Mistletoe and Mayhem - Cheryl Bolen Page 0,24

today, your lordship. Identical in every way, except one was addressed to you and the other to Mrs. Milne.”

The clerk groaned and slapped at his forehead. “Then I am too late.”

David could see the man’s great distress. “What’s the problem?”

“I have every reason to believe I made a grave error in addressing your correspondence to Mrs. Milne and hers to you.”

Could this have something to do with Mary’s sudden change? Her reversal of affection? David lowered his brows. “What was the nature of Mr. Stonehouse’s correspondence to me?”

“May we speak in private?” the clerk asked. He still had not divested himself of his coat.

David started for the morning room, but Stevie had its entire floor covered with tin soldiers and was in the middle of an elaborate battle. David walked some distance further to the small library at the rear of the house.

A sick feeling settled in his stomach when he closed the door and faced the clerk. “Well?”

“I beg your forgiveness, my lord, but the correspondence Mr. Stonehouse was sending to you disclosed that the barrister you asked him to procure was proceeding with steps to challenge Mrs. Milne’s ownership of Darnley Lodge, and he was hopeful your challenge would be successful.”

The anger David had previously felt toward Blatherwick was nothing compared to what he now felt toward this careless clerk. He wanted to strike him. Imagine how devastated Mary had been, how betrayed she must have felt when she read that letter!

He understood the words she’d uttered from behind her bedchamber door when she said she’d fallen in love with a man who misrepresented himself. How she must despise him!

Then David realized he had no one but himself to blame. He should have trusted in his father.

Now he’d lost everything.

Glaring at the clerk, he nodded. “It’s too late for you to return to London, but there’s a small inn in the nearest village, Lower Worthington.”

The clerk slunk away like terrier evading a wolf.

David stayed in the library, standing before the fire and brooding over his dismal fate. Now that he’d found Mary, he couldn’t lose her. He would never find the likes of her again. He could want nothing more from life than to have her for his wife and would do anything to restore her love. For life without her was unthinkable.

Once more he climbed the stairs and softly knocked upon her door. “Mary, my love, I beg your forgiveness. I know about the letter from Mr. Stonehouse. I’m sorry. All of that was initiated before I knew you. Even before you did me the honor of agreeing to become my wife, I’d written to Stonehouse to cancel any action with the barrister. I was bitterly ashamed of my actions.

“Please know that I abhor lying. I don’t lie. I didn’t lie when I said from the first moment I drew you into my arms alongside the road that first day, you affected me like no other woman ever has. I’ve since come to know with certainty what I have felt for you is love. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, the only woman I will ever love.” His voice broke on the last word. Just like his heart.

“And if you don’t open this door, I’ll get an ax and break it down!”

The soft muffle of footsteps crossed the floor of her bedchamber, then the bolt in her door slid, and the door opened.

She stood there, eyes red from crying, and he thought he’d never seen anyone look lovelier. He moved to her and wrapped her sweet body into his arms, arms that had been aching for her. She whimpered.

And so did he.

Footsteps pounded on the stairs, and he turned to see first Mrs. Ballard, then her husband, trailed by Stevie.

“What’s happened, my lord?” Mrs. Ballard demanded breathlessly.

“Why did you need to tear down the door with an axe?” her husband asked.

Still holding Mary close, he turned to the others and smiled.

“All is well now. Mary is to become my wife.”

Ballard calmly lighted the wall sconce from the candelabra he carried, and David saw that his announcement had met with smiles from all.

Stevie raced past the elder couple and looked up at him. “Does that mean you’re going to be my father, my lord?”

“If you will allow it, it will be my honor.”

That gap-toothed smile and the lad’s piercing dimples were quickly revealed. “It would be my honor!”

In the span of a few moments David had gone from the depths of despair to the dizzying heights of