A Christmas Spirit of Forgiveness

by Carolynn Carey

  Anna gazed into Rachel’s eyes, read her sincerity there and slowly nodded. “Thank you. The fewer people who know, the better.”

  She really hoped they both understood that she was thinking of the Earl of Ashington when she said that.

  Half an hour later Anna approached the breakfast parlor with no small amount of trepidation. She feared that Rachel would be angry with her, and who could blame her? Obviously, Rachel was well acquainted with the Marquess of Seaton’s extended family and couldn’t have been pleased to hear Anna’s denouncement of the marquess.

  Then she squared her shoulders. She had nothing to be ashamed of except, perhaps, being a bit too plain-spoken. But it was Rachel who had raised the topic, even knowing that Anna had no fondness for her father’s family.

  She stepped into the breakfast parlor. Rachel was there ahead of her and immediately hurried to her side, a smile on her face. Obviously, she was trying to communicate to Anna that she harbored no ill feelings.

  Relieved, Anna returned the smile and then allowed her gaze to sweep the room. Lord Ashington had been helping himself from dishes on the sideboard but he quickly set his plate to one side and walked across the room.

  “Good morning, Miss Anna. You look lovely this morning. I hope you rested well.”

  Thoughts of her strange dream came rushing back, especially the part in which her body had warmed under Lord Ashington’s gaze. And now, even though she was awake, she was experiencing the same reaction to the admiration in his eyes. Her cheeks, she feared, would soon rival the burgundy material in her borrowed dress.

  She ducked her head. “I slept very well, thank you,” she murmured, wishing she didn’t sound so much like the country lass she was.

  “Excellent. Are you hungry?”

  Anna forced herself to look up and return his smile. “Yes, actually, I’m quite hungry. And I’m so glad that Cook is well this morning.”

  He laughed. “No more pleased than I am, I assure you. Stirring porridge is perhaps the most boring task I’ve ever undertaken.”

  A mischievous grin crept onto Anna’s face. “More boring than shoveling manure?”

  He laughed out loud. “Now you’ve posed a question I won’t attempt to answer because in order to do so, I’d actually have to think about those tasks when all I really want to do is forget them.”

  Anna laughed with him, then glanced at Rachel, who was laughing too. A second later James stepped in from the kitchen to ask Anna what she wanted to drink and the routine of breakfast took over.

  Twenty minutes later the three were just finishing their last cups of coffee when Gunther paused in the doorway. He was actually bouncing on his toes. Lord Ashington looked up with a question in his eyes. “Yes, Gunther?”

  “My lord, you have a guest.”

  “In this weather?”

  “Yes, my lord. She managed to make the journey with a borrowed horse and what appears to be a rather ancient sleigh.”

  At the words “ancient sleigh,” Anna jumped to her feet. Surely… “Gunther,” she said, completely forgetting that it was not her place to question the earl’s butler. “Who has arrived?”

  “Your Great-Aunt Cora, Miss Anna. And if I may say so, although I’ve never seen that lady angry in my entire life, this morning she is madder than a cat that’s just been doused in bathwater.”

  “Where is she?” Anna asked, stepping away from the table. She was eager to see her aunt and try to calm her down.

  Gunther squared his shoulders and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Miss Anna.” He turned to the earl. “Miss Cora specified that she would like to see you alone, my lord. She’s waiting for you in the front drawing room. And I wouldn’t keep her waiting if I were you.”

  Walking toward the front drawing room, Phillip discovered his knees felt a bit mushy. He wasn’t sure why. After all, his recollections of Cora Benton were of a gentle woman with a kind smile. Surely her anger was merely the result of having been worried about her niece. He suspected he could easily allay any concerns she might have in that regard.

  He paused outside the drawing room door, then forced his lips into the semblance of a smile and tapped on the door facing before stepping inside.

  Miss Benton stood with her back to the fire. She still wore her outdoor clothing with the exception of her bonnet, which lay on a chair near the hearth. Her gloved hands were clasped in front of her, her fingers intertwined. Her eyes were two flaming bits of coal.

  Phillip gathered his courage and walked toward her, pausing a couple of yards in front of her. “Miss Benton.” He bowed and smiled.

  “Lord Ashington.” She didn’t curtsy or return his smile. “You have my niece here, I understand.”

  “I do.” Phillip nodded regally. He had nothing to be ashamed of.

  “You brought her here against her will.”

  “What?” Phillip took a half step back. Surely he hadn’t heard correctly.

  “You brought Anna here against her will and obviously have made no particular effort to return her to her rightful home.”

  Phillip threw back his shoulders. Rarely had he felt so unjustly accused. “I rescued your niece, Miss Benton. She might well have frozen to death if I hadn’t found her when I did.”

  “Oh please! Surely you do not expect me to believe such folderol as that. Word travels, you know, especially in the country, and Anna told Mrs. Ballard what occurred, and Mrs. Ballard told Gunther, and the story was repeated in the servants’ hall so that the gardener who brought my wood knew all about it. When you and Anna met during the storm, she plainly told you she could make her way back home if you would leave her be. Instead, you put her on your horse and brought her here.”

