A Laird for Christmas (25 page)

The ice, the fire, the solitude. All these things would work to his advantage tonight as he wooed Jane. Satisfaction brought a true smile to his face. Nothing would end this night too soon.

Moving to the edge of the pond, he waited for Jane to appear. She came only a few moments later, escorted by Lord Galloway. The other men walked behind them. At the sight, Bryce allowed himself a moment of irritation. The other men would stand nearby all night in order to protect Jane.

Bryce straightened as his cousin approached. He was determined to ignore the others. He took Jane’s hand in his and instead of pressing a kiss to it as he wanted to, he simply placed her fingers on his arm. “Milady, welcome to the past. This night, we will spend time together as we used to when we were younger.”

“Let us get this over with,” she said with a touch of irritation before signaling the others to retreat. They all left, except Nicholas, who hesitated a moment before he turned and walked back toward the edge of the walled garden gate where the others waited. They were out of earshot, but close enough to lend aid should Jane need it.

Bryce put the others from his mind and turned back to Jane. Her greeting was in no way encouraging, but he smiled at her nevertheless. The smile of a man who knew her well enough to bring her around.

“What do you have planned?” she asked, raising a hand to brush back a loosened lock from her temple. When she noted his eyes following her fingers, she dropped her hand to her side.

“Come,” he said, gently guiding her to a bench near the bonfire. “Let us sit for a while and talk.”

Jane nodded and took a seat on the bench. She had left enough space for him to join her, but he did not sit down. Instead, he moved back a little, giving her space to get used to the idea of them being together.

She turned away from the fire and met his gaze. “I want to talk to you about Bar—”

“Your army,” he interrupted. “Not the army your suitors brought to you.”

Jane’s eyes widened. “Without them, I do not have an army.”

“Not yet. But you could have one tomorrow with my help.” He reached into his sporran and pulled out one of the papers Barker had delivered to him last night. He unfolded the coarse linen paper and handed it to Jane. On the sheet were the names of forty men.

Her brows drew together. “What is this?”

“This ledger bears the names of all the men who have agreed to fight for you, for us, should you choose me as your bridegroom.”

For a heartbeat, excitement flared in her eyes before they clouded with worry. “Bryce, why did you hire an investigator to uncover information about my other suitors?”

His pulse thudded in his ears. “How could you know that?”

“Barker was captured.” She frowned at the paper in her hands. “He brought you this, and other things—information about the other men.”

Bryce shifted uncomfortably. “He did.”

Jane frowned. “Why did you do that?”

He shrugged. “I have never had an advantage in my life. I wanted something that might turn you away from the others. It was an unfair advantage, but one I felt I needed.”

“Cheating will not take you far in life,” she replied.

He quirked his brow. “It achieved me time alone with you tonight.”

Jane sighed. “Did you find anything?”

He shook his head. “The only information that was even slightly interesting was about Colin.”

Jane’s expression hardened. It was not at all the look he wanted to see on her face. “You will hand over the report about Colin.” She rustled the paper in her hands. “Barker brought you these names as well?”

“Aye.”

She set the list on the bench beside her. “I will think on this offer.” Then she brought her gaze back to his, and her eyes narrowed. “Bryce, I know there is a good person inside you. I used to know that boy.”

He closed his eyes. He could envision the boy he used to be. What had happened to change him?

“Can I give you some advice?” Jane’s voice brought him back to the moment.

He opened his eyes and nodded.

“Stop trying so hard. Be yourself. Be the man I know you are.”

He could not resist sitting next to her. As he did, he prayed for a spark of attraction to flare between them. Something, anything. He shifted closer, waiting.

Her face remained unchanged.

Disappointment rocked him, but he forced the emotion away. Pity. She was not attracted to him. But many couples started marriage with far less. He straightened, changing tactics. “Cousin,” he said, the word punctuating the crackle and hiss of the flames. “Do you remember when we first met?”

She nodded. “It was shortly after my mother… died.”

“My mother and I came here to offer our condolences and to help where we could,” Bryce continued. “You were three. I was six years old.”

“I remember.”

“You were grieving over the loss of your mother. Your father had no time for you. Lady Margaret was taking care of your baby brother. You needed a friend, someone to listen to you, to care about what you felt and thought. That was me.”

Bryce rubbed his temples as the memories flooded back. “We took walks around this pond, and when the ice froze over, we skated over the ice. We laughed.” He paused. “And sometimes we cried.”

“We were both different then,” she said with a sigh. “We were both so young. It was before life had a chance to leave its mark on us.” She started to say something more, then stopped. Instead, she put her hand in his and squeezed.

He felt the warmth of her touch, smelled the soft scent of roses. His heartbeat thudded in his ears and a layer of the ice surrounding his heart started to melt. Bryce squeezed his eyes shut, battling memories with everything inside him. This night was supposed to expose her vulnerabilities and leave her raw, not the other way around.

“We did have fun together back then, did we not?” she asked softly.

He nodded, not trusting his voice. There had only been that one time in his life when he had allowed himself to feel something other than hatred for everyone in his family, and that was his time with Jane. Though he and his mother had only stayed a fortnight, it had been long enough to show Bryce all he had been missing.

After that, he had been forced to return home to the man who constantly reminded him of what a soulless failure he was. The emotional abuse had continued for years. And although he had returned to Bellhaven on many occasions after that, he and Jane had never again been that close.

His hope was that tonight would change all that.

The bonfire before them kept the chill air at bay and cast a red-gold light across the frozen pond. Bryce gripped Jane’s hand more securely in his own and got to his feet, taking her with him. “Would you like to see what I have planned?”

