Page 35 of A Christmas Temptation for the Duke
But it was as she jumped behind the upturned cart, catching her breath and hiding from the Earl, that she heard Pickle yelp.
She had given the dog to Tommy to watch, but he must have gotten loose because he raced across the field and right at the Earl. He did not see it coming, his eyes trained on the cart, and for that reason when the little dog reached his legs and ran between them, he tripped up, cried out in shock, and then fell flat on his face.
And that was when Alison attacked him.
“Got you!” she shouted as she appeared over him, half a dozen snowballs in her arms. “Surrender!” she cried, snowball in hand, readying to launch it right at him.
“You would attack me when I am down!” the Earl pretended to plead.
“If I must.”
“The rules of war –”
“We are not at war.”
“Are we not?”
“For the last time…” She held her hand high as she prepared to throw the snowball at him. “Surrender.”
“Never!” he roared as he leapt to his feet, at which point he scooped up Pickle and held the dog in front of him.
“Pickle! That’s cheating!”
“Come from you?” He crouched down and made a snowball with his fist, after which he held it above the dog’s head. “If this was war, I might consider such things.”
They laughed together, enjoying the ludicrousness of the moment.
It was unlike anything Alison might have imagined.
She saw the laughter in his eyes. She heard it in his voice. And she felt it in her body. This was not what she expected from today, and she was glad for the fact. And from how the Earl laughed along, she could see clearly that he was of the same mind.
Who would have guessed such a thing was possible?
It was sometime later that they walked together through the fair. Alison no longer raced ahead, forcing the Earl to chase her. And he no longer grumbled and pouted as if he was hating every minute of it. It felt like a truce had been reached, a chance for them both to treat the other honestly for the first time.
“Tell me how it really happened,” he asked as they walked.
“How what happened?”
“You, being left alone.” He looked down at her, a questioning eyebrow raised. “Do you really mean for me to believe that they simply forgot you?”
She grimaced. “Would that be so hard to fathom?”
“In all honesty, yes,” he said with a smile. “Despite everything, dare I say that you are rather hard to forget.”
Alison’s cheeks flushed bright pink, and she looked away. But she felt the Earl watching her and she glanced back, blushing further as he continued to watch her.
Something was happening. Alison could feel it between them. The animosity faded. The distance shrunk. The Earl was not at all what she thought and now that they were being real with one another… she wondered what it might mean.
She scoffed in response. “Being nice to me for a change? If this is your way of trying to get that music box back, you can forget it.”
Alison had meant the comment as a joke, but she saw the Earl’s expression harden.
“I was only joking,” she hurried. “I did not mean –”
“Quiet,” he hissed at her. She leaned back in surprise and then gasped when he took her arm and quickly dragged her through the crowd.
“What are you –”
