“I will not,” she giggled. “The week has been long.” He held her tightly again, and Anna thought she could not love him more than she did at that moment. She wished they could just lay in each other’s arms and feel everything tender between them. She longed to rest her head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. “Catherine is here,” she told him when he let her go.
“Oh? Will she be spending Christmas with us?” He took her hand and they walked toward the drawing room.
“I insisted upon it.” She noticed how damp his greatcoat was and asked, “Did you ride?”
“I had to choose the fastest way to return to you, dear.”
Anna was surprised when she felt a blush creep up her cheeks. She had been intimate with him in every manner possible, yet she still blushed like a schoolgirl seeing a handsome duke for the first time. They entered the drawing room, and Colin greeted Catherine with a kiss on the back of her hand.
“I am happy you were here to keep Anna company while I was away,” he said, reaching to scratch Nips’ nape affectionately. Anna thought he was not aware he did that.
“I have too much time than I know what to do with, so I will be here for as long as you will have me.”
“You may stay as long as you like, Catherine.” Colin smiled and took Anna’s hand again, leading her out of the room. “I have a message for you,” he said softly as they started up the stairs.
He reached into his coat to pull out a letter. Anna thought it was from her mother when she saw the Hampton crest on the seal. “I just received a letter from Mama yesterday.”
“No, this one is from your father.”
She stopped walking and stared at the letter. “He never wrote to me before.”
Colin wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her upstairs to their bedchamber, closing the door behind them. “He found me at White’s and we had an interesting conversation. He wishes to mend his ways and be a proper father.”
Anna released a shaky breath. “That is what Mama said.” She moved to sit on their bed while he removed his greatcoat and slung it over the back of a chair, before coming to sit beside her. “I do not know what to think.”
“Start by reading this.” He pointed at the letter.
Anna turned it in her hand several times, contemplating.No, I cannot read it now,she decided. Rising, she walked to the fireplace and set it down on the mantle. Colin watched her but he did not say anything, and she was glad he did not.
She sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her forehead against his. “I am happy you are home.”
“As am I.” He kissed her. “I will have to travel again soon because the machines for the factory are being built, and all of them are my designs. Will you travel with me?”
“Colin, is my joy in being reunited with you unconvincing that you have to ask me?” She stroked his stubbled jaw before brushing her lips against it.
“I acknowledge your point, darling.”
“I love when you say that,” she murmured, pushing his coat back from his broad shoulders, and he pulled his arms free.
“Darling?” He reached behind her and began to unfasten her dress while she loosened his cravat.
She nodded aggressively. Her body was already growing hot with need, and they stopped talking and allowed their bodies to carry their voice.
Chapter 30
Yes, I will host a Christmas ball. Colin said the villagers and tenants will be happy. I still have not asked him about inviting Mama. I am sure he will agree. After all, he delivered Father’s letter to me when he could have refused. Sometimes, I wonder what good I did to be rewarded with a man like Colin.
Anna knocked on the doorframe of Colin’s workroom, and he looked up from behind a work table, his countenance brightening when he saw her, and he stood, cleaning his hands on a rag.
“I still have not read my father’s letter,” she told him. She had not been able to because she was afraid she would believe his remorse and then discover that he did not change. It was a silly fear, but it was real.
Colin came around the work table and stretched his hand toward her. “You do not have to read it at all. Take however long you need to think and know how you feel.” His voice was soft and encouraging. “What he did is unforgivable, but it depends on the heart considering that forgiveness.”
Anna gazed up at him lovingly. “How do you always know what to say?”
“Perhaps I am a thousand years old.” He tweaked her nose, and she smiled.
“I also want to ask you something.” She studied his face as she said that and nothing appeared to change. He only tilted his head and waited for her to speak. “I want to invite Mama to spend Christmas with us. I thought it would be a good occasion to have her, seeing as Catherine is here and we are hosting a ball.” Anna bit her lip and looked up at him in uncertainty.
