl.”

Bella glared at him. “It’s not my fault. I didn’t know there was a foxhole under the snow!”

“Well, you should have been walking more carefully,” Sir Edmund retorted.

Bella opened her mouth to say something else, but Perry beat her to it. “You are a goose, Bella,” he said, shaking his head at her good-naturedly. “Shall I piggy back you to the Abbey?”

Bella flushed—possibly for the first time in her life, Lysander thought—and sent a mortified glance in Sir Edmund’s direction.

“Yes,” she said miserably. “All right.”

Perry turned and offered his broad back to her. “Hop up, then.”

Sir Edmund rolled his eyes. “She can’thop up, you cretin. She can barely stand.”

Perry peered over his shoulder at this, puzzled. Lysander was about to step forward to help Bella up onto Perry’s back, but before he could do anything, Sir Edmund was dropping to one knee in the snow and holding up his hand to Bella. Offering his thigh as a makeshift step in an unexpectedly chivalrous move worthy of Sir Francis Drake.

Bella went scarlet and bit her lip shyly, but her eyes shone in a curious way, and when she whispered, “Thank you,” she sounded almost demure. She glanced at Lysander then who, taking the hint, helped her step up onto Sir Edmund’s thigh with her good foot, bracing her hand in his. Thus elevated, she wound her arms round her brother’s neck and settled onto his broad back.

Perry hoisted her up as though she was a sack of potatoes, making her briefly squeal. “Gallop or trot?” he asked her jovially, seeming quite oblivious to the little dance that had just played out behind his back.

“Perry!” she chided, cheeks pink. “For goodness sake, I’m not a child!”

“Gallop it is then!” Perry yelled and set off at run, Bella shrieking in his ear.

Sir Edmund cursed and clambered to his feet, brushing the snow from his breeches. “For Christ’s sake!” he huffed. “Does that boy have no sense whatsoever? He’s going to have them both tumbling over again at this rate!” He set off after them at a run. “Slow down, you fool! She doesn’t need a broken head on top of everything else!”

“I think I’d better help you carry the greenery back,” Anne said.

When Lysander began to protest, she quickly interrupted.

“Strange as it may seem, I am—despite my weak and feeble female body—perfectly capable of carrying a few holly branches a short distance. I can assure you I won’t break.”

Lysander’s lips twitched at that. “All right. I could certainly do with the help.”

“Good,” she said. “Let’s go.”