“I don’t know about Sharpe,” Walter said, “but I don’t speak a word of it.”
They were spared from further conversation by Mrs. Fortescue and one of the young ladies from London. Miss Tunstall? Or was it Miss Trowbridge? Ned couldn’t remember.
“No more ancient Aramaic, Vicar,” she said. “Today is for caroling and mistletoe.”
“Indeed,” Mrs. Fortescue agreed, linking her arm through her husband’s. “If you must argue about the Bible, let it be over the Christmas story.”
“The English translation, if you please,” Walter said. They all laughed.
Up ahead, the rest of their party had stopped in the midst of a grove of pine trees. Ned and the other stragglers joined them.
“Break off as many boughs as you can,” Sophie was saying to the gentlemen. “We ladies will drag them back to the house.”
Ned watched her issuing orders. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, her brown eyes shining. Christmas agreed with her. So did Appersett House, he was obliged to admit. The grandeur of it. The luxurious furnishings and rich surfaces. The sense of history about it all.
He wondered if she could ever find happiness in London. If she could ever be content as the wife of a tradesman. A mere draper’s son.
“What about the mistletoe, Miss Appersett?” one of the younger ladies called out with a giggle.
“We can sometimes find it growing on the oak trees,” Sophie said. “They’re on the opposite side of the estate. Shall we split up?”
It was soon decided that Walter, Emily, and Mr. Fortescue and his wife would stay with half the group collecting pine boughs while the other half of the group, comprised of Sophie, Ned, Mr. Hubbard, and the younger guests, would strike out to find the mistletoe.
Ned was content to let the young people run ahead with the vicar while he fell into step beside Sophie. She glanced up at him.
“We’re among the elders of the party, I’m afraid,” she said. “Reduced to chaperonage.”
“The vicar and I, perhaps,” Ned conceded. “But you? You’re hardly in your dotage.”
“I’m three and twenty. It’s not exactly the first bloom of youth.”
“You know my opinions on the matter.”
She bent her head, smiling. “Yes. You find me a beautiful creature.”
Ned inwardly winced. As compliments went, he saw no fault with it, but clearly Sophie found it lacking somehow. “That offends you.”
“No,” she said. “It doesn’t offend me. It’s a very nice thing to say.”
“Then why do I get the impression you’d rather I’d never said it?”
Sophie cast him another glance. “Beauty doesn’t last forever. Not the exterior kind. If that’s what you value in me, you’ll soon be disappointed.”
“I didn’t ask leave to court you merely for your beauty. I thought I made that clear the night you came to my office.”
Her smile faded. “Yes. You were very kind.”
“It wasn’t kindness. It was the truth.” He’d wanted her from the first. Had known as soon as he looked at her that she was someone worth having in his life, no matter the cost.
It hadn’t been love at first sight. That was too trite. Too simplistic. But something within him had recognized something in her. Had understood that she would be important to him.
In business, he’d learned to trust his instincts. He’d seen no reason to doubt them when it came to matters of courtship and marriage.
“The truth is in rather short supply in my life,” she said. “You’ll forgive me for doubting it when I hear it.”
Ned caught her gently by the arm and turned her to face him. The rest of the group had drifted ahead, leaving them standing alone under the snow-covered boughs of an enormous pine tree. He looked her very steadily in the eye. “I won’t ever lie to you, Sophie.”
Beneath the ribbon tie of her wool cloak, her throat spasmed in a visible swallow. “Won’t you?”
“Never.”
“Then tell me what you and my father talked about yesterday in his study.”
Ned’s hand fell from her arm. He shook his head, amazed at his own stupidity. “I walked very neatly into that, didn’t I?”
“It’s not a trap. All you need do is tell me what he wanted of you.”
“I already told you it wasn’t important.”
“No. What you said was that it didn’t concern me. Which is absolute flummery and you know it.”