  “Of course I brought her here. She’d wandered all the way to the deserted gatehouse while looking—” Phillip stopped himself. He still wasn’t sure why Anna had been out in the storm alone, but he didn’t want to cause trouble for her with her aunt if she had, in fact, been meeting someone she wasn’t supposed to be seeing.

  “Oh, I’ll admit she had no business being out by herself, particularly in a snowstorm, but the gardener mentioned something about her going out to rescue a kitten, which sounds like something Anna would do. Still, that girl knows her way around the countryside better than anyone but me. There was no need for you to abduct her.”

  “Abduct?” Phillip blew out his breath in a sigh of frustration. “Please believe me, Miss Benton, when I insist that I did not abduct your niece. I merely rescued her.”

  “Words can be misleading, my lord, as you no doubt know. Whatever you wish to call your actions, the results are the same. You and Anna must marry.”

  Phillip’s breath caught in his chest. “Marry? Surely you jest, Miss Benton. Your niece has been properly chaperoned the entire time she has been under my roof.”

  “By whom, my lord?”

  “You may ask Mrs. Ballard. She was responsible for taking care of your niece after we made our way back here during the storm.”

  “And she placed Anna in a bedroom just a few doors down the hall from yours, or so I’ve been told.”

  Phillip felt the noose tightening, but he was not yet ready to surrender. “I assure you, Miss Benton, that I had no idea where Miss Marshall slept that night. I had assumed she was a village girl and as such would be housed in the servants’ quarters.”

  “I’m not saying you knew where she slept. Your knowledge or lack thereof is of no consequence. You have compromised Anna.”

  Phillip was well aware that he could continue to dispute Miss Benton’s statement, but he realized he could not in good conscience do so. After all, even though he had assumed he was rescuing Miss Marshall from the storm, he had brought her to his home against her will.

  Too, he had not lived up to his responsibilities toward the people who were dependent upon him, but he intended to change. To now refuse to marry Miss Marshall would confirm their low opinion of him and reinforce their hard feelings toward him.

  But most import
antly, the thoughts of marrying Miss Benton’s niece were not entirely disagreeable. She was a lovely woman, and he enjoyed her company, which was as much as he’d ever hoped for in a marriage. He pulled in a deep breath and inclined his head toward Miss Benton. “Under the circumstances, I shall be honored to marry your great-niece.”

  Miss Benton didn’t smile, but the corners of her lips relaxed. “You need to know that Anna is not a simple country girl. Her grandfather was the Marquess of Seaton.”

  Phillip frowned, trying to recall what he knew of the Marquess of Seaton’s family. “That means the current holder of the title is what—her uncle?”

  “That is correct. But Anna refuses to have anything to do with him because he was unkind to her mother.”

  “How so?”

  “The current marquess was in love with Anna’s mother, but Caroline preferred his younger brother, Lord Arnold. When Caroline and Arnold married, the marquess went out of his way to make things unpleasant for both of them but especially for Caroline. He used his influence to keep her from being invited to most of the ton functions, but what really infuriated him was that Arnold and Caroline had dear friends and a happy life despite all he tried to do to them.”

  “And Anna? What about her?”

  “She was just a child, of course, but she’d heard enough to know what was going on. And then…” Miss Benton paused, took a deep breath, and continued. “Then that horrible summer when a deadly influenza swept through London, Arnold and Caroline sickened and died within three days of each other. I had not been notified that they were sick, but the minute I found out they had died, I traveled to the city and brought Anna home with me, here to the country where there was no sickness and I knew she’d be safe. She’s been with me ever since.”

  “Did none of her father’s family object to her living with you?”

  “The marquess did not, of course but two of Arnold’s brothers and one of his sisters have offered to take her in. The sister, Anna’s aunt Martha, especially wanted Anna to have a Season and offered to sponsor her. Anna could have come out with her cousin Janet, who is a very sweet and popular young lady. Again, Anna refused.”

  “If she marries me, she’ll have to live in London at least part of the year, although I’d have no objection to spending more time at Ashworth. Would she agree to that?”

  “That would be up to Anna, but I would hope she’d be willing to do so. She owes it to herself to enjoy a bit of society instead of burying herself here in the country with an elderly relative like me.”

  A second later Phillip realized that both he and Miss Benton had been too involved in their conversation to hear Anna’s footsteps in the hallway. Both looked around when her voice sounded from the doorway. Her tone was decidedly chilly.

  “How kind of both of you to determine my future for me. Unfortunately, I feel I should have a part in that decision, which means, of course, that your plotting has been for naught. I regret to inform you, Lord Ashington, that I will not marry you.”

  Her shoulders had been squared and her cheeks rosy with indignation when she addressed Phillip, but when she looked toward her aunt, tears filled her eyes.

  “And you, Aunt Cora, are a severe disappointment to me. I had thought you valued my company, but obviously I have been under a misapprehension. Thus, you may rest assured that I will start applying for positions as a governess and will relieve you of the burden of my presence as soon as possible.”

  A single tear escaped and begin a slow descent down her cheek, but when Phillip started to move toward her, Anna turned and fled toward the back of the house. He would have followed except for the hand that Miss Benton placed on his arm. Her fingers tightened to hold him back.

