Page 9 of Lady in Ruby
Chapter 5
Caroline felt as if the breath had been knocked clean out of her. This wasn’t possible! The snowman couldn’t have melted. It was even colder today than yesterday. Furthermore, there were no signs of melting where the snowman had stood, no circle of ice that would have been the result of any sudden change from frozen to liquid to frozen again.
In fact, there wasn’t even the flurry of footprints she and Estelle had made as they pranced and circled around the figure as they decorated it. The clearing was weirdly pristine.
So what had happened? She paced around again, looking for some clue to indicate the snowman’s fate. She tried to be logical about it (disregarding the eminently nonlogical premise). Very well. If her snowman hadn’t melted, then it must have been knocked over, for it couldn’t possibly have just disappeared…or been transformed into a living, breathing human. But then where was the detritus? The pile of snow that had been its body? The holly sprig that Estelle had tucked into the snowy hat?
Could someone have moved it all, just to mystify her?
“It must be a prank,” she murmured, frowning. But who would think that such a mean-spirited trick would be funny? And how did they even know she meant to come back and look? This was a lonely spot in the woods, not one of the many trails used by the family or by neighbors who crossed the land on their way to the village or elsewhere.
Was it local boys from the boarding school in the village? It was a long way to walk to carry out a random prank. Or perhaps some bored laborer passing through the woods happened to see the snowman and decided to kick it over for fun. But then why was there no toppled snow?
Caroline’s mood darkened as she ran through increasingly implausible scenarios. Finally, she shook her head. She would discuss it with Estelle. Her friend would no doubt have a theory that would shine a light on the matter.
She started to trudge back to the house, head lowered against the colder bite in the air as she walked into the wind. The early sunlight had fled, and now leaden grey clouds packed the sky, heralding another snowstorm before long.
But before she got very far at all, she ran into none other than Lord Snowdon himself — quite literally.
“Ooof!” Caroline huffed as she barreled into something solid in her path. She blinked, reaching out to steady herself. Her fingers grazed something warm, but all she saw was white.
“Miss Garland, are you all right?” The rich, low voice of the man wrapped itself around her. “I’m afraid I was looking everywhere but where I was going.”
“How did I miss you?” she wondered, though it soon became obvious. He was wearing a white wool coat with white fur trim, an outfit that all but disappeared against the snowy landscape. “Oh, I see. It’s because you’re camouflaged better than a hare in winter.”
He allowed the point with a faint smile. “I suppose I am. And here I just thought the coat looked warm.”
Caroline didn’t refute him, but there was no way on earth that anyone could think such a coat was a basic article. It was a luxury item, heralding Snowdon’s exalted station. Wool bleached so white was a rare thing, and the gorgeous white trim was likely ermine. To say nothing of the exquisite cut of the coat. Greatcoats were often bulky things, but this one hugged Snowdon’s form very well. Caroline’s fingers itched with the desire to touch the coat again. And not just the coat, but the man beneath…
She noticed his pale blue gaze and looked away with an embarrassed blush. “I should apologize too. I was rushing home to get Estelle—Miss Clement, and I was not paying attention.”
“Why rush? Are you cold?” He made as if to shrug the coat off.
Oh, don’t tempt me, she thought. Aloud she said, “I’m quite warm, thank you! It’s just that I came across something odd, and I wanted to…well, find a witness.”
“A witness?” His eyebrows rose. “Intriguing. Let me be your witness, Miss Garland.”
Caroline paused. There was something extremely confounding about asking the man who she suspected might once have been made of snow to witness the very spot of his transformation. But to explain exactly why he wouldn’t be an unbiased witness was much more embarrassing. She was not a child, after all. She did not believe in fairy tales or magic.
“You’ll probably think me silly to be concerned,” she said. “It’s just a phenomenon of melting and refreezing. No doubt a common occurrence in winter.”
“Come now, Miss Garland. You’re not going to convince me that you’re rushing homeward due to a scientific discovery. You looked far too alarmed for that. Now, tell me exactly what you saw.”
“It’s rather what I didn’t see. I made a snowman yesterday…and today it’s disappeared.” She tried to say it lightly, but the fact remained that she was perturbed by the event.
Snowdon looked surprised.
“I am not overwrought or mad with frostbite-induced brain fever,” she went on. “A thing was there yesterday, and it’s gone today. I want to know why.”
He paused, then said, “Well, I can understand that impulse, Miss Garland. Very well, let’s go see it.”
“Excellent,” she said.
Moments later, they stood together at the center of the clearing. Caroline pointed to the empty spot. “It was right here, I promise. And now…it isn’t.”
“Hmm. Your friend Miss Clement would have been the better witness after all, since she would know what had been here before.”
“I told you that’s why I was on the way to get her! But I think it’s too late now. All the evidence will be erased by the new snow. I mean, the lack of evidence. Even our footprints are gone. It’s very strange.”
