Saving Grace (40 page)

She looked over her shoulder at him. “I am trusting that you would catch me. Whereas if it were you who climbed to these heights and chanced to fall ...” She shrugged. “I fear you would not be dancing at all tomorrow night. So you see, it is for your benefit that I am the one decorating and you are the one fetching the ornaments.” Grace returned to her work, reaching far over the front of the ladder to hang the gingerbread man on one of the uppermost branches.

My benefit indeed,
Nicholas thought with amusement as he admired the view she presented.
Go ahead and fall. I most certainly will catch you.
He was imagining such a scenario and Grace’s show of gratitude at being thus saved when voices sounded from the front hall. If she heard, Grace paid them no heed, but after a couple of minutes, they grew louder, and a slight draft made its way into the room, indicating that the front doors were still open.

“Your gown must have arrived,” Nicholas said. “Would you like to go see it?”

“Later,” Grace said, squinting at the tree. “I think we can place a candle right here if we are very careful.”

“You don’t wish to see your dress?” Nicholas asked. “Mother tells me it is a sight to behold, that she has outdone herself in her selections this time.”

“She has done that and more.” Grace paused her observations long enough to look down at him. A new light shone in her eyes, and she smiled wistfully. “Lady Sutherland has been good

to me these past few weeks — cordial and even kind. Would that we had reached this state some time ago. It is most pleasant. I have enjoyed her company.”

“I am glad to hear it.” Nicholas crossed the room and poked his head into the hall. “I imagine you shall enjoy
this
company even more,” he proclaimed. “Come. Let me help you down.” He crossed to the tree once more and held his hand out. Grace had barely taken it when the voices, clearer now, reached their ears.

“Where is she? What have you done with her? I’ve a need to see her with my own eyes before I’m about any other tasks.”

“
Harrison?
” Grace’s eyes grew wide, and she cast a horrified look at Nicholas, recalling, no doubt, the threat he’d made to her servants many weeks ago.

“All is well,” he hastened to assure her. “I invited them myself.”

“You did?” Her look of perplexity turned to surprise and delight as four people burst through the door, followed by Kingsley, looking rather concerned.

“It is quite all right,” Nicholas called to him, over the heads of the four people rushing toward Grace. He stepped away, moving aside just as she sprang from the bottom step of the ladder, launching herself into the arms of the younger of their two female visitors.

“Helen!” Grace gathered her sister in a fierce hug then pulled away, staring at her as if to make certain she was real.

“And have you no thought for me?” the young man standing beside her asked glibly.

“Of course I do, Christopher.” Grace extended one arm and pulled him close as well. The three of them huddled together, heads bent close, each speaking and laughing at once.

Nicholas knew a moment of longing as he watched the trio. He envied the young Christopher his sisters and again felt the acute sorrow of his loss in Elizabeth.
Never again in this life will we greet each other. Never will it be her voice I hear ringing through these halls.

He glanced across the room at his mother.
Our loss,
he amended as he made his way toward her, feeling suddenly the intruder in his own home. As he passed Grace’s servants lingering protectively near their charges, he felt only gratitude for them. He remembered the man’s ready defense of Grace the night Nicholas had discovered her in his bedroom, and the way the woman had come forward and wrapped Grace in a blanket and steered her away from him. Their gossiping at Preston’s had been at their lady’s orders, and they had likely done it out of love — and desperation — to protect this little family.

“What have you done?” his mother whispered as Nicholas joined her in the doorway.

He glanced back at the three siblings, still embracing, dancing around with the joy of reunion. “I’ve given Grace something we cannot have.”

His mother eyed him appraisingly. “You care for her a great deal.” It was a statement rather than the question she’d posed more than a time or two.

“More than I should, probably.” Nicholas recalled Grace’s parting words at the hanging of the kissing ball and hoped very much that they were not true, though he could not deny she’d every right to feel that way about him.

He’d been grateful this morning for the arrival of the tree and her enthusiasm for decorating, which seemed to have eased the awkwardness between them a little bit.

At last the siblings broke free of one another, and Grace turned her head, looking around the room.

For me?
Nicholas dared not hope, but then she found him, and her eyes, radiating warmth and wet with tears, lingered upon his.

“Thank you.”

He read, rather than heard, the words from her lips. Nicholas shrugged and leaned against the doorframe as he returned her smile.

“It took you all long enough,” he said in a loud voice for all in the room to hear. Four heads turned toward him. “It has been nearly a month since I requested your company. Why did you not come sooner?” To his own ears, he sounded gruff and commanding — and unfamiliar.

A blessed thing. I have changed.

Grace’s man servant and lady’s maid exchanged uneasy glances, and Grace’s younger sister paled and seemed to wither beneath his words. Grace put a protective arm around her and smiled encouragingly. Nicholas could tell why Grace had felt the need to protect such a fragile creature.

“Mr. Thatcher did not deliver your dispatch for some time,” the man called Harrison said, stepping forward, hat in hand. “Believe me, your lordship, we would have come sooner had we known.”

“Well, your timing today is perfect,” Nicholas said, his tone considerably lighter. “This tree is in need of decorating — and Miss Thatcher seems determined to break her neck in the process of doing it. Perhaps you can assist in keeping her safe. It is proving almost too great a task for one man.” He gave Grace a slow wink before turning his attention to her maid.

