Chapter 9 #2
Hugo suddenly realized Penny had been speaking to Mrs. Robson while he was lost in his own reflections. He looked down at his empty plate, and across at hers, as the innkeeper’s wife removed them.
"I don't like to ask the men to do it," Mrs. Robson said. "They haven't any sense of style. You know how it is, Mrs. Dalston.”
"Indeed I do." Penny laughed.
Mrs. Dalston… Penny must have given the innkeepers his surname when she introduced herself as his wife.
He assured himself the flutter of his heart was merely worry someone would recognize the Duke of Kendal's family name.
"Darling," Penny said archly. She was addressing him, and Hugo swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat as she continued. "Mrs. Robson has asked us to gather some evergreens and holly so she can decorate the taproom for Christmas Eve."
"That's not until… ”
A corner of her mouth twitched up into a smirk as she looked steadily at him, one eyebrow quirked upward. God in Heaven, he’d already lost track of the days. It was, in fact, Christmas Eve.
The day Penny was to have married Oliver.
"We must gather them first thing this morning," Penny said, clearly oblivious to his shock. "So we have time to make them into garlands."
"And a kissing ball!" Mrs. Robson crowed. "Can't have a proper Christmas without a kissing ball."
Penny flushed bright red, and Mrs. Robson laughed as she walked away. "Newlyweds."
Hugo looked out the window again. There was sunlight, though it was weak, and the strong winds appeared to have subsided to a lighter breeze.
He sighed. "I suppose you expect me to walk up into the hills with you to find these evergreens and holly."
"I expect nothing of you, Hugo." Penny took a long draught of her tea. "I can certainly find them myself if need be. Or take the Robsons' oldest son. He seems like a sturdy lad."
Hugo rubbed his forehead. "How do you know so much about these people?"
"I asked, Hugo. I made conversation. You know, like polite people do?"
All he could think to do was growl softly at her impertinence and she... laughed at him.
She actually dared to laugh at him.
Penny pushed her chair back from the table even as he jumped to his feet to try and pull it out for her. "It's quite chilly outside even though the wind has died down. We shall need to bundle up."
She swept from the room as Mr. Robson held the door for her with a flourish. Hugo glared around the room and the men ducked their heads, but he saw their smirks before they could hide them.
He would accompany her, of course. There was no other honorable thing he could do.
He could not allow a lady to wander the countryside with only a half-grown boy to help her.
And her joints might not cooperate for long with the cold and exercise.
There would need to be a sensible person with her to prevent her from pushing herself too hard and making herself ill. He would go for Penny’s own protection.
There certainly was no other reason why he would want to gather greens and holly to make a kissing ball for Christmas Eve.
Despite the cold and Hugo’s scowls, Penny could not help but relish the opportunity to be out of doors.
She had never enjoyed being cooped up inside, no matter how large the house, but this feeling was more than that.
In his company, she felt as though she was buzzing with energy, restless in a way she could not explain or understand.
Hugo walked ahead of her, his greatcoat swirling around his booted calves as he stamped the snow down to make the path easier for her, though she still sank ankle-deep from time to time.
Fortunately, Papa had paid the extra money to have her winter half-boots lined with silk and stuffed with goose down, so her toes were only a little cold. If her joints were beginning to whisper their discontent, she ignored them and took another deep breath of the fresh winter air.
“How much longer must we stay out here?” Hugo’s voice signaled his own discontent, but she ignored it. If he was feeling even half of her current frustration, it was no more than he deserved.
She contemplated the half-filled sack. “We need more holly and evergreens. Not yew, it’s unlucky. And perhaps we can find…”
Penny stopped to look up at a poplar tree. Mistletoe grew in poplar trees. If she squinted, she thought she could see a small ball of green leaves tucked into a notch in one of the bare branches above her head.
And the other branches were low enough for her to climb on.
She had not climbed a tree since she was thirteen years old and her mother had declared such behavior unbecoming for a future duchess, but surely she could not have forgotten how to do it.
She grasped onto the sturdiest of the lower branches and pulled herself up to first sit on it, and then stand to scan for the next strong branch.
“What the devil are you doing, Penny?”
She looked down at him, already partway up the poplar tree. “I think I see some mistletoe.”
He scowled at her from his position at the foot of the tree, hands on his hips. “There’s no mistletoe here. We’re too far north.”
Ignoring him, she shimmied further up the trunk, reaching for the next branch and hauling herself upward. “It looks very much like mistletoe to me.”
“Impossible. Get down from there before you hurt yourself.”
The clump was just out of her reach, but she could see the smooth rounded leaves and silver-gray berries. With a little grunt of frustration, she steadied herself against the trunk and stretched out to grab it…
Just as the branch beneath her snapped and she plummeted towards the ground.
Almost before she knew what was happening, she landed hard in Hugo’s arms and he staggered back under her weight, nearly dropping her. She flung her free hand around his neck and pulled herself against his chest, steadying both of them so he stumbled but did not fall.
“Damnation, Penny! I told you not to do that.”
Grinning, she moved her other hand into his line of sight. “I told you it was mistletoe.”
As he glared at her, she was suddenly aware of how closely he was holding her, one strong arm around her back, the other under her thighs. For all his slender appearance, he had a wiry strength that held her easily.
She could feel his heart pounding under her shoulder as they stared at each other for a long moment, faces so close together, it was almost as though they were still laying in their bed.
Was he going to… ?
Abruptly, he dropped the arm beneath her legs and let them fall to the ground, steadying her until she was able to stand on her own.
As she removed her arm from around his neck, she wiggled the mistletoe again, moving it within his line of sight with a smug grin, and he blew out a sigh of resignation. “Put it with the holly, then.”