Merry Misrule - St. Clair, Ellie Page 0,40

it unnerved him.

Once he was on the other side of them, Elijah pulled his sled forward and sat down on the back of it, before motioning for Joanna to sit in front of him.

“Come with me?” he asked, holding a hand out, and then Alex spoke from beside them.

“You are also welcome to accompany me, Miss Merryton,” he said smoothly, “or if you prefer, you can have the sled all to yourself.”

Elijah shot him a look of displeasure, which Alex ignored.

“I—” her eyes flicked from one of them to the other, and Elijah wondered if she was truly having difficulty choosing or if she was simply trying not to insult either one of them. “I am sorry, but I had already promised Elijah.”

“Very well, then,” Alex said with a sigh and then pushed off and was whooshing down the hill as fast as could be. Joanna stared after him, and then looked to Elijah, who still held his hand out expectantly.

“It’s awfully fast,” she noted, and he tried not to laugh at the nerves evident on her face as he nodded.

“It is,” he agreed. “Come with me anyway?”

She paused for a moment, unsure, but her face then set in determination and she placed her hand in his before stepping forward and settling herself between his outstretched knees. She gripped the front of the sled in both of her hands, and Elijah tried not to make light of her obvious fear.

“You’ve never been sledding with us before?” he asked.

“No,” she shook her head. “I never quite had the courage to try it before.” She was silent for a moment. “And there was never anyone willing to take me along.”

Her words caused guilty sorrow to fill him, and he hung his head for a moment before lightly touching her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Joanna. Truly I am. I likely didn’t make it any easier on you either. But I am here now. And I promise you that I will make it up to you. Now,” he said, placing his hands on either side of her waist, “hold on!”

With a hard push of his heels and hands into the ground, he sent the sled forward. It was an old sled, one fashioned years ago that he remembered using as a child. It was steady and true, sending them flying down the hill. Joanna let out a happy yell of glee and it warmed him through to the core to hear her lose her restraint and allow joy to invade.

The hill was one of legends, steep yet with the perfect slope that allowed for a slowing at the bottom so that one could coast. The footmen had checked the hill to ensure that it was free of debris before the children went down.

Which is why it didn’t make any sense whatsoever when suddenly the sled hit a sharp bump, took a quick turn to the right, and they went hurdling sideways, heading for the row of evergreens that bordered the hill.

“Eli!” Joanna yelled out with fear, as he dug his heels into the ground to prevent them from crashing into a tree, even though it sent them flying out of the sled. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to absorb the impact of the ground as they rolled through the wet snow together.

The moment he came to a stop, he was crawling over toward her, checking to ensure that she was all right.

“Joanna?” he asked, rolling her over, and she looked up at him with panicky eyes. “Are you all right?”

“I think so,” she said, breathing hard as she sat up, shaking her head from side to side. Her woolen hat was dipped low over one eye, much of her hair falling from its pins to circle her head.

She dusted snow off her pelisse as she seemed to be checking to ensure that she wasn’t injured.

“What happened?” she asked, but he could only shake his head in bemusement.

“I have no idea,” he said. “We obviously hit something.”

He returned to take a look at the hill, one of the footmen, Georges, accompanying him to do so.

“Impossible, my lord,” he murmured, shaking his head, “we checked it before anyone went down.”

But there, in the middle, almost imperceptibly buried in the snow, was a rock with a mound of snow packed behind it.

It was almost as though it had been placed there on purpose. But how? By who? And why?

He looked around at the others, who began to gather around them, to see what exactly had happened.

Caroline