The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection (43 page)

She closed her eyes and tried to visualize
the next scene in her mind. The handsome hero entered the ballroom,
searching for the heroine, and all the guests took notice. Finding
the lovely debutante, he made his way to her and bowed. Love shone
in his cerulean gaze…

Her eyes opened
abruptly.
Heaven help me! Why on earth did
I give the main character blue eyes?
She
crumbled the paper and stomped to the fireplace, tossing it in.
Perhaps she’d better start over with a new character. One with
brown eyes, or maybe green…

Jeanne burst into the room, interrupting her
thoughts. “My lady! Please forgive me for intruding, but I must
share something his lordship told me…” Quickly, she relayed her
conversation with the earl.

Amelia gasped, suddenly understanding the
reason Phillip hadn’t responded to her confession the day before.
He’d been facing away from her when she’d told him. He hadn’t
ignored her. How could she have misjudged him so badly?

It all made sense now. The times when he’d
seemed distracted and she’d had to repeat what she said. The way he
watched her carefully whenever she talked. The way Robert and
Desiree always touched his shoulder lightly and waited until they
had Phillip’s attention before speaking. She’d thought he didn’t
approve of her writing career, but he simply hadn’t heard her.

She had to get to the ball, quickly.

“
Jeanne, have Marks summon
a carriage, and then come back here to help me get
dressed.”

“
Yes, my lady. Right
away.”

Amelia was half dressed by the time the
servant returned. If she’d had her way, she wouldn’t have done
anything to her hair. But Jeanne reminded her the carriage would
take a few minutes to arrive, so she’d impatiently submitted to her
maid’s primping and arranging.

