Chapter Fourteen #2
“It is, you’ll see.” Barr couldn’t help but wink at her.
Truly, he couldn’t explain the urge to have the damned mistletoe other than it was one of his wife’s favorite traditions, and that he wanted to share it with Cate.
And if he were honest with himself, he wanted the freedom to be able to kiss her without having to do it in private. “Onward, Ronald!”
He didn’t quite count on the fact that the daily rain and damp coupled with the snow and the cold would make climbing a tree a bit more difficult than he’d assumed, but he did his best. Ronald scampered up far more quickly than Barr climbed.
As the footman reached a stout branch and scooted on his arse toward where the mistletoe rested, when Barr was halfway up the damned tree, he lost his footing, and though he scrambled for purchase with his boots, he wasn’t quite fast enough to find a handhold either.
“Argh!” The trip down to the ground was accomplished with haste since he fell from the tree. As Cate uttered a half-stifled scream of alarm, he landed hard on his back, which knocked the wind from his lungs for several moments.
“Scarborough!” She ran to his location and then threw herself onto her knees by his side. “Are you all right? Are you in pain?”
He could only wheeze in response, for it was impossible to draw a breath or even speak.
“Damn you, Barr.” She frowned as she stared down at him with a mixture of concern and horror in her eyes.
“Say something.” Apparently not wanting to wait, Cate slid her hands over his limbs, his ribcage, seemingly everywhere.
“I don’t feel broken bones. Perhaps you cracked open your head after this stunt, but I fear your skull is far too thick and stubborn. ”
Finally, he could take in enough air to his lungs to grunt.
He cleared his throat while batting away her hands.
“Leave off.” After sucking in another breath, he coughed.
“I’m well enough. Just embarrassed.” As proof, he moved his arms and legs, then his head and made sure his spine wasn’t broken.
“I don’t understand how my foot slipped.
Could have sworn I was steady.” When he stared up at her, his heart squeezed at the fleeting fear that went through her expression. “Sorry to worry you.”
“Perhaps it is the—”
“Don’t you dare say it’s the damned curse,” he interrupted in a breathless way but couldn’t help but laugh with her in both relief and hilarity.
A grudging grin curved her lips. “Well, I’ll just think it then.” She shook her head. “That was quite a risk. You should know better than that.”
Oddly enough, it was lovely knowing someone cared enough about him to scold him for doing something stupid. “I should, of course, but I was trying to impress you. Clearly, though, I’m not as young as I used to be.”
She sputtered. “It’s not that, it’s just—”
“Hush, Miss Pickwick,” Barr murmured as he looked up at her. Then, because he was perhaps cheeky and he didn’t much care what anyone thought, he hooked a gloved hand around her nape and brought her down where he claimed her lips in a kiss despite the footman still in the tree.
“Oh!” Her eyes opened wide in surprise from the sweet gesture, and he lingered there for a few seconds before pulling away. A shuddering sigh left her throat. “Why did you do that?”
“It’s obvious.” Barr pointed upward at the footman who laughed as he freed a big wad of mistletoe from the branch. “We are very clearly under the mistletoe, Miss Pickwick.”
“There are times when I don’t know what to make of you, Scarborough.
” But Cate laughed, and her smile reflected in her eyes.
In that moment, when she was obviously relieved that he hadn’t injured himself, she was easily the most beautiful woman he’d seen in quite a while.
“So I’ll just do this.” Leaning over him, she fit her lips to his and then kissed him back.
Christ, but it would be all too easy to take command of the embrace, to continue you it until heat consumed them both, but kept a tight hold on his control, releasing her almost immediately. “Let me up, unless it’s your intention to leave me frozen to the ground?”
“It’s what you deserve, but I don’t want you catching a head cold.” But she assisted him to his feet, and then stood close to him as if she didn’t quite trust him not to suffer a collapse.
Barr waved a hand at the footman as the mistletoe fell from the branch as it was freed. “I think we’ll only require this one bunch. It’s large enough that we can divide it if necessary. Come on down, Ronald. You did well.”
“Thank you, Your Grace. It was my pleasure.”
By the time they returned to the carriage, and it lurched forward to begin the trip home, Barr was satisfied with the outing. The mistletoe rested on the bench beside him, and he grinned as he sought out Cate’s gaze across the narrow aisle.
“Are you certain you haven’t suffered from the fall out of the tree?”
“Yes, yes, I’m quite all right. I’ll have bruises on the morrow, but otherwise, my ego hurts more than anything else.” He sobered. “Again, I’m sorry to have worried you.”
“I’m sorry as well. I have no right to take offense when you do something stupid.” She glanced out the window, perhaps to avoid his gaze. “Do you want to know about the bit of the story I managed to translate today before you dragged me out into the snow?”
Which was falling with a bit more energy so that it stuck to the ground, the streets, and the rooftops. “Yes, please.”
“Very well.” With a nod, Cate returned her attention to him. “It seems the pharaoh’s son arranged to spirit away his lover from the palace on a dark, moonless night. According to the text, there were rumors that his father would order her killed at first light, so he had to act fast.”
“How terrible, and all on the advice of his son’s rival? Where is the due process?”
She snorted. “Despot rulers and people with ultimate power like a pharaoh don’t care about investigations. They want to make a show, make an example, of anyone they feel will oppose them or make people think differently.”
“Perhaps.” Barr nodded, and could think of at least two examples from the world in which they lived.
“Anyway, the young man had her dress in black robes, wear a wig so she wouldn’t immediately be discovered. Then he took his lover to the river where they’d met numerous times before.”
“There is something quite melancholy in that.”
“Oh, yes.” Cate nodded. “At the river, in their special place, they had intercourse one last time on the soft grass that grew on the banks amidst the reeds. The night was even more special, for they also exchanged their love for each other through words, even though it was forbidden. It mattered not them.”
“At least there was that.” Yet Barr was caught up in the tale. “What happened next?”
She shrugged. “He put her in a boat with all sorts of treasures, food, clothes, and other supplies, assured her that he would meet her somewhere down river as soon as he could get away. According to the text, he told the boatman to look after her because she was the keeper of his heart, and paid the boatman handsomely to secure the journey.”
Barr frowned. “And she was gone.”
“Yes. It seems so.”
“Well damn. Is that the end of the book?”
“No, there are still a handful of pages needing translation. And I could even be wrong in what I’ve already done due to the damaged pages and smeared ink.”
“I rather doubt that. You are one of the most capable women I have ever met.” Leaning forward, he laid a hand on her knee.
The reaction snapping between them was immediate and heated.
“Promise me that you won’t work on the translation until after Boxing Day.
Enjoy your holiday, but remember to escort your father here tonight for dinner and parlor games.
I don’t wish for him to be forgotten either. ”
“I will. Thank you for the generosity.” Her smile lit him up from the inside out. “I know he will have a lovely time, as will I.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to it.” Though he suspected one evening acting as a family wouldn’t be nearly enough with her.
Was there a future between them? Was there anything else between them when the heat was removed? The remembrance of the concern in her eyes when he’d fallen out of the tree was uppermost in his mind. A woman who only wanted a man for his body wouldn’t have looked at him like that.
Perhaps there was hope after all, and damn if he would let their story end like that poor Egyptian couple from thousands of years ago.