Mistletoe and Mayhem - Cheryl Bolen Page 0,143

being treated like a child in a tantrum, but she refused to care what Cecil Hale thought of her. She tried to imitate her mother’s sneer. “You were eavesdropping.”

He had a charmingly rueful expression, drat him. “How could I help it? Your mother has a loud voice.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I believe you dismissed the footman on purpose.”

“Out of concern for my friend Restive,” he said. “Forewarned is forearmed, where matchmaking mothers are concerned.”

She gave a frustrated huff and took his arm. They moved leisurely along the passageway. If only she were a man, she wouldn’t be forced to such ridiculous shifts to retrieve the medallion. She could win it back. Or demand it at gunpoint. Or…

He cleared his throat, and she realized she’d been stewing in silence, which was ill-mannered. Despite his calm demeanor, perhaps he was embarrassed too, for not only had he listened to a private conversation—not that it was truly private, with Mother’s maid in the room—but they were practically strangers. Yes, he’d been ordered by Papa to keep an eye on her quite often, but they had never spoken before today.

She should make polite conversation. “I wonder if—”

“If I understand correctly—” he said at the same time. “I beg your pardon. Pray continue.”

She shook her head. “I merely tried to break an uncomfortable silence with an irrelevancy about the weather—whether it will snow and so on. What were you about to say, Mr. Hale?”

He had such a kindly smile. “I believe it will snow tomorrow, so you are stuck here for at least a few days, if not more—and if I understand correctly, you arranged for the coach to break down because you prefer to spend Christmas here rather than at Lord Forle’s estate.”

She felt her color rising again. “Yes, because my mother would have tried to force me to marry Lord Forle.”

“And now she threatens to try the same ploy with Lord Restive.”

“Yes. He’s not as wealthy as she hoped for, but—” She shouldn’t discuss such personal matters with him. On the other hand, he was Papa’s minion and already knew more about her than he should—and was proving far too easy to talk to.

“She is in a rage and wants to punish you,” he supplied. He was too perceptive as well.

She sighed. “I think she is just fed up with me. She is afraid I will say or do something that will mortify her. Understandably so, for I dispute with her at every turn and am impatient with society’s rules and standards, while she values nothing but titles and wealth.” Dorothea sighed again. “Which reminds me, I beg your pardon for her rudeness to you.”

“You are not responsible for her actions,” he said, “and I have a thick skin, as well as a comfortable notion of my own worth, which I believe to be equal to that of any other rational being.”

“How forward-thinking of you, Mr. Hale.” They had reached the head of the stairs. It occurred to her that he wasn’t much like Papa’s other minions, but since he hadn’t brought up the connection with her father, she hesitated to do so. She’d had to think quickly earlier, when she’d betrayed herself by recognizing him, but his response had been smooth and competent. “Mother will attempt to trap Restive and me in a compromising situation.”

“Surely you can avoid that.”

“I shall try, but you don’t know my mother,” Dorothea said darkly. “She is relentless in trying to marry me off. She wants me to become a dutiful wife with no mind of my own. I have told her that I will not wed Restive—or anyone at all, if I so choose.”

“No one?” he blurted.

She huffed again. So much for forward-thinking. “Why must men believe women are good for nothing but marriage?”

They began to descend the stairs. “I don’t think that, but most women do want to marry, so it’s a reasonable assumption.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Well, I don’t wish to marry, or at least not the titled sort of candidate my mother chooses.” Again, she didn’t want to discuss such private matters—but she did anyway, because the very thought of Mother made her clench her fists and blurt what she shouldn’t. “I shall not let her threats of ruin affect me, even if I am caught in a compromising situation. I am determined to oppose her regardless of the consequences.”

She waited for him to say something obvious about how horrid it would be to be ruined, which she already knew.

When he said nothing,