Page 34 of A Christmas Temptation for the Duke
Alison looked between the Earl and the young boy, fully expecting the Earl to snap at him. No doubt, he had never been spoken to like that before. No doubt he wasn’t about to start now.
Only… Alison caught the Earl’s eyes and saw a flash of mischief behind them. Finally, the smile that had been threatening to break free from his lips all day reached them, and he narrowed his eyes at the little boy.
“Are you calling me a coward?”
“If the nice coats fits!” the boy cried.
“Right!” The Earl glared at the boy and then raised both eyebrows at Alison. “Just don’t think I’ll be taking it easy on you.”
She beamed. “Does that mean…”
“It means my honor has been questioned.” The Earl shrugged off the coat and threw it on the fence. “And I am not about to leave it to fend for itself.”
Alison laughed excitedly as she watched the Earl climb over the fence and approach the mayor. She found the boy grinning and winked at him. “That was either very brave or very stupid.”
“Can’t it be both?” he asked.
Alison was quick to join the Earl in the middle of the field, by which point another fifteen had hurried to see themselves a part of the games. The mayor then split them into two teams, and Alison elected to be on the opposite team to the Earl.
“Is that a challenge?” the Earl joked when she said as much.
“Me?” she shrugged innocently. “I just know that with you looking out for me, as you claim, you would not dare to attack me. Not even with a snowball.”
He laughed. “Good luck with that logic. This is war, and there are no rules.”
“I’ll remember that.”
The field was an obstacle course peppered with trees and piles of frozen hay and an upturned cart and mounds of snow raised into walls for cover. The two teams took their positions on either side of the field and waited to begin.
As they did, Alison got busy making snowballs with her hands. She found the Earl across the field, ducking behind a hedge, andhe saw her watching and narrowed his eyes. She did the same back… all the while grinning from ear to ear.
The mayor stood in the middle. He raised his arms for silence. He held that silence as the crowds gathered around the perimeter. And then, once the tension reached its peak, he threw down his arms, and the snowball fight began.
Alison didn’t care about the other players on her team. Or those on the opposing team, for that matter. She had eyes only or the Earl, and she made him know it.
Scooping up her pile of snowballs, she stayed low as she darted across the field, dodging behind trees and hedges as she came closer and closer. She tried to be stealthy, not wanting to expose herself. The Earl, however, had other ideas.
He charged into the fray like a crazed lunatic. No concern felt for the snowballs that pelted him, he made for where she hid with vengeance in his eyes.
Alison peered over her hedge and saw him coming. Her eyes widened, first in panic, and then with glee. She jumped up, took aim with her first snowball, and launched it right for his face.
The Earl dodged it and threw his own snowball at her. It missed by some distance, and she laughed as she threw another. That one struck him on the shoulder, but it did not slow him down. The Earl darted quickly, throwing two snowballs in succession, both missing her again.
“You will need to do better than that!” she cried as she tossed her final one at him, missing him by inches.
“Like this!” he shouted as he aimed his final ball. It came quickly, right at her, and her mouth opened to cry out just as it hit her in the chest.
“You…you hit me!” she stammered.
“I was trying to,” he laughed.
She grinned mischievously, dropping back behind her hedge and hurriedly making more snowballs. Then she was up again, at which point the Earl was right on her.
“No!” she screamed as she danced back, tossing one after the other.
“Running already?” he shouted after her, bending down as he ran, scooping snow into his hands, and then throwing it at her.
It was all such fun. So silly. So ridiculous that she could not believe what she was doing. She raced around the field, the Earl chasing her, snowballs flying back and forth between them. Some hit. Most missed. But it mattered not. They were having too much fun to keep score.
