Chapter Twenty-Five
Twenty-Five
Amy
BAREFOOT, AMY padded across the room to open the wardrobe cabinet.
“Poor Kendra,” she mused as she pulled out the deep amethyst gown she’d brought for Christmas Eve. “I cannot imagine how cats got in there.”
“As she said, it’s a mystery,” Colin said lightly.
Too lightly, Amy thought. Turning to drape the dress over a chair, she slanted him a glance and caught the satisfied look on his face.
“You did it, didn’t you?” she accused with a gasp. “Somehow, while we were skating, you let cats into your sister’s room.”
“I did not,” he protested, looking entirely too innocent.
Only someone guilty could contrive to look that blameless.
Knowing him, she waited.
She didn’t have to wait long. “But Margaret might have,” he added with a hint of a devilish grin.
“Margaret?”
“Kendra’s maid, the short girl with the big blue eyes? I had to bribe her to get her to cooperate, but she seems to be enjoying our caper immensely.”
Amy’s first instinct was to righteously admonish him, but of course that was due to the tension between them.
She’d known he was a shameless prankster when she married him.
It was one of the many things she loved about him—no matter that she often claimed otherwise—and if their differences had been settled, she’d be laughing.
Instead, she tried and failed to hide a smile. “Pray tell, what is the aim of this caper?”
“To keep Kendra and Trick apart. We’ve strewn their room with pungent cheese, given them drinks to make them sleep, taken their door off its hinges—” When she gasped again, he grinned outright and shook his head.
“Kendra brought this on herself. She should have known better than to discuss her love life in my hearing.”
“She didn’t know you were there,” Amy protested mildly. “And this last prank was mean. You’ve seen how much cats make her sneeze.”
He shrugged. “Harmless fun, and I’ve been sorely in need of fun.” Her guilt sparked, she opened her mouth to retort, but he held up a hand. “Perhaps it has gone far enough. I’m done. I’ll leave them alone tonight. Just tell me you’re willing to keep this quiet until I’m ready to reveal the truth.”
“Of course I am,” she said, reaching behind her back to tug at her laces. “I wouldn’t dream of destroying your amusement. I only wonder why she and Trick haven’t figured out what’s been going on.”
“I expect they’re consumed with other thoughts,” he said, one eyebrow raised suggestively. “Can I help you with that?” Without waiting for an answer, he stepped behind her and changed the subject. “Next Christmas, we’ll be able to bring all of our attendants to Jason’s place.”
“Where they’ll get lost in Cainewood’s ninety-eight rooms once again,” she predicted with a little laugh.
“But I don’t mind not having Agnes here.
She was so happy to spend Christmas with her family.
” Feeling his deft fingers loosen her laces reminded her of their first weeks together, when they’d started their married life with only Benchley on their staff.
“And I suppose it’s not so bad having you take her place for a while. ”
“I’m enjoying taking her place.” He swept her hair aside and kissed her neck, partially dissolving the frisson of vexation she often felt with him these days. “It was a lovely day,” he murmured against her skin. “Thank you for not arguing with Aidan.”
“I gave you my word,” she said. “There’s no need to thank me for keeping a promise.”
His fingers fumbled, which she hoped meant he felt remorse for not keeping his own word. But the truth was that she wouldn’t have argued with Aidan today whether she’d promised or not.
Because she was no longer sure what to say to him.
As Colin eased her bodice off her shoulders, she heard Kendra’s voice in her head for what seemed like the hundredth time…
I remember you telling me how unfair it was, that your father was dictating your life instead of letting you live it—and—what your father did to you, well…you’re doing the same thing to your own child…
Was she?
Those words had hit her in the gut.
She didn’t know how she would have responded had the children not burst in with news that the pond had frozen, drawing everyone’s attention. But she’d been able to think of little since.
“Hey,” Colin said softly, interrupting her ruminations. His warm hands on her bared shoulders, he turned her to face him. “I gave you my word, too. And I…I’ve decided to keep my promise,” he rushed out, searching her eyes for approval. “I only ask that we wait till we’re home to tell Aidan.”
It was the last thing she’d expected to hear from him. “Really?” she breathed, searching his eyes in return.
“Really.”
Her heart melted right then and there, and her arms went around him. Never mind that she was no longer sure she wanted to go through with her original plans, his willingness to support her meant everything.
“Aidan may be unhappy for a while,” Colin continued, “but you’re right, he’ll survive.
And it’s not as though he has any better prospects.
I have no idea what I’d be doing these days if Charles hadn’t given me the earldom.
” Charles II, he meant. Upon his restoration in 1660, the king had awarded land and titles to all three Chase brothers, as thanks for their family’s support.
“A rather unprecedented piece of luck—we second sons rarely find our places so easily.”
In truth, life hadn’t proved easy for Colin at all—not during his childhood, and not later, either.
In part thanks to wedding her, he’d struggled mightily to make his estate profitable and restore the small, crumbling castle where they now lived so cozily.
But she’d learned early on that he was determined to turn every disadvantage life dealt him into a benefit.
He believed hard work and dedication were the best means to a happy ending.
That attitude was admirable, and another of his many qualities that had made her fall in love with him.
“I’m sure Aidan would find something to do with his life,” she pointed out, playing devil’s advocate while she hugged him tight. “Countless second sons seem to get by one way or another.”
He shrugged and squeezed her back. “Perhaps. But my honor will not survive disappointing you. My word means everything, as you’ve been trying to tell me for months. I cannot betray you. I regret my failure to see that earlier.”
“A Chase promise is not given lightly,” she murmured, hearing Jason say so in her memory. A statement he’d made when she’d first arrived at Cainewood, newly orphaned by the Great Fire of London, more than twenty-two years ago.
“No, it’s never given lightly,” Colin agreed. “Most especially to those we love.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d heard those words from him, and perhaps that was why they echoed in her heart now.
Reconciled at last, the two of them just gazed at each other for a long, melting moment.
A measure of peace settled over them, a comforting serenity they’d been missing the past months.
His lips found their way to hers, and hers to his, instinctively after so much time together.
As they kissed, his hands skimmed down her arms, pushing her gown to puddle on the floor.
At first she assumed he was just helping her undress to change. But then he began backing her toward the bed.
A sharp knock came at the door.
“Yes?” Colin all but barked.
It opened a crack. “My lord,” Benchley called, “I wish not to intrude—”
“Then don’t.”
“I’ve been told I must move your things.”
“You’ll have all night. Go away. For at least an hour,” Colin added loudly as the door shut.
His mouth went to hers again.
“The caroling,” she protested weakly.
“A pox on the caroling…”