“There is to be a ball here tomorrow night. I trust you can help your lady accomplish something appropriate with her hair.” Once more his gaze slid to Grace, who was blushing furiously as she felt her hair and likely realized the extent of its disarray, pulled from its once-neat bun by many tree branches.

“Of course, milord,” the older woman said stiffly, as if affronted on Grace’s behalf.

“Very good,” Nicholas said, bowing slightly. “I will leave you to your reunion.” With a last look at Grace’s joyful smile and ever-tempting hair, he left them. Their timing
had
been fortuitous.

Being so near to Grace was torture.

“How do I look?” Grace asked as Miranda finished helping her into the jade gown.

“Like you are rushing headlong into trouble,” Miranda said, still fussing with the ruffles along the hem. “But then, you could have gone to the ball in a flour sack and found yourself in the same difficulty.”

“You are imagining things,” Grace said, trying to reassure herself as much as Miranda. “Mr. Preston and I are but friends, and Lord Sutherland has spent the better part of the last three months trying to find a way to be rid of me.”

“Mr. Preston may be but a friend, but I daresay he desires much more than that,” Miranda said. “The man was positively radiant each time he returned from meeting with you.”

Someone knocked at her door, and Grace knew a moment of trepidation, wondering if whoever was outside had overheard Miranda. The door opened, and Helen, dressed in a pale pink gown, entered the room.

“Oh, but you look lovely,” she said as her eyes cast upon Grace.

“I was thinking the same of you,” Grace said, wondering how her sister would fare at the ball tonight. Two years ago, Grandfather had arranged a coming out for Helen. Gowns had been purchased, invitations extended and accepted. All was ready for a most glorious London season, but it had ended quickly and in utter disaster when Helen had fainted during her very first dance; then later, sometime after being revived, she had panicked and fled the dance floor — and her rather prestigious and sought-after partner — sobbing.

“How are you feeling?” Grace asked. “Have you sufficiently recovered from Lord Sutherland’s greeting?”

Helen blushed prettily, her pale cheeks growing rosy, making her more beautiful than ever. She nodded, and her golden curls bobbed up and down. “I believe so. You do not think he will ask me to dance tonight, do you?”

“I should think he will,” Grace said. “You are his guest, after all.” For the first time in her life, she felt a moment of longing regarding Helen’s good fortune in appearance. Helen had creamy skin and delicate features, while Grace felt keenly all she lacked. She hadn’t as fair a complexion, and her hands were anything but delicate.

And my hair ...
How many times had Nicholas expressed displeasure with her unruly locks?

She shook off the feeling of envy and the worry over her inadequacies, telling herself to be glad of them, that they would make her less desirable.

“There.” Having finished arranging the hem, Miranda stood, a satisfied smile on her face. “Your grandfather would be proud — of both of you,” she added, turning to Helen.

Grace walked to her sister, looping her arm through Helen’s. “Let us go down together, shall we?” She steered her toward the door, which Miranda hurried to open.

“There is something I must warn you of,” Grace whispered as they walked. “Hanging above the ballroom entrance there is a ball ...”

Nicholas waited at the bottom of the stairs. Several guests had arrived already, and he knew he ought to be in the ballroom to greet them, but for now he’d left the task to his mother, waiting instead to escort Grace in. This night was for her, and he wished her to know it from the very first. He intended to introduce her to everyone. He planned to dance with her three times and commandeer her evening so that few others could enjoy the same privilege.

He wanted to show her off and to show his neighbors just how fortunate he was.
How Grace has saved me from my path of self-destruction.

A gasp came from the top of the stairs, and Nicholas looked up to see Grace and her frightened-looking sister arm in arm. This foiled his plan a bit. He’d wanted Grace to be with her siblings for Christmas; but tonight, he wanted her all to himself. He could see from the way her sister clung to her that this evening would not turn out as he’d hoped.

“It is all right, Helen,” Grace coaxed, guiding her sister down the stairs. They reached the bottom, and Grace flashed an apologetic smile at Nicholas. “Helen did not realize there were to be so many guests. She is a little anxious.”

Anxious
seemed an understatement; Grace’s sister looked to be on the verge of collapse. “Do you need to sit?” he asked, coming around to her other side and taking her free arm, lest she fall.

“Thank you,” Grace said, answering for her sister. “I think that would be best. If we can get her inside the ballroom and find a chair ...”

They walked across the foyer and down the hall, half-dragging Helen. Just before the entrance to the ballroom, Nicholas paused, glancing up at the kissing ball, then over at Grace, who he was pleased to see also had her gaze turned to the ceiling.

That will have to wait,
he supposed, though it had not been in his plan to kiss Grace before the ball began. But later, after the festivities, when he hoped for a moment alone with her.

The three of them entered the ballroom, not at all the way Nicholas had imagined beginning the evening. He didn’t even have the right lady on his arm, but there seemed no help for that.

He steered them toward the nearest set of chairs and deposited Helen in one of them, then scanned the crowd for his mother. She seemed able to read his cue of distress and began making her way toward them. Nicholas turned his attention to the musicians, giving a slight nod to indicate that he wished the dancing to begin.