Merry Misrule - St. Clair, Ellie Page 0,39
longer so troubling.
He didn’t want to scare her, however, and so he decided he would take things slow. As far as he could tell, she was only just beginning to no longer hate him. That was a good start.
She had donned a pelisse for this sledding adventure, and while he knew the women would likely mostly just watch the children and the men as they slid down the hill, he was looking forward to sharing the day with her.
His sister was here, thank goodness, although Thatcher was accompanying the lot of them as well, dragging the sled behind him. The two of them were practically flaunting their relationship, with their shared glances and inability to look at anyone else save one another. He was of a mind to go tell his sister exactly what he thought, except he knew that it would be met with hostility, and he vowed that today he would bring only fun in order to convince Joanna that she had made the right decision in going along with his plan.
He looked across the snow and winked at her, to which she blushed and turned her head away. He merely laughed and drew near.
“Joanna,” he said, nodding at her as though it was the first time they had spoken that day. “Would you fancy a ride?”
Her eyes widened. “A ride?”
“On the sled,” he said, nodding his head behind him. “I can pull you if you’d like.”
“Oh, no,” she said, shaking her head vigorously, “I can walk just fine.”
“All right,” he said with a shrug. “I would take it, though, if I were you.”
She bit her lip but continued to shake her head at him, although this time it was with laughter more than annoyance.
He enjoyed her company as they walked to the hill, the day pleasant and the snow warming into that melty feeling that makes it perfect to create a snowball — although today, he vowed he would not launch anything at Joanna, nor anyone else, in an effort to prove his maturity.
“Come,” he said as they reached the bottom of the hill. And a magnificent hill it was.
Evergreens lined the top, so full and so green, but even better, Eli could already smell them from the bottom of the hill, along with the fresh crispness of the winter air. They bordered the hill itself, as though nature had planned this runway with children in mind. The children took hold of the rope of their sleds and began to climb with the energetic enthusiasm that only the very young possess.
Joanna laughed when the first of them came whizzing by with glee, laughter renting the air.
“Let’s go down.”
“Us? The two of us?”
He laughed. “Yes, of course.”
“Oh, I couldn’t,” she said, her eyes wide.
“Why not?”
“Because, sledding isn’t exactly… ladylike, is it?”
He chuckled. “It’s Christmas. It’s sledding. It’s fun. I don’t think anyone here will particularly care.”
“Perhaps Baxter and Ophelia,” she murmured, to which he rolled his eyes and waved a gloved hand.
“No one particularly cares what they think,” he said. “Now, race you to the top!”
And with an impish grin he was nearly sprinting up the hill, looking back to see that Joanna had taken his challenge and was charging up after him as fast as she could in the skirts that were swirling around her legs.
He slowed, allowing her to catch up, before sprinting past her to the top, where she joined him, her breath coming in puffs.
“That was not particularly well done,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest as she frowned at him, and he laughed.
“Probably not,” he said, as the two of them stood at the top and watched others from their party begin to climb the hill. It seemed that the rest of them were following their lead, as men, women, and children alike were dragging their sleds up. He noticed Lord Cristobel frowning as he watched Thatcher pulling Caroline’s sled, and she walked beside him as if the two of them were as paired as he and Joanna — which, he supposed they were. For who were he and Joanna together? They were nothing — yet. But they would be, he promised himself. He just had to do this right. He would court her, win her affections, prove to her that he could be the man she didn’t know she needed.
Alex joined them next, one eyebrow raised as he stepped past them silently, and Elijah wondered just what his brother was thinking. He always seemed to be planning, calculating, and sometimes