Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

“ T hey’re here! They’re here!” Maggie called out as she ran down the stairs, her feet hurrying on the steps.

Theodore left his study, peering out down the corridor at the sudden excitement. Maggie was as he had never seen her before, full of excitement, carefree, as she ran toward the door.

In her excitement, she hadn’t finished getting ready, for Betsy ran up behind her, still trying to put the final pins in her hair.

“Your Grace, we are not finished,” Betsy said pleadingly.

“Oh, it is my sisters. They will hardly mind,” Maggie laughed as she flung the door open wide. “They’re here.”

“Everything all right, Your Grace?” Yates asked, catching Theodore’s attention. He looked away from his wife, turning to face his footman. Yates had been accompanying him in the study, pouring out his morning coffee as he prepared the accounts.

“Of course.” Theodore knew he should return to his work, but his gaze slid back to Maggie.

I have never seen her quite like this before.

She ran out of the door, scurrying down the steps and onto the drive.

Theodore placed the accounts book back in his study then turned to follow her out.

“Are we finished for today, Your Grace?” Yates called after him, amusement in his voice.

“We are,” Theodore called back.

“Usually nothing could tear you away from your work!” Yates laughed.

“Nothing ever will,” Theodore insisted, knowing that he made no sense as he walked out of the house, following her onto the drive.

December had truly arrived as snow had started to fall. The light flakes fell about them, not settling on the track road yet, though it bundled in the borders and on the trees nearby, like clumps of cotton.

Through the mist of falling snow, the carriage had come to a stop and Maggie’s sisters were all hurrying out. She embraced each one of them in turn, being especially careful as she hugged Evelina, who was now showing more than ever with her baby bump.

There was such conversation and laughter from the sisters that Theodore could barely distinguish one word from the next, until they had reached his side.

One of the sisters halted sharply. She looked at Theodore, wide eyed, and terrified.

I know that look. It’s how most people look at me.

Maggie clearly noticed. She took hold of her sister’s hand.

“Ah, Louisa, is all well?” When Margaret saw exactly what had frightened her sister, well who, she cleared her throat. “Come, it’s time you all met my husband properly.”

Evelina let the others move forward. Maggie had to almost drag Louisa by the hand, who had dug her heels into the ground of the pebble driveway and appeared most reluctant to move anywhere.

“This is Theo. Theo, these are my younger sisters. Louisa,” she gestured to the one who had been particularly terrified. “Alexandra.” The middle sister was drinking in the sight of grand house. “And Penelope.” There were clearly lots of questions in her mind, for her lips opened and closed with the need to start asking them.

“Welcome to our home.” Theodore bowed in greeting to them.

Louisa bobbed a curtsy, avoiding looking him in the eye. Alexandra was the politest of the three, curtseying deeply.

“Thank you. That is very kind,” she said delicately.

“I hope you are treating our sister well,” Penelope, the youngest, said suddenly, clasping Maggie’s arm protectively. “Is she happy here?”

“Pen!” Maggie rounded her on outrage as behind them, Evelina’s laughter filled the air.

“I hope she is happy,” Theodore said quietly. “You can have a tour of the house if you like and judge whether it is suitable for her yourself.”

“That will not be necessary –” Alexandra began with a polite smile, but Penelope spoke over her.

“What a wonderful idea! Yes, let’s have a tour.”

Theodore had to bite the inside of his mouth not to smile at the way Maggie turned her eyes to the heavens, pleading for patience.

He began the tour slowly, though Maggie did all the talking, with him just walking between the room and the sisters following. They had nearly finished the ground floor, with Penelope still asking lots of questions and Alexandra marveling at the ornaments, when Evelina suddenly declared an idea which caught all of their attention.

“This is quite a place for a treasure hunt.”

“A treasure hunt?” Louisa repeated. “We have not done such a thing in years!”

Theodore frowned, confused by the words. Margaret moved to his side and whispered to him.

“It was something we did a lot when we were young. I think Evelina did it to distract us from any worries we ever had. She’d choose a treasure and lay it in hiding somewhere in the house, then we’d run around madly to try and find it.”

“Sounds like happy memories.” He nodded at the smile on her face. “You seem lighter in spirit than you have seemed in days.”

“Do I?” She blushed a pleasant shade of pink.

“I’d love to do another treasure hunt!” Penelope declared eagerly. “Can we? Please?”

“This is not our home,” Alexandra answered her with urgency. “It would be an imposition.”

Theodore wasn’t sure what made him say it. Perhaps it was the smiles of all the sisters, the excitement, a feeling that had not often been in this house, though he thought it had much more to do with the way Margaret was looking at her sisters and just how much she smiled in their presence.

“You can have a treasure hunt if you like.” Theodore turned toward the mantelpiece. He selected a small golden bird, an ornament he had not paid much attention to in years, then proffered it forward. “I shall ask Mrs. Lancaster to hide it. Then in half an hour, your treasure hunt can begin.”

