“I’ve had such a wonderful time with you both that it slipped my mind,” she said.
Only half of that statement was a lie. Shehadenjoyed visiting with her dearest friends. For two extraordinary days, it had been as if no time had passed since they had parted ways at the Académie Clairemont.
“We’ve had a marvelous time with you as well,” Lila said, laying a hand on Addy’s arm. “I hate for you to leave so soon. If we had known you were here…”
“It is my own foolish fault for trying to surprise you without making certain you would be at Marchingham Hall,” Addy reassured her friend, guilt still curdling her stomach. “But it would be remiss for me to leave without giving you your Christmas gifts first.”
She scooped up the small parcels she had brought with her from New York City and offered one to each sister.
“Gifts! But we haven’t a gift for you,” Letty protested.
There was only one gift Addy wanted, and it was the gift of having her broken heart healed. But she couldn’t say that. It was imperative that she forget all about Lion. If she told her friends what had happened, they would likely be angry with their brother on her behalf, and she couldn’t bring herself to be the cause of a familial rift. The three siblings needed one another.
“Nonsense,” she said, forcing a smile. “Open them, if you please.”
Her friends did so in unison, each one gasping as she lifted the earrings from their box. Sapphires for Letty and emeralds for Lila.
“To match each of your eyes,” she explained. “These are from my favorite jeweler in New York City.”
“My heavens, these are far too dear,” Lila objected.
“They must have cost a small fortune,” Letty added in awe.
They were hardly extravagant, given Papa’s means. But she felt a bit ashamed by her family’s wealth now that she had witnessed the state of Marchingham Hall and had overheard the dire straits in which Lion—and consequently Letty and Lila—found themselves.
“I wished for a lasting gift,” she said simply, “so that you could look upon them and think of your friend back in America.”
“As if we could ever forget you,” Lila said, tears swimming in her green eyes.
“Les Trois Mousquetaires,” Letty added on a half sob.
Pain shot through Addy. She would miss her friends. Nothing about her surprise Christmas jaunt to Yorkshire had unfolded as she had planned. She hadn’t intended for a snowstorm or for her friends to be absent or to fall in love with Lion. But all of those things had happened.
And now, she needed to do whatever she had to so that she could protect what remained of her broken heart.
CHAPTER 10
Discreetly, Lion checked his pocket watch. Having house guests was bloody tiresome, and a reminder of why he never had them. Uncle Algernon had cornered him in the orangery some two hours ago, and he didn’t show any inclination of slowing down on his long-winded description of the proper cultivation of citrus trees. His uncle was a congenial chap and very caring, but he also scarcely ever ceased talking.
Lion had never met a more garrulous man in his life. He wondered how dear Aunt Helene could possibly bear it. He had already attempted to politely interrupt on no fewer than five separate occasions, and yet Uncle Algernon had swiftly deflected the conversation to yet another subject, continuing a vast discourse on everything from furnaces to politics to orchids to glazing.
Lion needed to escape so that he could at last speak with Addy. Alone.
Enough time had lapsed between the night she had come to his bedroom and this afternoon. He was hoping to propose to her so that they might have a happy announcement for the family on Christmas Day. But he would never be able to do so unless he removed himself from the orangery.
“Oh dear,” he interrupted suddenly, seizing his opportunity when Uncle Algernon took a breath. “I nearly forgot that I am meant to be arranging for the cutting of a Christmas tree. My sisters are insisting upon it. If you’ll excuse me?”
“Of course,” Uncle Algernon said, disappointment lacing his voice. “I’ll carry on having a walk about the orangery to look for areas that require improvement.”
Dear God. He shuddered to think of how long that particular conversation would take.
Lion forced a smile. “Quite.”
Making haste in his retreat, he moved back into the main house, searching every room for Addy. He was met with disappointment at every turn. Addy wasn’t in the library, the drawing room, or the music room. He ascended the stairs next, consigning propriety to the devil and going to her bedroom. He had been doing his utmost to follow the rules following the arrival of his sisters, aunt, and uncle, and look at where it had landed him.
Her bedroom door was ajar.
Odd, that. Ordinarily, she kept Dandy inside. Lion knocked and peered in.
