Page 33 of The Widow’s Christmas Surprise

She too took a quick look at Miss Granger and Jane, who had just stood up and were turning back toward them. Jane could not know of this or Maria would get the scolding of a lifetime. Slipping her hand from Mr. Granger’s, Maria stepped back from him and whispered, “They are coming. We must wait to talk.”

He nodded briefly, then abruptly began speaking about a cluster of red flowers ringing a large boulder to the right of the path. “These are Cyclamen hederifolium, my lady. The color is lovely and lasts all the way into spring, despite the cold and snow. Quite a hardy plant.”

Jane was approaching them, her gimlet eyes fixed on Maria.

“I certainly hope it is, Mr. Granger.” She lowered her voice and smiled at him. “I think we are in for a blow. Hello, my dear.” She turned her smile on her cousin. “What were you and Miss Granger examining? You looked terribly engrossed with it.”

“A particularly hardy species of crocus, Lady Kersey.” Miss Granger spoke up brightly. “According to my brother, it has weathered the cold and snow hereabouts ever since he came to Kersey Hall some six or seven years ago, isn’t that right, Hugh?”

“It is, my dear. I planted it with my own hands just after the old earl hired me.” Mr. Granger’s expression remained pleasant, despite a tightening of his jaw. “They are, perhaps, my favorite flower for the winter.” His gaze strayed back to Maria’s face. “I have loved them for a long time. They can thrive despite adverse conditions”—he chuckled—“and are beautiful into the bargain.”

Heart melting, Maria tried to look away, but how could one turn one’s eyes from a gentleman declaring his love? Never mind that she couldn’t quite tell if it was for the flowers or herself, but she’d wager it was for both of them.

“Yes, I see.” Jane’s clipped words broke the spell Mr. Granger had been weaving. “They are pretty and rugged when pitted against the elements, but are they truly happy in such harsh conditions? Should they not, perhaps, be more sheltered from the cruel world so they may live and be admired for a longer time to come?”

“But they like the cold weather, my lady.” The puzzled voice of Miss Granger broke in. The young lady’s brows had drawn down in a slight frown. “The more the elements throw at them, the more they seem to thrive. Like they enjoy the challenge, I think.”

“Perhaps they do, Miss Granger.” With a sniff, Jane cut her gaze directly at Maria. “Perhaps they do.”

After returning to the house, during which march Jane stayed stubbornly by Maria’s side, Maria and Jane made their goodbyes and Maria promised to invite Miss Granger to Kersey Hall within the week. Maria and Jane took their leave and ambled out the front door and onto the crushed-shell driveway.

Determined not to have the conversation—or scolding rather—she feared would ensue as soon as they lost sight of Wingate, Maria launched into cheerful chatter about the cyclamens and crocuses. Surely the flowers she was always so enthusiastic about would distract Jane from anything else on her mind.

“Maria, for the love of all that is holy, please tell me you have not been in Mr. Granger’s bed.”

Stopped mid-stride, Maria gaped at her cousin, appalled that she would think such a thing of her. “I most certainly have not! I barely know the gentleman. Why on earth would you think I had done such a thing?”

Fury in her eye, Jane rounded on her. “Because if you remember, this is exactly the way you acted with Alan Garrett a year ago last August. And you apparently had only known him some hours before he found his way to your bed.”

Opening her mouth to deny that accusation, Maria stopped herself before she could say a word. She’d been a scared, grieving girl of seventeen, wide-eyed and totally unprepared for a house party where gentlemen and rogues mingled freely. Alan had been one such rogue. They had conversed a bit, though he’d done most of the talking, then they had danced, after which he’d taken her outside for a breath of fresh air after all the heat of the party. On the veranda he’d kissed her, declared her young and lovely, and talked his way into her bed before she quite knew how he’d come to be there. So yes, she grudgingly had to admit, Jane was within her rights to ask her that.

“I assure you, Cousin, I have not allowed Mr. Granger, nor any other man, in my bed since Alan died.” Whether she’d wanted one there was another question. Pray Jane did not ask that one.

“Then why were you and Mr. Granger flirting like a courting couple? It really was quite distasteful, Maria. I only hope Miss Granger, who is a sweet and innocent young lady, did not understand what you two were doing. ‘I have loved them for a long time’ and ‘They are beautiful into the bargain.’” She shook her head vehemently. “A schoolgirl would know better than to act so in public.”

“Please settle yourself, Cousin. We were hardly in a public place.”

“You were carrying on in front of his sister and me. That is more than public enough.”

“We have been very discreet.” Maria continued on her way down the path. “No one was in the room when I kissed him.” Despite the storm about to descend because of that revelation, the relief Maria experienced by not having to keep it from her cousin was enormous.

“You kissed him?” Jane stopped dead, forcing Maria to turn back to her. “What were you thinking?”

“That he was a sad and lonely man and I wanted to comfort him as best I could. Was that so wrong?”

“Maria.” Taking Maria’s arm, Jane looped her arm through it and they continued toward Kersey Hall. “I understand that Mr. Granger is concerned about his brother, but you cannot let that cloud your judgment. We have talked about this before. You must marry well if you intend to provide for your daughter and yourself. Mr. Granger is not the sort of man who will be able to do so.”

“I have found out a bit more about Mr. Granger.” Maria paused to gather her thoughts. She’d promised him that she would not reveal the particulars about his brother’s situation, but she still needed to convey to Jane that Mr. Granger would be an excellent and eligible parti, without breaking her confidence. “His father was apparently a prosperous landowner, and as Mr. Granger has an older brother, the land and property was passed down to him. However”—she slowed, speaking deliberately—“as you remember, his brother met with a terrible accident and has been in a state of decline ever since. That is why Miss Granger now resides with her brother here, rather than with the invalid who is so incapacitated he cannot act as a proper chaperone to her.” In a final attempt to make her cousin understand, Maria grasped Jane’s arm. “It is not anticipated that he will survive much longer. At which time the younger Mr. Granger will inherit a very sizeable property.”

Her face set in lines of concerned determination, Jane patted Maria’s arm. “I am sorry for the Granger family for their grievous trouble; however, if the elder Mr. Granger lingers, or recovers completely, the younger Mr. Granger will have no means of support except as the steward of the property you at one time owned. Can you not see the disaster approaching on the horizon, my dear?”

“I know you are only looking out for my welfare and that of little Jane, but I cannot help but think that I should give Mr. Granger every opportunity to prove himself capable of providing for us.” Slowly, Maria spoke the words Jane would be loath to hear. “He has declared himself to me and I have given him to understand I am agreeable to deepening our friendship to the point of . . . something more.”

Closing her eyes, Jane sighed. “I feared this would happen, but you are determined as God made you.” She began walking with short, quick strides so that Maria had to almost run to catch up with her. “When we arrive at Kersey Hall I will have to write to Kinellan and explain that I once again must put off my visit to his home.”

“But why, Jane?” Her cousin must be terribly upset to make her postpone her long-anticipated trip again. “I assure you, I can take care of myself perfectly well.”

“I believed that last year, and you ended up married to a most unsuitable man. I will not have such a thing happen to you once more while you are under my charge.” With head held high, Jane continued down the pathway, her mind, apparently, irrevocably made up. “Mark my words, you will not make another disastrous marriage, if I have to remain at Kersey Hall until my namesake is ready to make her come out.”