A Christmas Bride (21 page)

“I lost my glove.”

Serenity patted the snow to find the missing glove. Picking it up, she knocked snow from it and placed it back on Theodora's hand. “Sit right here. I want to see where Timothy is.”

“No wolves will eat me, will they?”

“If I see any, I shall tell them that you taste horrible. All right?”

Theodora grinned. “All right.”

Serenity's smile vanished as she pushed herself to her feet and stared at the upended sleigh farther down the hill. Where was Timothy? She had thought he would come running to make sure she and Theodora were not badly hurt.

Pressing her hand over her mouth to keep her gasp of horror from escaping, for it was sure to upset Theodora, she rushed down the hill to where a dark form was stretched out on the snow. Only half a form, she realized, because the rest of it was beneath the sleigh, which was tilted at a peculiar angle.

She dropped to her knees in the snow. Brushing Timothy's hair back from his eyes, she whispered his name. Theodora shouted to her from up the hill, but she did not answer as she stared at his face, which was smoothed out as if he were asleep. Sweet heavens, he was not dead, was he?

She slipped her fingers beneath his high collar to seek his pulse. With a yelp and an oath, he opened his eyes and pushed her hand away.

“I am just trying to see if you are alive,” Serenity said.

“Try doing that without pushing snow down my collar next time, if you would.” He grimaced. “Dash it! I cannot move my legs.”

“You have a sleigh on top of them.”

“The sleigh?” Timothy looked past Serenity's worried face to see the lurking bulk of the sleigh behind her. He tried to slip his legs from beneath it, but they were securely pinned.

“Do not move,” she cautioned. “If you have had the misfortune to break a bone—”

“Which I have not. There's no pain.”

“Sweet heavens! If you cannot feel anything—”

He caught her hands in his. “Serenity, I am fine. I am simply stuck.”

“Stuck?” She gasped.

“It seems that way. The runner must have broken off and twisted around my legs. I can wiggle my toes, and I can feel the sleigh above my boots. I simply cannot extract my legs from beneath the sleigh.” He grinned wryly. “It is a most ignoble sensation to be stuck like this.”

“Mayhap I can help.”

“Don't be want-witted. That sleigh is heavy, and the blades were sharpened before we left Cheyney Park. You could hurt yourself.” He glanced around. “Where is Theodora?”

Serenity pointed up the hill. “She is there. We were thrown clear before the sleigh crashed and broke.”

“For the second time, you have been thrown clear.” He caught her hands again as her eyes dimmed. “Forgive me, Serenity, for reminding you of
that
accident when you must be so unsettled from this one.”

“How could I not think of that one? But at least we are all alive and hurt no worse than a few bruises.”

“And stuck.”

Finally he was rewarded with a smile from her. Although his head ached as if both the sled and the horse had run over him, he slipped his arms around her and drew her down to meet his lips. Her hands clenched on his shoulders, and he tasted desperation on her lips. Not desperation, but fear. For him and for Theodora, he knew. As his gloved hands edged along her back, bringing her closer, he cared only for the caress of her slender body against him.

Pulling back, she whispered, “Timothy, we should not be doing this. Theodora is here.”

“And she can see that there is nothing we can do save kiss when almost half of me is under this sleigh.”

Her smile was clearly reluctant, but it rose to her eyes when he squeezed her hand before kissing it lightly. “I should get some help, Timothy,” she whispered.

“Yes, you should.” He chuckled. “It is getting as cold as the devil's heart lying here in the snow.” He ran his fingertip along her cheek. “It could be warmer if you were lying here beside me.”

“Where I would be as safe as a babe in its mother's arms.”

He lowered his voice to a husky whisper, “Don't be so certain of that, sweetheart.”

Color soared up her cheeks as her mouth grew round. Stumbling to her feet, she stuttered, “L-let me g-g-get Theodora.” She took a deep breath, giving him a most intriguing view from the ground. “I shall send help as soon as I can get to Cheyney Park.”

