Page 77 of A Christmas Temptation for the Duke
“Sounds treacherous.”
“Indeed. We wished to return as soon as we received Lady Alison’s letter, but it would have been impossible to do. We left the moment the weather allowed.”
“Perhaps not forgetting her in the first place would have saved you the headache.” Daniel had not meant to speak so harshly, but he could not help himself.
Lord Pemberton started at the words. “Yes… well… it was an unfortunate circumstance to be sure. Let us be glad that there was no harm done.”
Daniel had to stop himself from glaring.
No harm done? What of your daughter, whom you left behind? What of her self-esteem and self-worth? What of how she sees herself, confirmed rightly because why would she see herself any differently when her own family think so little of her?
“Indeed,” Daniel managed as he stepped onto the lower landing. “No harm done.”
He looked past the family, finding Lady Alison who still refused to look at him. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to tell her not to let Lord Pemberton’s words get to her. He wanted… so many things that he could not do.
“We cannot thank you enough.” The Baroness Pemberton hurried for him and, when she reached him, she took him by the arms and looked like she might weep. “Alison has told us little of what occurred, but I see that she has been well looked after. However can we thank you?”
“I assure you, no thanks is necessary.”
“Nonsense,” Lord Pemberton dismissed. “We are here now for the remainder of the Christmas period, and honor demands that we thank you properly.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “What say you visit our home tomorrow for some tea? So that we might thank you properly.”
“There is really no –”
“We insist,” he spoke over Daniel.
Again, Daniel looked for Lady Alison. And again, he noticed how she avoided him. Now that he was free of her, the smart thing to do would be to remove her from his mind completely.
But as he watched her, as he noticed the scorn emanating from her body, Daniel was not able to do as he should have. He had hurt her. He had shamed her. And he needed to make it right… or at the very least, confirm with himself that he had done nothing wrong.
“That sounds lovely,” Daniel said. He saw Lady Alison stiffen at his words, and he watched her closely, needing her to turn and look at him.
Which she did not do, of course.
There was little left to say after that. Lord Pemberton announced that he needed to get home to unwind after the trip, and he was quick then to shuffle his family from the foyer.
The three half-siblings of Lady Alison were the first to leave, followed then by the Baroness. Lord Pemberton went next, leaving behind just Lady Alison and Pickle. But that was only because Pickle whined and barked and tried to buck from her arms when it realized they were leaving.
Daniel stayed back and watched her. He did not know what he could possibly say. To explain what happened? To tell her it was not her fault? Nothing would make a difference, and it would only make things worse.
So, he said nothing.
She finally got Pickle under control and walked through the door without once looking at Daniel. And there he stood as the door swung closed, alone, as he was so used to being. Only, the manor felt emptier now than it had. And that pit in his stomach continued to grow large so that it threatened to consume him.
With how rotten Daniel felt, he hoped that it would. Put him out of his damn misery once and for all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Alison. What are you doing up here?” Alison’s mother strode into her bedroom without knocking. “Are you not ready? I told you an hour ago to make sure that you would be.”
Alison was sitting at the end of her bed, facing the window, locked in a thousand-yard-stare with the fields beyond the estate. They were covered in snow, sparse and open, and she imagined what it might be like was she to climb on a horse and simply ride without every looking back.
More than that, I wonder if anyone would even notice…
She was ready, knowing that she had little choice but to be, and to not have dressed herself in preparation for today would have only caused a fuss of that she was not at all in the mood for. But that did not mean that she had any desire to join her family.
“Alison?” her mother was on her, stepping in front to block her view. “Is something the matter? What has gotten into you?”
Alison blinked herself back into the moment and looked up at her mother. “Nothing is wrong, Mother. I am just… here.”
