Page 95 of All I Want for Christmas… Is You
“Oh, but we can’t stay! We told Lady Archer we’d arrive tonight.” Dinah glanced up at the sky, her teeth worrying her lower lip.
“Better to arrive late than not at all, my dear.” Rutherford gave Dinah’s hand a reassuring pat. “You’re very welcome to stay here tonight.”
Grim cleared his throat loftily. “Indeed, sister, we must stay. Our dear mother will never forgive me if I risk your safety.”
There wasn’t much Dinah could say to that, but she turned a look on Grim that made him flinch. “Since you insist on it,brother, of course we’ll stay, and hope for a better day tomorrow.”
CHAPTER4
PLUMSTEAD, ENGLAND, DECEMBER 28TH
“What do you think, Grim? When Miss Bishop asks, should I say we…Grim? For God’s sakes, man. What ails you?” Oliver paused beside the coach and frowned up at his manservant.
Poor Grim was looking a trifle green.
Grim cast a wary look over his shoulder before shifting his attention to Oliver. “I beg your pardon, my lord. I thought you were Miss Bishop.”
“No. Miss Bishop is a good deal smaller than me, and she’s generally wearing skirts rather than breeches, what with her being female. I can certainly understand how you’d confuse us, however.”
Oliver grinned to show he was teasing, but Grim was preoccupied with scrutinizing his surroundings from his vantage point on the box, and didn’t notice. “Yes, my lord. It’s just that Miss Bishop is cross with me, and I don’t like to be caught unawares, Miss Bishop being a mite…unpredictablewhen she’s cross.”
“Oh, I shouldn’t worry if I were you, Grim. She isn’t likely to harm her only brother, is she?”
This didn’t seem to comfort Grim. He remained vigilant, as if he expected Dinah to leap out from the shadows at any moment and shove him from the box.
“Your attention please, Grim, if you’d be so kind. Now, when Miss Bishop asks, should I refer to our journey today as an adventure, a caper, or a frolic?” Oliver wasn’t usually so unsure of himself, but courtships were a delicate matter, and this one more than most.
“Didn’t you settle on escapade, my lord? I’m sure I heard Miss Bishop grumbling about an escapade.”
“I did, but Miss Bishop has informed she doesn’t care for escapades. I suppose that leaves adventure out too, doesn’t it? A lady who doesn’t care for escapades isn’t like to approve of adventures, either. A Christmas revel? A romp, an exploit?” No, exploit wouldn’t do. It had a touch of the hedonistic about it.
“A lark, my lord?” Grim asked. “I can’t speak for Miss Bishop, but I’m fond of a good lark, myself.”
“A lark.” Oliver rolled the word around in his mouth, then nodded in approval. “A lark, yes. It’s an innocent, childlike word, isn’t it? You’re brilliant, Grim.”
Grim flushed with pleasure. “Yes, my lord. Thank you, my lord.”
Dinah hadn’t been pleased to discover Oliver wished to go so far south, and he expected she’d demand an explanation from him this morning, but when Dinah emerged from Rutherford Hall, she didn’t spare Grim a glance, and she gave Oliver only a distracted nod.
It was early still, but the hour and the bite in the air hadn’t prevented Rutherford and a half-dozen of his grandchildren from bustling into the drive to see them off. Dinah hurried to scramble into the carriage, but Mathilda ran after her, caught Dinah’s skirts in her chubby fist and refused to let go until Dinah accepted a kiss.
As soon as the coach door closed behind them Oliver opened his mouth to defend the journey south, but Dinah never asked. She didn’t say a single word. He might have been riding in the coach alone for all the attention she paid him.
Well, this wouldn’t do. He’d rather deal with her anger than this distant silence. “You’re preoccupied this morning, Miss Bishop. What’s made you so pensive?” he asked, hoping to pry open the floodgates of her wrath.
It didn’t work. “Am I pensive?” she asked in surprise.
Oliver frowned. She wasn’t acting like herself. “Yes. Is it Grim? Are you still cross with him?”
She gave him a blank look. “No. Why should I be cross with Grim?”
“Well, he did pretend to be your brother, and he was a trifle high-handed, as brothers go.”
“Oh,that. No, no. That was your doing, not his. If I should be cross with anyone, it’s you.”
“Are you cross with me?” If so, he’d just as soon she admitted it and took him to task so they could get past it.
“Not really, no.” She looked taken aback, then shrugged. “Curious, isn’t it?”