Timothy rested his chin on his folded arms and watched her skirts swaying as she hurried back to where Theodora was sitting. When she gathered the little girl up, he expected her to rush on. Instead, she turned and came back down the hill.

“Cheyney Park is at the top of the hill,” he said, trying to sound cheerful. It was getting dashed cold beneath this sleigh. The wind was rising again, and he did not want to get out from under the sleigh just in time to discover his toes were frozen. He knew, as well, that if the sleigh shifted, it could fall down on him and shatter his legs. Even though he had been careful to say nothing of that to Serenity, he guessed she knew that, too.

“Theodora insists on staying here with you,” Serenity replied.

He shook his head. “Theodora, it is too cold. Let Serenity take you home.”

“No!” the little girl said with rare fervor. “Timothy, you sit with me when I cannot move. I want to sit with you when you cannot move.”

Timothy looked from the child's determined scowl to Serenity's face, which softened from shock to gentle amazement. Like him, she must not have guessed that Theodora's heart was greater than her small body. He started to speak, but his voice cracked. He began again. “Theodora, it will not do you a bit of good to sit in the snow and get cold.”

“I read a book where a man froze to death in the snow. He just got sleepy and never woke up.” Her jaw jutted with a resolve that reminded him of his grandfather. “I will sit with you and talk to you so you will not go to sleep and freeze to death.”

“I cannot talk her out of it,” Serenity said softly. She set Theodora on top of him.

“What are you doing?” he asked. If this was her idea of a way to help him, he did not want to ask whom she would seek to come here to move this sleigh, for he feared she would bring the tiniest maid in the kitchen.

When she drew off her coat, he started to chide her; then he realized what she was planning. She set the coat on the snow and put Theodora on it. Pulling it up around the child, she buttoned the topmost button to hold it in place around her shoulders.

“Hurry!” Timothy urged, his concern now for Serenity, who was already shivering as the icy wind tugged at the fine material of her gown.

“I will.” She turned, then smiled at them. “Don't go anywhere.”

Theodora laughed, and Timothy put his chin back down on his arms. He let a grimace thread his forehead as Theodora watched Serenity run up the hill toward Cheyney Park, but had a smile in place as soon as the little girl looked back at him. He had not been completely honest with Serenity. There was a pain climbing his left leg that gave him sympathy for a beast caught in a trap.

“You are not sleepy, are you?” Theodora asked.

“No, just cold.”

“Cold is good when you do not want to freeze to death.”

He chuckled in spite of the thickening ache in his leg. “I suspect you are right.”

“I am.” Theodora raised her chin. “I read it in a book.”

“And you like to read?”

“More than anything.” She shook her head. “No, I like being with you and Serenity more.”

“We like being with you.”

Her eyes brightened. “I am not just a burden to you?”

“What gave you that idea?”

“I heard …”

Timothy started to frown, but halted when tears filled her eyes. Quietly he asked, “Theodora, who did you hear say something that would make you think that?”

“Uncle Felix and Uncle Arnold were talking, and I heard them say that Serenity is trying to prove that she is a saint by treating me as she does. That she is trying to impress Grandfather, and she is wasting her time because it shall not do her a bit of good.”

“You heard all that and never mentioned it to anyone?”

She nodded.

Wondering what else the child had chanced to hear because the family had dismissed her to her lonely corner until Serenity brought out the sparkle in the little girl, Timothy said, “Your Uncle Felix and Uncle Arnold are wrong. Serenity likes to spend time with you because she likes you. I do, too.”

“You do?”

“Yes.” He clenched his teeth as another sliver of agony rose along his leg. “If Serenity has impressed Grandfather, it is because he sees that she cares for you.”

“And for you.”

“Yes,” he said again, but more slowly. Not wanting to continue this conversation when he might let the pain betray him into saying something he should not, he added, “Tell me a story.”

“What story?”

“How about one that you have read lately that you really enjoyed?”

“Telling stories is for bedtime, and you cannot go to sleep.”

“Then tell me an exciting story that will keep me wide-awake.”

