Page 33 of An Icy Christmas Engagement
But she simply did not want to be married. She did not want to attach herself to another gentleman all over again. She wanted to be free.
“Would you like to visit Gunters, my lady?” Lord Sotheby asked suddenly.
Caroline raised her brows in surprise. “You wish to have ice in this cold weather?”
“Is it not the best time to?” he asked with what she assumed was a cheeky smile.
Caroline didn’t bother to point out that he was most certainly wrong about that fact and instead, nodded. It was far too early to return home and her mother was sure to be up and about by now. Caroline couldn’t handle her pestering if she didn’t spend a considerable amount of time with Lord Sotheby.
“Let us then,” she conceded, turning on her heels to head back to the carriage. The sooner they got to Gunter’s, the quicker they would be able to leave.
And then she could get back to her writing desk. Or her bed for a nice sleep. Either way, she wanted to go back home.
***
“This is a mess. A big, undefeatable mess.”
Cedric didn’t look up at Harrison’s dramatic exclamation, only because it was not as dramatic as he would have liked. The ledgers they had been poring over for the past three hours was truly a mess. Every breakthrough they had only showcased the insurmountable loss they would incur.
He reached for this fourth glass of whiskey and leaned back in his chair, putting his spectacles aside to rub his eyes. The whiskey wasn’t calming him the way he’d hoped.
Harrison drained his fifth glass and said, “I don’t know about you but I am willing to give up on this. I would have done so an hour ago if it weren’t for the fact that the missing shipment would do nothing but haunt me instead.”
“Giving up on this is not an option,” Cedric told him. He got to his feet and went for another bottle of whiskey at his office’s sideboard. “Though I do fear we are no closer to figuring this out than when we first started.”
Harrison spied the bottle he was bringing back over to the desk and groaned aloud. “I do not want to drink another drop of that stuff.”
Cedric paused, raising his brows.
“Yes, yes, I know how surprising it is to hear me of all people say such a thing,” Harrison sighed. “Trust me. I am not ill.”
Cedric ignored him as he put a hand to his forehead in demonstration and reclaimed his chair instead. Harrison might not need another drink but Cedric was desperately hoping this last drink would be what finally took the edge of his thoughts.
Because for the life of him, he could not stop thinking about Lady Winterbourne.
Honestly, it was embarrassing at this point. He had something far more pressing at hand and yet his mind constantly strayed away from that matter and to the ball last night—and the waltz he shared with the Winterbourne widow.
He couldn’t get her out of his head. As he returned home last night, as he slept, as he made his way to his office this morning, and in these crucial moments when he and Harrison wereputting their heads together to sort through the mess, she was all he thought about. It was embarrassing.
He filled his glass a little more than the standard amount and took a large gulp, aware of the fact that Harrison was silently watching his every move. His friend wouldn’t think that he was so bothered by a lady, however.
“Have you heard anything from Mr. Thatcher?” Cedric asked him.
Harrison shook his head. “I have not, but it has only been a few days. I say we give him a few weeks before we ask him for an update, if he does not come to us first.”
“We do not have time for that. Who knows how many shipments can go missing in that time? We will never recover from another one disappearing.”
“We’ll just have to keep that from happening.”
“Hardly a feasible feat considering we don’t even know how it’s happening or who is behind it.”
Harrison waved a dismissive hand. “I have faith that we will eventually learn the former if we do not get to the bottom of the latter in time. But for right now, I am liable to throw myself out the nearest window if I have to look at these ledgers a moment longer.”
“What do you propose we do then?” Cedric asked as he eyed his unfinished glass of whiskey. He didn’t want the rest. It was clear it would do nothing to rid his mind of the hazel-eyed, freckle-faced beauty.
“We should pay Gunter’s a visit,” Harrison stated, already getting to his feet.
Cedric was already shaking his head. “You see that we are in the middle of a crisis and you want to enjoy confectioneries?”
