Page 23 of A Christmas Temptation for the Duke
“She’s lyin’,” a voice said. “She has to be.”
“Didn’t that lord leave? We saw him go.”
“Which means that she’s alone.” Laughter bubbled up next. “Is that right, missy?” a gravely voice called through the window. “You ain’t lyin’ to us, are you?”
Alison gasped and Pickle started to bark again. So loud were his yaps that Alison wouldn’t have been surprised if Lord Grayhill next door could hear them.
Lord Grayhill!
Her eyes widened as his name came to mind. Perhaps the last person she wanted to be thinking about, ever, while also the only person she could think of who might be able to help her. And though she could not say for sure who these men were, she was quite certain that help was something she desperately needed.
For that reason, she held a hand over Pickle’s mouth as she slowly backed-up, all the while listening to the two men bicker between one another. They didn’t seem to notice her, at least, but that might soon change.
Once she was free from the room, she darted through the hallways and toward the rear of the manor. There, she ducked through the servant’s door, which led around the side of the estate.
“Oh, God…” she gasped as the cold hit her. She was still wearing Felix’s coat, but under that was just her chemise, and without shoes on or gloves or a scarf she started to wonder if she might freeze to death before reaching the Earl’s home.
Maybe it would have been safer to take my chances with those two would-be thieves.
She winced and yelped as she hurried through the snow, still holding Pickle close, staying low in case those men saw her.
Thankfully, she soon stumbled onto Grayhill Estate, where she scurried toward the drive and then raced for the front door. The Earl’s manor was bigger than Lord Pemberton’s, almost twice the size and far more opulent in design. The front doors were a gigantic structure of white-painted wood inlaid with gold, standing several feet taller than Alison. She stumbled up the steps and nearly tripped onto her face before lurching out and hammering on the door with all her might.
And then she waited.
Her body was shaking from the cold and the fear both. Her fingers and toes were numb. Her nose stung and her teeth chattered. And even though her mind was fixed on the obvious danger, she took a moment to consider how much of a fright she surely looked.
But then she heard the door unlocking from the other side and that thought left her. Now was not the time for such things.
“Yes?” the door opened barely an inch, and the voice which spoke did so through the small gap.
“Please, you must let me in,” Alison said while giving a quick glance over her shoulder as if she was being watched. “Hurry.”
“We do not want any…”
“What?” she started.
“Whatever it is you are selling. We do not want any, thank you.”
Alison blinked in shock. “I… I am not selling anything. Please, you must let me in! There are –”
“This is not a shelter,” the voice cut her off. “And I will ask you to remove yourself from the property at once.” The door started to close.
“Wait!” Alison shoved her bare foot through the gap. “Please, you must let me in! There are people outside my home.”
“As there are people outsidethishome,” the voice said, starting to sound annoyed. “People who, if they do not remove themselves, will force me to take action. I will send into town for the Justice of the Peace if you do not leave here at once.”
“What? No! Please, let me in!” Alison was starting to panic. “You don’t understand, there are people outside my home!”
“Godfrey!” a second voice spoke from the behind the doorway, one that Alison recognized immediately. “What is going on?”
“Nothing to concern yourself with, my lord, just a beggar who is being rather –”
“I am not a beggar!” Alison cried. “My name is Lady Alison Collins and if you do not let me inside you are the one who will have a problem!”
The effect was immediate. No sooner had Alison said her name than the door swung open to reveal on the other side a man who Alison guessed to be a butler of some kind. But she hardly glanced at him as she pushed past and stumbled through the door into the blessed warmth of the manor.
“Oh, thank God!” Her feet, which was still numb with cold tripped and she nearly fell, only to be caught by Lord Grayhill himself.