Theodora nodded and launched into some tale that was so convoluted that Timothy lost track of it within seconds. He did not care. He simply listened to the rise and fall of her voice. The pain in his leg came in waves as well. When he heard a creak, he glanced up, but the wind was not strong enough to topple the sleigh to crush him.

Giving Theodora another smile so she would not be upset, he urged her to continue her story. He tried to ignore how her teeth chattered as she spoke. Glancing past her, he saw no one. As snow began to swirl around them on the rising wind, he hoped Serenity would be quick. He did not want to think of what would happen if she was delayed even a minute too long.

Fifteen

Serenity pulled the thick cloak more tightly around her as she ran along the road. How much farther could it be? She blinked as pellets of snow struck her, but she refused to bend her head. She did not want to miss her first sight of Timothy and Theodora.

She gasped with relief when she saw them huddled by the overturned sleigh. Rushing to it, she knelt by him as she had before. Cradling his head in her arms, she looked at Theodora and said, “They are coming.”

“Who?”

“The men who will take you home where it is warm,” she said, trying to keep her fear out of her voice. Why had not Timothy said anything to her? His skin was icy, and she did not want to think help was arriving too late.

Shouts raced down the hill before a crowd of men from Cheyney Park rushed up to the sleigh. Timothy groaned and opened his eyes as they peeked under the sleigh. She wanted to cheer that he was still conscious, but said nothing as the men peered all around the sleigh as they tried to figure out the best way to lift it away from him without doing further damage.

“Miss Adams,” said the man she knew was the head groom, although she could not recall his name, “you and Miss Theodora must move away. We do not want to chance the sleigh falling onto you.”

“All right.” She scooped Theodora up into her arms. The little girl shivered and nestled against her. Drawing the cloak around her, she smiled her thanks when one of the lads tucked her coat up around Theodora.

“If you will go with Ned,” said the head groom, pointing at the lad beside her, “he will see you back to the house while we get this off Lord Cheyney.”

“I am not leaving. If—”

“Go!” ordered Timothy in a strained voice. “Theodora needs to get inside and out of the wind right away. We shall be right behind you.”

Serenity wanted to argue, but saw by the tense expressions on the men's faces that she would be wasting her breath and the time they could be using to free Timothy. Nodding, she held Theodora close as she went back to the house with Ned. The lad put his hand at her back to guide her up the steep section.

The front door was thrown open as Serenity came up the steps. Branson held out his arms for Theodora as he asked about Timothy. She gave him some quick answers, but urged him not to delay. Theodora was too quiet as the butler rushed her up the stairs to her rooms, where Serenity had ordered a hot bath to be ready for her. Another should be waiting in Timothy's chambers.

She jumped aside as a maid hurried past her, carrying a steaming container. She had not ordered a bath for herself, but she would as soon as she knew Timothy and Theodora were warm. Following the maid up the stairs, she did not pause when Melanda called from near the banister rail. She had no time for a parade of silly questions. Once she was sure that Theodora was fine, she would come back and wait for Timothy to be brought back to the house.

Melanda frowned when Serenity did not answer her. She pushed away from the railing and hurried toward the room where she knew Felix would be at this hour. He always enjoyed some brandy before dinner, especially now that Theodora had joined them, upsetting the evening meal with her childish comments.

Throwing open the door to the cozy room where a fire flickered on the black marble hearth, she ran to where he was sitting in a leather chair, his feet propped up on a petit-point stool, a glass of brandy by his side. She guessed he had been here a while, because the bottle next to the glass was almost empty and his eyes were bright as he came to his feet. He was steady on them. That was no surprise. She had never seen Felix show any signs of being altogethery even when he had been drinking for hours.

“Melanda,” he said with a smile, “you look distressed. Not at seeing me, I collect.”

She gave him her most flirtatious smile, the one he always liked. Today was no exception, for he gathered her close. “You know I am always delighted to see you.” Her smile vanished. “I just overheard Serenity in the foyer.”

“Anything of interest, or was she just filled with bibble-babble as usual?”

“Something most interesting. She and that child were bumped around when the sleigh crashed on their way from seeing the mummeries in the village.”