The moment the butler announced the carriage
was ready, she flung her cape over her shoulder and nearly flew
down the stairs to the marble tiled foyer. A hastily summoned Giles
barely had time to stuff his hat on his head as he hurried to
accompany her.

~~~~

Phillip took
another
pastry from a passing waiter’s
tray. He paced, partly to keep his mind off his nervousness and
partly to keep from being stopped by every matron with a
marriageable daughter. A part of him was flattered. But there was
only one with whom he wished to share his title.

Where the devil is
she?
Colorful gowns swirled all around him,
and beautiful women descended the staircase, but he didn’t notice
any of them. He searched the faces of the guests as they arrived,
but the one he needed to see wasn’t among them. Was there some
problem at Sudbury House?

Last night at the children’s Christmas
party, she’d been a wonderful hostess. After the dinner, she’d
gathered the children around her and read the Christmas Story from
the Book of Matthew. And then she’d reminded them of their manners
before handing out their gifts. The children, as well as their
parents, had appreciated the books.

He noted several heads turning toward the
staircase. A new arrival must have been announced. He turned, and
his spirits lifted. Amelia’s brother, Edward Partridge appeared at
the top of the stairs. Amelia should be right behind him. His heart
beat faster as he waited.

But the earl descended the stairs alone.
Phillip’s heart stopped for a moment.

Where was Amelia? Had she decided to come
later, by herself? It would go against convention, but his Amelia
wasn’t one to follow the rules. Perhaps he’d better speak to
Edward.

He made his way to the
earl, who, now that he was no longer betrothed to the Dragon Lady,
was a commodity among the unmarried ladies of the
ton
. Edward was
surrounded by the mamas of available women, and Phillip had to wait
his turn. Some of the mamas cast a welcome toward the duke, and he
did his best to greet them properly. He finally reached the
earl.

“
Sudbury.”

Edward turned around and executed a small
bow. “Good evening, Your Grace. Merry Christmas.”

“
Merry Christmas to you,
too. Er, has your sister arrived?”

“
Amelia? No, she has
apparently come down with some sort of affliction. Her maid told me
she didn’t feel well enough to attend. She sends her
regrets.”

“
I… see. I trust she
recovers soon.”

Phillip backed away. What would he do now?
He had no desire to stay and socialize with anyone else. Partying
held no appeal for him without Amelia there. With her, he felt like
celebrating. What could have happened to her? He wanted to ask, but
Edward was already in conversation with someone else. Phillip could
see Edward’s mouth and easily deciphered the earl’s words.

“
Of course, Amelia never
was one for parties and dressing up and such. My mother had an
awful time getting her to cooperate during her season. She finally
had to give up when Amelia bluntly told her she had no intention of
getting married.” Edward paused. “I thought perhaps she might have
been interested in Bartlett.”

Might have been?

“
She had been looking more…
girlish, lately. You know, with the hair and the lace and such. She
behaved like a young girl. But today she came down to breakfast in
one of her drab old frocks. It was almost like she was in
mourning.”

Could she have been upset with him about
something? He searched his mind. What could he have done?

His first reaction was to admit defeat. How
could he have thought he could win the hand of a woman as special
as Amelia? What would she see in him?

But another voice reminded him of her sunny
smiles whenever they were together. The way she worked hard for
people less fortunate than her. There was no better woman to head
Bartlett Manor than Lady Amelia Partridge. He needed to find her
and fight for her. Was there even a chance for them? He went in
search of a servant to fetch his coat.

The carriage ride
seemed endless. Along the way, she mentally
rehearsed what she would say to Phillip.
“I’m so sorry to keep you waiting, Your Grace.”
No, that wouldn’t do. What if he hadn’t been
waiting for her? Hopefully he wouldn’t have found it odd that
Edward arrived before her. Perhaps she could simply say,
“How lovely to see you again, Your
Grace.”

The carriage drew up before the Kringle
mansion, and the door opened. A gold-braided cuff decorated the
wrist of the hand extended to her.

She took a deep breath and descended the
steps. “Please be there,” she whispered.

She would surely be one of the last to
arrive at the party. Would Phillip still be waiting for her? A
servant took her cloak, and she braced herself. Another servant
waited at the ballroom’s entrance. When he saw her, he reached for
her card.

She shook her head. “I — I need a
moment.”

The man nodded and stepped back.

A bank of potted pear trees festively
decorated with ribbons and ornaments for the holiday graced each
side of the wide arch leading to the ballroom. Amelia decided to
look for Phillip through the branches of the trees so she could go
to him immediately.

She leaned forward, trying to see the
partygoers through the boughs. But it was nearly impossible to make
out any one figure through the sea of humanity. She should have
known. The Kringles’ party was the prime event of the holiday
season. Lord and Lady Kringle held court in one corner of the room,
greeting their guests. She took another step but froze when she
realized her hair had caught in one of the ornaments on the pear
tree. She tried to disengage herself but managed only to get
herself more firmly entangled. Embarrassingly, the skirt of her
dress, in her twisting and turning, had caught on some lower
branches and was pulled up into the tree, exposing a shocking
amount of her legs.

Goodness! How ever would she get out of
this? Absently, she recalled a song she’d heard about a partridge
in a pear tree. She wasn’t sure whether to giggle at being part of
a Christmas carol or sob at her dilemma. Should she call out to one
of the servants in the foyer? Would they even hear her?

Suddenly, her skirt fell back in place. A
second later, the ornaments released her hair. A deep voice behind
her murmured, “There you are, Lady Amelia. I trust you and your
lovely gown have not suffered any ill effects from your
mishap.”

“
Phil— Your Grace!” She
dampened her excitement and cleared her throat, dipping into a deep
curtsey. “Again, you have rescued me. Thank you.”

He executed a formal bow. “It was my
pleasure. Your brother told me that you were ill, and I feared you
would not be here tonight.” He extended his elbow. “Shall we join
the ball?”

“
I would love to, but first
I need to tell you something. I tried to tell you earlier, in your
library, but I’m afraid you might not have heard me.”

“
I apologize. I’m listening
now.”

She faced him directly so he could see her
lips and understand what she said. “I — I write books. Love
stories. I like to write them, and my publisher says they are
becoming quite popular. I don’t want to stop writing them. I have a
pen name, so no one needs to know, but I wanted to tell you. Would
that bother you, knowing what I do?”

“
I have already read some
of your stories. They’re quite wonderful.”

Her jaw dropped. “You — you knew?”

“
Yes. A few weeks ago, when
you read aloud to the students, you hardly looked at the page. You
didn’t have to, because they were your words. The next day I went
to the bookstore and purchased every available title by A. P.
Worthington.”

“
And… the idea doesn’t
repulse you?”

“
I shall be proud to be
associated with the author of such tomes as
The Demure Duchess
and
The Tempestuous Ton.
He
sobered. “Would it repulse you to be associated with a disfigured,
hard-of-hearing duke who must work like a common laborer to restore
his crumbling estate?”

Amelia held her hand to her heart. This must
be the kind of love she’d read about, even written about, but never
experienced.

“
I would be honored at such
an association, Your Grace.”

He stepped closer, wrapping his arms around
her. “Shall we seal this agreement with a kiss?”

by Patricia
Kiyono

Published by esKape
Press

www.eskapepress.com

All Rights
Reserved

Copyright © 2015 PATRICIA
KIYONO

ISBN-10:
1940695791

ISBN-13:
9781940695792

Cover Art Design by For the
Muse Design

This is a work of fiction. Names, places,
characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any
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Dedication

To the lovely women of the Mid-Michigan
Romance Writers of America – thanks to you, I discovered I really
could write a book. And because of your constant encouragement,
that first publication became the spark that ignited even more.
This particular book would not have been completed without your
annual I Will Write A Book challenge coupled with monthly
goal-setting and bi-weekly writing sprints. I feel so fortunate to
belong to a group that so actively works toward the success of its
members.