She nodded as he drew her to the pond’s edge, then knelt in the snow before her, slipping pattens onto her feet. “We are going skating just like we did so many years ago.” When he had finished with her pattens he slipped a larger pair over his own boots. He held out his hand and waited for her to accept him. His goal had changed. He would not push or prod or manipulate Jane tonight. What she did, she did of her own volition. He wanted her to see he could be that boy he had been so long ago—a friend and a companion.

“Do you like the idea?” he asked, tucking a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear.

Jane smiled. She could feel the night wrap around her, pulling her back into the past, until she was a young girl, standing on the edge of the pond with him. “Yes, Bryce. I like it very much. It has been so long since I have taken the time to simply have some sport.”

“Tonight, sport is all I want for you.”

She hesitated a moment. “Is the ice thick enough?”

“I tested it earlier. I would never endanger your life unnecessarily, Jane, you have to know that.”

Despite all the mad events that had happened in the past month that made the others suspect Bryce of foul play, she did believe he would never harm her. What reason would he have for doing so? If she died, he would inherit. If she failed to marry, he would inherit. If she married him, he would inherit. Even if she married someone else, Bellhaven would be his unless she had children of her own. There were so many reasons for him not to harm her. Why would he risk everything by committing a crime that could take it all away?

She looked over the pond, with the shimmering lights around the edge, and smiled. Bryce would never harm her. He had far too much to lose if he did.

Without hesitation, she put her hand in his and together they stepped out onto the ice. Laughing, she allowed him to pull her across the slippery surface of the pond. Cool air shivered across her cheeks and tangled in her hair.

Bryce looked happier than she had seen him in many years as he twirled her around, his laughter joining hers. Backlit by the huge blanket of a starry night, his eyes were no longer filled with pain.

At the center of the pond, they stopped moving, “Thank you for this night, Bryce,” she whispered. She brought her fingers up to settle over his heart. “No matter what happens with the rest of your days at Bellhaven and with the competition, will you promise me to keep a bit of the boy you were in here?”

“I did not think I could. Too much has happened to strip me of my goodness,” he said, his voice tight with emotion. “But perhaps, in time…”

The night was full of sounds as they continued skating. The bonfire crackled and popped. A soft breeze rustled the branches of the apple trees near the pond. A hiss, a pop, and a keening whine grew ever closer.

Jane stopped skating. She looked around her.

“What is it?” Bryce asked with a frown.

“That sound.”

He released her hands and turned toward the fire. “Perhaps one of the logs—”

A thunderous crash sounded.

Jane gasped at the sight of a cannonball, cleaving through the thick ice.

Time slowed. The sound of cracking filled the air. Fissures spread from the hole across the surface of the ice. The pond rocked. The ice cracked, opened, and Jane pitched forward. Her scream dwindled as she fell, ending abruptly with a loud splash.

J
ane could hear her own breathing, sharp and gasping. Only a handbreadth from her, Bryce reached out, trying to grab her as he, too, was swallowed up by the frigid water. Down they went, into the cold, dark depth.

Jane fought against the weight of her skirts and her cloak tugging her down. She released her cloak. Slowly, torturously, she dragged herself up with her hands, fighting for each inch, fighting to keep the darkness at bay. She needed to grab something solid. She reached out. She could not think. The black fog in her brain was paralyzing. Then air hit her face and she gulped in a breath, urging herself forward. She was lifted clear out of the water and nestled in a strong embrace.

“Praise the saints.” Nicholas’s voice cracked as he picked her up in his arms and pulled her against his body, his warmth. A cloak went around her shoulders, then another.

“B-Bryce?” she asked, her teeth chattering. “I-Is he a-alive?”

“David went in after him,” Nicholas’s voice reassured.

Her heart pounded frantically against her ribs and she heard her own panicked breathing, fast and shallow, as she waited for someone to report on Bryce’s condition.

Her mind was still sluggish, still grappling with what had happened. She strained to hear over the shouts and splashing water.

“A cannonball annihilated the ice.”

“God’s teeth. When are we going to catch this villain?”

“From the trajectory, it looks like the weapon was fired from the south tower.”

“I will go take a look.”

“I see David.”

“Throw me a rope.”

“We got him!”

“Pull him up.”

The voices all blended together as Jane shook her head, desperate to clear the fog of confusion. “I a-am b-better now,” she stated, forcing a calmness she did not feel into her voice.

Nicholas set her down and tightened the cloaks about her body. “David pulled Bryce up from the bottom.”

And as if they did not have enough to contend with at the moment, it started to snow. Light flakes at first, then heavier. Through a veil of white, Jane took in the scene. Bryce lay on the ground, pale and lifeless. His thoroughly soaked cloak tangled about him like a frigid cocoon. David plucked the cloak away while Colin turned him onto his side. Both men’s clothes were clinging to them with wetness as they kneeled beside Bryce on the frozen ground. David pounded on Bryce’s back with violent force. “Cough it up, you fool,” he pleaded.

Bryce jerked, then retched, the water leaving his body. His chest moved up, then down, and a slight curl of mist coiled toward the sky.

“He is breathing,” David announced, his gaze connecting with Jane’s a moment before he and Colin lifted Bryce by the arms and settled his arms about their shoulders. “We must get him back to the keep.”

Nicholas slipped his arm around Jane and pulled her against his side. Feeling suddenly unsteady, whether it was from the accident or his nearness she was not certain. No matter the cause, she was grateful for his support and leaned against him as they made their way back inside.