Page 65 of The Widow’s Christmas Surprise

“There is nothing to do about him, Jane. He is lying, pure and simple. And unless Hugh arrives, it is only his word against mine.”

A scratching at the door made Maria exchange glances with Jane, who frowned. “Who is that?”

“I don’t know.” Throwing her robe around her shoulders once more, Maria called again, “Who is it?”

“Elizabeth and Georgie.”

Wide-eyed, Maria opened the door to find Elizabeth bearing a plate of biscuits and Georgie a bottle of milk and several cups on a tray.

“What are you doing here?”

“We thought after the incident with that horrible Lord Wetherby, you needed fortification,” Georgie said as the pair made their way in, putting their tray and plate beside the tea things.

“But I see Jane has beat us to it.” Elizabeth sat down next to her. “Are these chocolate biscuits?” She snared one and bit into it. “These are delicious.”

Smiling at this outpouring of love, Maria sat by Georgie on the sofa nearest the crackling fire. “Won’t you have something, Georgie?”

Her friend looked askance at the sweets. “I fear I have lost all appetite for sweet things since I began increasing, which is most inconvenient because I love to eat them but now they make me violently ill.”

“No biscuits for Georgie.” Jane moved the plates away from their friend. “We were just discussing what Maria must do now that Lord Wetherby has tried to compromise her, yet again.”

“He has tried it before?” Elizabeth looked aghast. “Isn’t it terrible when the most attractive men are also the most evil?”

“You find him attractive, Elizabeth?” Jane’s eyebrows rose. “I find that quite surprising.”

“Well, I didn’t say I would be attracted to him, but some women might.”

Another knock on the door brought giggles from Maria and Jane. “Shall I guess who this is?” Maria headed for the door again.

“Too easy.” Taking up one of the sweets from Elizabeth’s tray, Jane contemplated the heart-shaped cake. “Guess what they are bringing instead.”

Grasping the door handle once more, Maria opened it on Charlotte and Fanny, who looked at the gathering and burst out laughing. “May we join the party?”

“Please, come right in.” Maria gazed at her friends as the last two settled into the sofa, setting their offerings on the table and grabbing cups of tea. She’d never have believed these women could include her so completely in their circle. As she’d told Jane, they seemed more her friends, but that apparently wasn’t true. A feeling of warmth and closeness, of being included and belonging for the first time in a long time would make this Christmas one of the most special she had ever known.

“We now have chocolate as well as tea and milk, Maria. And Fanny managed to procure some cherry tarts.” Jane waved her back over to the table. “You need to eat and keep your strength up.”

Slowly, Maria made her way back to the group, laughing, talking, and eating with great abandon. “I need to ask you something, ladies, because I do not think it was my imagination. And it may very well have a great bearing on how I will need to proceed with regard to Lord Wetherby’s accusation.”

Her friends quieted down immediately, looking gravely at one another.

“What is it, my dear?” Elizabeth put her hands in her lap, her attention fixed on Maria.

“When Lord Wetherby said that I had been intimate with him, but I denied it, who did you believe?”

The ladies looked at one another, a low murmuring running through the group.

As she expected, her cousin spoke up first. “Of course I believed you, my dear. But then I have special knowledge of the situation since I was there. I know both Lord Wetherby and what he’s capable of, and Mr. Granger and his character. Two more different men could not be found, I must say.”

“I believed you, Maria.”

“I believed you.”

The affirmations continued around the room until Charlotte was the only one who hadn’t spoken.

Dreading this last comment, Maria nodded to the woman sitting silent in the wing-back chair. “Charlotte?”

She swallowed and looked into Maria’s eyes. “I . . . wondered, Maria. But only because Lord Wetherby looks so much like Alan Garrett.”