Her hand trembled as she rubbed her forehead.
A crack appeared in the numb shell that encased her heart.
"Miss Taylor! Miss Taylor!"A breathless voice greeted her from across the field. Lady Evangeline and Rose rushed towards her, followed by several footmen, who carried piles of greenery on their arms.
Lady Evangeline carried a sprig of mistletoe. Her cheeks were red, and her eyes were sparkling.
"There you are! Where have you been? We wanted to wait for you, but then it started to snow heavier, and it got uncomfortably cold, so we decided to return, especially after we managed to find this wonderful specimen of mistletoe. What do you think?" She lifted it for Mira to examine.
"It is beautiful, and I am sure it will serve its purpose well," Mira replied woodenly.
"Yes, it will, won't it? I shall hang it over the blue parlour. Or wait, perhaps over the yellow salon. Or the ballroom door? In any case, somewhere where there will be some inevitable kissing." She smiled. "Not that I should decide these things, since I'm only a guest here, but I'm sure Princess Florentina won't mind, and Atherton is indifferent to what I do anyhow. I could hang a donkey from the ceiling of his library, and he would neither notice nor care. So perhaps over the door of the yellow drawing room, or in the middle of it. Not that I will have the opportunity to kiss anyone." She sighed dramatically. "Of the three gentlemen here, one is my brother, whom I'd rather not kiss unless I can help it, the other is suffering from a hopeless love, and the third is colder than ice and indifferent to everyone and everything. I don't care much for kissing any of those men, handsome as they are. So maybe this mistletoe is entirely superfluous? What do you think?"
"Oh! You don't say!" Rose exclaimed. "So Lindenstein is suffering from a hopeless love? And the one who is indifferent, of course, must be Atherton. He is colder than ice. I agree with that assessment. Now, tell us more about Lindenstein's hopeless love."
Lady Evangeline leaned forward, head bowed, and whispered confidentially, "Lindenstein never made a secret of it. I heard him talking about it with the other gentlemen. It is a star-crossed love. Poor man! As for Atherton, you have to wonder why he is the way he is, don't you think? Is the ice encasing a broken heart, perhaps?"
Rose's eyes widened, and Mira shrugged. She really could not be bothered with all this gossip, not when she had so many problems of her own to deal with.
"Of course, Miss Cullpepper won't need the mistletoe, she's in love with her barrister," Lady Evangeline said. "She told me all about it while we cut the holly. As for me, it does not matter who I kiss because I too am already engaged to someone else."
Both Mira and Rose stopped and looked at her, surprised.
"Yes, did you not know?" Lady Evangeline said. "I can kiss as many men under the mistletoe as I like; in the end, I shall have to marry the man who has been chosen for me. This is the fate of the duke's daughter. He is someone I have never even met," she added in a matter-of-fact voice as she marched on.
Mira shook herself, then caught up with Lady Evangeline and took her arm. "Wait. You're engaged to be married to someone, but you've never seen the man? You've never even talked to him?"
"No. He's a family friend, an Austrian count, horribly old and ugly, but there's nothing to be done about it, because our engagement has been decided since I was in my leading strings. We are to be married once this horrid war is over. You need not feel sorry for me, for even if I have to marry the old man, a grand adventure awaits me. I shall finally be able to travel and see the Continent, you know! Besides," she waved her hand, "I'm quite used to the situation, and I refuse to get morose about it. Although sometimes I can't help getting a little morose. Especially when it is Christmas and there is no one for me to kiss."
"But Lady Evangeline—" Mira began.
Lady Evangeline turned. "I wish you'd drop the title and call me Evie. Don't you think that's what best friends do, call each other by their first names? I don't have many friends, you know..." A wistful shadow flitted across her face.
"Evie, then."
"And you are Mirabel. And Rose." She beamed at them both. "Now I have not one, but two friends! I am so glad you are here! Now, where shall we put the mistletoe?"
ChapterEleven
As the guestsgathered for the country house party, Atherton's absence was conspicuous.
He hadn't joined them for tea. He didn't turn up for the afternoon's entertainment of cards and charades hosted by Evie. Nor did he turn up for the evening soiree.
It was almost as if the man was avoiding their company, yet no one commented on it.
Mira was relieved.
To be on the safe side, she excused herself again for supper, and was glad to be able to retire to her room early.
Her emotions were in turmoil. For all those long, lonely years, her unwavering belief had been that Kit couldn't have willingly abandoned her. She'd been steadfast in the conviction that he'd been taken from her by forces beyond his control. He'd been taken, he'd been kidnapped, he'd been sold into slavery, he'd been gang-pressed into the army and taken to the colonies. Any of these had seemed a plausible explanation for his mysterious disappearance. Through it all, she'd clung to the certainty of his love, the unshakable faith that he would return.
But to find him here, working as always in a smithy, alive and well, amid the opulence of this wealthy estate, caused her world to crumble around her.
It meant that he'd chosen to depart willingly.
It meant he'd abandoned her.
He'd abandoned Clare.
