Page 36 of A Duke's Christmas Carol
As she half-listened to the increasingly outlandish tale that David was regaling the party with, Isaac chiming in here and there with embellishments of his own, she fought against the temptation to look back at Adrian.
Do not ask for too much. Do not ask for too much. Do not ask for too much,she repeated over and over in her mind, as confused now as she had been all night and all day.
After all, he had not dismissed her or walked away as he had done twice before. Indeed, he had escorted her to her bedchamber and wished her a goodnight. Yet, somehow, she found that to be worse than an abrupt departure, more baffling, more dangerous.
“And then,” David said dramatically, his arms flying outward, “she exploded into a sea of bats!”
Valerie’s heart thundered in her chest, feeling the closeness of Adrian, the back of her neck prickling as if his fingertips were caressing her nape. But there was no touch, just the recollection of one.
Just turn. Just speak to him properly and get it over with,she urged herself.
Taking a bite of the sweet, spiced tart to give her some courage, her eyes closing at the delicious creaminess of the buttery pastry mingling with the slight sour of the blackberries and the warming notes of nutmeg. It was enough of a distraction to steady her thoughts and bolster her bravery.
Putting on a smile, she turned… but there was no one there, where she could have sworn she felt the presence of him, thickening the air behind her. A ghost story all her own, haunted not by a spirit but by memories of a heaven she knew she might never experience again.
He was right here… Where on earth did he go?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“We really have to go back, eh?” David said, adopting the world-weary tone of someone far older.
Standing with Valerie and the two boys on the icy, cobbled streets of Blackwall, facing the arched double doors of the orphanage, Adrian fought to swallow a chuckle. He had to wonder which grizzled old man the boy had learned that tone from, for he almost sounded like the gardener.
“Thank you ever so much for letting us stay, Your Grace,” Isaac said politely, and stuck out a slightly shaky hand.
Whether it was shaking because he was offering it to Adrian, or whether it was because of the orphanage and this Mrs. Atkinson that they had all heard so much about, the duke did not know. But he took the proffered hand anyway and shook it as firmly as he would with any gentleman.
“You are welcome,” Adrian said.
Isaac seemed pleased, his pale cheeks pinkening.
“Well, I ambereftto see you go,” Valerie interjected, showing no decorum whatsoever as she scooped Isaac up into her arms and hugged him tightly. “I do not know what I shall do with myself, now that I do not have the two of you to entertain me.”
Isaac giggled and hugged the woman back. “You’ll be seeing us soon, though. For the party.”
“Ah, yes, quite right.” Valerie grinned and set the boy down. “And it shall be the most tremendous party that Blackwall has seen in a decade.”
A little shiver ran down Adrian’s spine, his eyebrow raising as he tried to catch Valerie’s eye. But she would not look at him, her attention turned toward David, who seemed decidedly less enthusiastic about being hugged on the street. The shyness of youth, of an age where he thought he should not be childish anymore.
“You may hug me willingly or I shall have to smother your face with kisses,” Valerie warned with a wink, opening out her arms.
David rolled his eyes, unable to hide his secret smile as he shuffled up to her and let himself be fiercely embraced. “I’ll miss you when you go to Scotland, Miss Wightman. Promise you’ll come see us on your way back?”
“I swear it,” Valerie replied, planting a kiss upon his hair anyway.
Watching the sweet farewell, and trying not to feel too uncomfortable about such a public display of affection, Adrian frowned. He had spent so much time getting used to having visitors in his castle that he had forgotten the reason that Valerie had appeared in the first place.
Whatwasshe venturing to Scotland for?He did not believe she had told him. Perhaps, he should have used their moment in the library to coax the information out of her, but he had been a little… distracted.
“Good luck to you,” he said, putting out his hand to David.
The boy shook it exuberantly. “And to you, Your Grace.”
“Oh, come now, we cannot just leave you both on the doorstep,” Valerie protested.
With a decisive huff of breath that plumed in the cold, winter air, she hitched up her skirts and climbed the snow-shoveled steps up to the entrance. The crystallized snow that remained crunched under her feet in a rather satisfying way, as Adrian’s gaze briefly flitted to the flash of ankle and stocking she had revealed.Thatwas rather satisfying, too.
She knocked firmly on the door, the boys slowly heading up to join her on the top step.
