Linette could only shake her head as Estelle began to pull clothing from the wardrobe, several garments thrown into the air with exasperation.
No corset had ever encased Estelle; she refused to wear one. She was the wild child out of the four Easton sisters…impetuous, unpredictable, as free as the wind and yet fiercely loyal and loving towardsher family.
In fact, she was more like Lindsay, the Countess of Dovercourt and Corie’s dearest friend. Lindsay’s impulsive nature had embroiled her in many a misadventure and yet led her to the man of her dreams, Jared Giles, the Earl of Dovercourt.
And Estelle was devoted to Luther, of course. As he jumped from the chair to yip and twirl at her feet, Estelle hopping first on one leg and thenthe other to don ankle-high riding boots, Linette sighed and moved to the door.
How would she and Papa ever rein in Estelle’s penchant for doing exactly what she pleased, and when she pleased? Only Corie had been able to exert any control over their reckless youngest sister, and she and Donovan and their growing family were soon leaving—ah, but Linette wouldn’t worry about that now.
She leftthe room and hurried toward the staircase, her mouth already watering at the thought of savory sausages and buttery pastries filled with sweet almond paste and cinnamon.
She loved Christmas Day, too. Would this one, indeed, be her last one surrounded by her family? Would she meet the man ofherdreams in a few months’ time and be swept off her feet into a life of prosperity and position…justlike Corisande and Marguerite and Lindsay?
In truth, Lindsay, as a local baron’s daughter, had been the only one among them born into nobility. As the daughters of a humble country parson, the Easton girls had never sought after or even imagined such a life was possible. Yet that was what fate had granted Corie and Marguerite in a confluence of events that could only be described as providential.Was marriage to a duke or an earl or a baron in store for Linette, too?
A sudden breathlessness seized her. She’d missed three London Seasons in a row, well, one didn’t count because she’d still been too young. Then last year she’d become ill with a terrible fever and had needed weeks to recuperate, while this year because of little Adele’s birth, Linette had insisted upon staying in Porthlevento help Corie.
By her next birthday in February, she would be nineteen, but that hardly made her a spinster! Marguerite had been nineteen for her second Season, and the whole family had accompanied her to London to stay with Lindsay and Jared at their town house on Piccadilly Street.
Linette would never forget the exquisite green satin gown that Marguerite had worn to her first ball, and howshe’d twirled in the foyer so Linette might see her better. Linette had gazed at her older sister with delight as dreams of her own first ball danced in her mind. Now, in just a few months’ time, it would be her turn at last!
Flushed with excitement, Linette held up her lavender skirt and took the steps two at a time, hoping that Estelle was finished dressing and not too far behind her.
Thesound of children laughing guided her toward the dining room, as well as wonderful aromas of pan-fried sausages, almond, and cinnamon. Her entrance into the brightly lit room festooned with red ribbons and garlands of holly was greeted with joyous welcoming cries.
Linette’s gaze swept the scene filled with the people she loved so dearly: Corie beaming at one end of the table where she fed thelatest addition to the Trent family, sweet-tempered and chubby nine-month-old Adele—named after the Easton girls’ late mother—with her abundant auburn curls; the black-haired twins, Draydon and Dahlia, five years old and seated side by side in the middle where they enjoyed their breakfast and elbowed each other by turns; and eight-year-old Paloma, blessed with the Spanish beauty of her late motherand who eagerly patted the brocade-cushioned chair next to her where Linette always sat. At the opposite end of the table, Donovan, now the Duke of Arundale, oversaw the controlled bedlam with a smile upon his handsome face that warmed Linette’s heart.
Oh, please, may she marry a man as good and caring and honorable as Donovan…and as devoted and loving a husband to his outspoken and strong-mindedwife, Corie! Though born with milder tempers, Marguerite and Linette were known to exhibit a streak of that forthright spirit now and again while Estelle truly surpassed them all. Linette glanced over her shoulder as she hurried to take her seat, but there was still no sign of their youngest sister bounding down the steps with Luther at her heels.
Estelle never walked anywhere, but ran or skippedor rushed headlong, defying all efforts to encourage her to adopt a more ladylike demeanor. Shrugging at Corie, Linette took her seat and smiled at Paloma, whose lovely dark brown eyes danced with excitement as she handed Linette a plateful of fragrant pastries.
