Page 49 of An Icy Christmas Engagement
“I should not have said what I said,” he went on, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I shall endeavour never to upset you like this in our future together.”
That was the last straw. Caroline didn’t think she could handle another second in his presence. She stood, the tea she hastily set down nearly sloshing over the side.
“You are forgiven, my lord,” she said as he shot to his feet as well. “So please do not think that what I am about to say next has anything to do with you.”
Even though it had everything to do with him. Despite it all, Caroline still couldn’t help sparing his feelings.
“But I must leave you now,” she went on.
“Caroline, wait.” He caught her wrist before she could leave. Caroline curled it into a fist to keep from wrenching it away. “Stay. Please.”
“I have…matters,” she ended lamely, gently prying her hand from his grip.
She picked up the skirt of her dress and hurried out of the room before he could say anything else.
***
Afternoon strolls usually helped in clearing Cedric’s head. Today, it only served to confound him further.
It didn’t help that it was a particularly warm day, which meant that there were far more people around than he would have liked. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his heavy coat, kept his head down, and his eyes on the snow-lined street, already on his way back to his office.
That was how he had been walking for the past thirty minutes, not caring to look up once. Not until now. Not until something told him to raise his head as he spotted Lady Winterbourne trudging towards him.
Cedric paused in his tracks. Was he seeing things? Surely that was not Lady Winterbourne making her way down the street without a coat? Was she mad?
Her arms were crossed so tightly around herself that it was all but fused to her body. Even from a distance, Cedric could tell that she was shivering and she shuffled her feet across the ground as if she didn’t have strength in her legs to lift them. Her eyes were fixed downward, her brows furrowed deeply.
Cedric made his way over to her in quick strides. “Lady Winterbourne.”
Her head raised slowly, that deep frown on her face smoothing away in slow seconds as she realized who was standing before her. Watching the surprise slowly fill her beautiful brown-green eyes took his breath away and he momentarily forgot what he’d intended to say.”
“L-Lord C-Colenhurst,” she stammered slowly.
That brought him back. “What in God’s name are you doing?” he demanded, already shrugging out of his coat. “You’re freezing.”
She didn’t move when he draped it around her shoulder. But when he stepped away, she snatched the lapels and hugged it tightly to herself, letting out a shudder.
“I-I do not k-know why I—”
“Oh, Heavens.” Cedric took her by the hand, looking both ways to make sure there were no incoming carriages. He didn’t give her much of a chance to protest. Though he doubted she would have been able to since she could barely manage to walk without stumbling over half her words. Even her walk was stilted, as if her joints had been frozen.
“Where are you t-taking me?” she asked after a moment.
“Out of the cold,” he shot over his shoulder. “You are in no position to walk back to your residence like this.”
“I can manage it just f-fine.”
“C-can you?” he mocked and looked back just in time to catch the scowl she gave him. He didn’t care. Her entire arm was shaking and it was taking every ounce of Cedric’s self-control to keep from scooping her to his chest and carrying her the rest of the way.
If she didn’t like the way he responded, she said nothing about it. And he heard no more protests until they finally made it to his building. Only then did she tug at his hand.
“You could be kidnapping m-me for all I k-know,” she tried to point out.
Cedric turned to her, his patience worn. He took one look at her red nose and her clenched jaw—to stop her teeth from chattering he was sure—and felt such an insane surge of overprotection hit him square in the chest.
“My honour will not allow me to leave you be,” he managed to say in the calmest tone he could muster. “Not like this.”
“You’ve already given me yet another one of your coats. I don’t need any more help.”