  “Let her go,” she said. “She’ll need a few minutes to process what we said and to begin feeling regret for the way she talked to me. Anna has always known that I love her dearly but would prefer that she learn to live in her parents’ world, as well as being at ease in mine. She’ll be in a mood to listen to you after she’s had time to get her temper under control.”

  “Where has she gone, do you suppose?”

  “I have no doubt that she’s gone outside if the snow has melted enough, and it was melting rapidly when I arrived. She has always preferred to do her thinking while walking in the woodland. But she won’t wander far. She doesn’t know your forest as well as she does the rest of the countryside.”

  Phillip nodded. “Very well. I’ll take your advice. But if she has gone outside, I’ll not leave her alone too long. I don’t trust this weather we’ve been having lately and I’d hate to have to get out a search party again to look for her.”

  “Again?” A frown touched Miss Benton’s brow. “What do you mean?”

  “You do not know?”

  “Obviously not. What search party are you referring to?”

  “The one the beautiful lady in red told my footman about. He said she came to the door the evening the snow started and asked me to join in the search for a young woman who was lost. I, of course, ordered a horse saddled and changed into clothing fit for such an endeavor. I had ridden as far as the old gatehouse when I discovered your niece wandering about, so I brought her back here.”

  “A beautiful lady in red?”

  “So the footman said. I went to the door to question her myself but by the time I walked from the library to the front of the house, she had disappeared. Why? Do you know the lady?”

  “Only by reputation, I fear. Only by reputation. But I am more certain than ever that you must go after Anna and convince her to marry you. I am positive now that it’s the right thing to do.”

  Phillip would have questioned her further but Miss Benton turned and hurried toward the hallway. “I’m going to visit with Mrs. Ballard,” she said. “I’ll see you after while.”

  A second later Phillip stood alone in front of the fire. Circumstances were growing stranger and stranger, and he was growing tired of the entire situation. He stood for a minute longer, trying to make some sense of recent events, but he soon realized that this was not a puzzle he could solve intellectually.

  He must locate Anna as soon as possible and try to determine why she was so set against a marriage that most people would see as advantageous.

  Chapter 7

  Anna slipped on her boots, cloak, bonnet, and gloves before venturing outside. She had lived in the country long enough to respect the elements, and no matter how upset she might be, she had no desire to freeze to death.

  Fortunately, the temperature had moderated and the snow was melting rapidly, so she headed straight for the forest. She wasn’t especially familiar with Lord Ashington’s lands but she trusted her sense of direction and general knowledge of the area enough to allay any fear of getting lost.

  She didn’t intend to go far, anyway. She mostly needed to walk off her anger and to put some distance between her and the house so she’d have time to think and come to terms with her aunt’s actions.

  Anna had known for some time that her aunt felt she should make her peace with her father’s family, but Anna could never bring herself to acquiesce. After all, any interaction with her father’s people would by necessity cast her in the role of a poor relation.

  Although her parents had been wonderful to her, and she had loved them dearly, she was aware that neither had been particularly astute where money was concerned. Her father had possessed a small inheritance from a maternal aunt and that, along with her mother’s dowry, had enabled them to live in London and enjoy their friends and the many amusements in the city.

  The problem, of course, was that they had no money coming in and by the time they died, they had used up almost all of their funds. When Great-Aunt Cora had traveled to London to whisk Anna away from the influenza-scourged city, she had been told there was barely enough money left to bury Anna’s parents. The marquess had agreed to see that they were interred properly, but he’d shown no interest in their young daughter and was more than willing for Cora to take Anna
under her wing.

  Anna had been young, which meant that gossiping servants and adults often overlooked her. She had heard enough talk to understand that her uncle, the marquess, had been unkind to her parents and she had made up her mind never to have anything to do with him.

  In the process, she’d cut herself off from the rest of her father’s family, and her aunt Cora had tried on numerous occasions to convince her that she owed it to her other relatives to at least become acquainted with them.

  Still, Anna could not help but believe those same relatives should have shown more care for her parents when they were living, and she could not bring herself to forgive any of her relatives on her father’s side.

  She did not think she ever could.

  Anna’s pondering was interrupted when she caught the toe of her boot on a protruding root that lay hidden under the snow. She stumbled but quickly righted herself. The interruption, however, was enough to make her aware that she’d wandered deeper into the forest than she’d intended and she was now surrounded by vegetation that grew so tall and thick as to almost hide the sky.

  Frowning, she looked around, trying to get her bearings. She was uncertain of the direction she needed to go but fortunately, her footprints remained in the snow. She had merely to follow those toward Ashworth and she would soon be back where she had started.

  Smiling in relief, she had taken perhaps half a dozen steps when the first huge snowflake drifted through the air right in front of her face. Startled, Anna looked up. The air above her was thick with the incredibly big flakes, reminding her quite clearly of the night she’d seen the beautiful woman in red.

  Obviously, there was more at play here than an unusual spell of weather. Anna looked around her, watching closely for a flash of color that might indicate the lady in red had returned, but she saw nothing beyond the darkening green of the forest and the increasing brightness of the snow.