“They’re very good, Aunt Linette. I’ve had two already.”
True enough, a fine dusting of powdered sugar rimmed Paloma’s ruby lips, whichprompted Linette to hand her a starched white napkin. Paloma only giggled and glanced at her father, who smiled indulgently at her.
It remained a miracle to them that a then two-year-old Paloma had been found alive in war-torn Spain after Donovan had expended every resource to find her, and the family denied her little. Incredibly, she remained as sweet and unspoiled and loving as when she’dfirst arrived, and gave Linette’s arm a squeeze, she was so delighted to see her. Linette returned her niece’s affection with a quick hug and then glanced at Corie.
“Estelle told me that she and Luther were coming downstairs straightaway,” she said in answer to the unspoken question in her sister’s eyes.
Corie shrugged, too, and gave a small sigh though not audible enough to dim the lightheartedmood at the table. For that reason Linette didn’t offer anything more about what had transpired in Estelle’s bedchamber, but would speak to Corie privately about Estelle’s distress. Both of them knew that their youngest sister’s emotions were like the wind, ever changing—
“Yer…Yer Grace!” came a plump kitchen maid’s breathless voice from the doorway, which made Corie signal for the young womanto come around to her chair as if sensing what she might have to say. Clearly having hastened to the dining room, the flushed-faced maid leaned down to whisper into Corie’s ear, but Linette, seated not far from her, heard the news well enough.
“Forgive the interruption, Yer Grace, but Cook asked me to come tell ‘ee that Miss Estelle said she was going for a ride. She ran down the servants’ stairsinto the kitchen—startled us all, she did!—an’ grabbed two sausages an’ a biscuit an’ then off she went, out the back door!”
“Oh dear.” At Corie’s resigned pronouncement, the kitchen maid curtsied and bustled from the room.
Linette swallowed her bite of pastry and glanced apologetically from Corie to Donovan. “She said she was coming right down, but I guess she didn’t mean to the dining room…”
“Apparently not,” Donovan said dryly, having overheard the news, too. “At least she took some breakfast with her…for her and Luther, no doubt.”
He didn’t sound angry at all, just resigned like Corie. Then a broad smile overcame him and he leaned his head back and laughed. “Reminds me of someone else’s unpredictable antics not so long ago—”
“Long enough, my lord,” Corie interrupted him, dabbingat Adele’s pink cupid’s bow mouth with a napkin. Corie smiled now, too, a tender warmth in her eyes as she and Donovan shared a look across the table.
So intimate a look that Linette found herself praying again for a husband like Donovan who still loved his wife so passionately after six years of marriage, the joys and worries of raising four children, and a host of cares they had shoulderedtogether that now included the dukedom in Hampshire. Yet Donovan had no chance to expound further on any past antics of his wife as Linette hoped he might for the clatter of hooves suddenly sounded upon the drive outside the tall dining room windows.
“Papa, look, there goes Aunt Estelle!” cried Paloma, who jumped up from her chair to run to the window. Draydon and Dahlia quickly followed her,all of them waving as Estelle waved, too, while she clutched the reins expertly with one hand and flew past them atop her sleek chestnut mare.
Twisting around in her chair, Linette wasn’t surprised at all to see Luther sticking his head out from the unbuttoned wool collar of Estelle’s riding jacket. The little dog barked excitedly as if eager for adventure. Then the two of them disappeared downthe drive while Corie called for the children to come back to the table.
None of them appeared upset as they retook their seats, but seemed to take it as a matter of course that Estelle had skipped breakfast to go for a ride.
“She’ll be back soon enough,” Donovan said as a serving maid went from chair to chair with a steaming platter of fried eggs and sausages. “Looks like a storm might be brewing.”
Indeed, it did, Linette thought, glancing over her shoulder at the gray clouds scudding across the sky, a fine drizzle already falling. Yet Estelle had never been one to worry over the changeable Cornish weather, and had arrived home on more than one occasion soaked to the skin after a ride through wind and rain.
“She’d never disappoint Papa by missing Christmas Day service at noon,” Corie saidmatter-of-factly. “We’ll see her at the church. Now, who wants another pastry?”