Penelope clapped her hands together excitedly as Alexandra smiled. Even Louisa nodded, betraying her own intention to play.

“Will you play with us?” Evelina asked from where she had taken a seat in the corner of the room.

“It is your game.”

“And we are inviting you to join us,” Maggie said softly. “Will you join us?”

I don’t play games.

The words were on the tip of his tongue. Out of nowhere, he found different words tumbling from his lips.

“If you wish.”

“How many hiding places are there in this house?” Theodore muttered in irritation as he heard Maggie giggling in the room next door.

“Have you forgotten what a large house you have?” she called to him.

“It suddenly seems much larger when looking for something so small. Where have your sisters gone?”

“I believe they have gone upstairs to search. Mrs. Lancaster has certainly outfoxed us all with her hiding place. We have been here for hours!”

“Indeed.” Theodore grunted, marching back down the corridor. He opened the hall table and checked the drawers, but he only found them neatly packed with their usual contents.

Maggie appeared in the doorway behind him. Her sudden gasp made him whip around.

“What?” Theodore looked straight at her.

She tore her gaze from somewhere she had been looking.

“Nothing.” She pinkened. Then slowly, she tried to tiptoe past him, heading toward the corner of the hallway.

“You’ve seen it, haven’t you?” he whispered. “You know where it is.”

“No, no.” She adopted an innocent tone.

“You’re not convincing me.”

“But I truly have no idea!” she insisted.

“Your ability to lie is getting worse by the second.” He closed in on her, sensing an opportunity.

There was something exhilarating about competing with Maggie. They no longer thought about their previous arguments, nor their awkward conversations about a marriage of convenience. Instead, they were smiling at one another as Maggie inched toward the corner of the room and he closed in from the other direction.

“Well, maybe I have seen a clue. Let us call it that and nothing else. There it is.” She pointed over his head.

Falling for her trick, he turned and looked at what was behind him, then he heard her hurried feet. He barely darted around in time, seeing her running toward the parasol stand in the corner of the room.

Giving into temptation, he ran after her, sprinting and catching up with her just in time. He caught her arm and swept her away. She giggled loudly, just as he caught her against the wall, blocking her in.

“Now that is cheating at the game,” she said between laughter.

“Or is it just being clever at playing the game?”

“No, it is definitely cheating!” She thrust her hands into his chest and tried to push him away, but he was too strong. He kept his palms flat against the wall on either side of her, suddenly aware just how close they were. Her hands slid down his chest as the laughter faded between them.

Just as quickly as he had realized how close they were, plainly, she had realized the same thing. Her eyes widened a little, her lips parted, and the pleasant blush on her cheek that had been there before now transformed itself into something radiant and red.

What is she thinking?

“Theo?” she whispered. “This is still cheating,” she said teasingly, the smile growing on her cheeks.

“Only for a short time.” He couldn’t pull himself away. He stepped a little closer toward her.

The scent of honeysuckle and freesia was intoxicating. It made him lean toward her, desperate to have more of that scent.

His lips hovered over hers. They were so near to a kiss, his mind was running wild. Would she mind if he kissed her, or would she thrust him away in anger?

Her hands slid a little further down his chest. He had to hold himself back in order not to growl out in a thrill at what she was doing. Then she released him, her hands falling against the wall behind her.

“It’s in the parasol stand, isn’t it?” he whispered to her, moving to talk near her ear.

“N-no,” she stammered.

“Something wrong?” he teased. “You seem to be struggling to keep your voice level.”

“No, I’m completely fine.” She lifted her chin up sharply to meet his gaze, those cheeks now so burning red he had to stop himself from laying the back of his hand across her cheek. “I’m only thinking of the treasure. That is all.”

“That’s all you’re thinking about?” he asked with a knowing smile, feeling the way she was turned up toward him.

She would kiss me back, if I gave in, wouldn’t she?

It was a pleasant distraction, a thrill. Maybe this could be their future? Stolen moments of excitement pressed against walls and in the corner of this house, then abruptly, his stomach dropped.

This house didn’t know that kind of happiness. It was not what happened within these walls. This place was home to sadness and darkness usually, nothing more.

“Theo?” she whispered softly, lifting her chin up at him.

She was so close now, it would be easy to close the distance between them.

“Hmm?” he murmured, bending his head down toward her.

I’m giving in, aren’t I?

Then an image flashed into his mind. It was of his mother shouting at him that night on the heathland when they had met.

“Demon!”

It kicked him deep in the gut.

He could almost picture himself with devil horns and a tail, bending toward Maggie and forcing her to kiss him.

That is not what will happen. I would never force her into such a thing.

The excitement curdled in his stomach, becoming something else entirely, but now Theodore was frozen, stuck between the draw toward Maggie and the certainty that if he gave into temptation, everything would be ruined.

Theodore tried to step back, yet his feet wouldn’t obey his instructions.

Would it be so bad, to give into just one kiss?