Merry Misrule - St. Clair, Ellie Page 0,69
spread her skirts out around her. She fluttered her hands around her hair, checking that it was perfectly in place, and Joanna had to bite back a laugh at how she was primping for her apparent rendezvous with Elijah.
She leaned back on the couch, spreading her arms behind her as though to showcase all that she had to offer.
With a creak, the door again opened, and Alexander stepped in, rubbing his hands together as though he was getting ready to sample a tasty treat — which, Joanna supposed he was.
“Cecily!” he exclaimed, coming to a halt when he saw her spread out before him. “What are you doing in here?”
“I…” she began, pausing as she did so, “I thought that… that is, I… oh dear,” she said with a sigh. “I was waiting to meet another.”
“As was I,” Alexander said, narrowing his eyes as he seemed to understand just what had happened, although Cecily was still oblivious. “Were you meeting your husband?” he asked, and Cecily’s mouth opened and shut a few times like a fish.
“Yes,” she said decisively with a nod, “that is what I was doing. And you?”
“Looking for my brother,” he said.
Elijah shifted, making a bit of a scuffle that caused Alexander’s eyes to suspiciously flick over toward where they hid.
“I think, however, I know where he could be.”
“I, ah, I best get back to the party,” Cecily said, standing, as she patted her hair and dress back into place.
“Very well,” Alexander said dismissively. “Enjoy.”
As she flounced out of the room, he turned and looked in the direction where Elijah and Joanna were crouched. Elijah took Joanna’s hand and led her out to face him.
“That was quite the little scheme.”
Elijah shrugged. “You each wanted a liaison,” he said, “so we provided you with the opportunity.”
He led Joanna to the sofa where Cecily had been waiting just a few minutes before, and they sat down and faced Alexander.
“Alex, won’t you sit down?” Elijah said, waving a hand to one of the chairs across from them.
“I’d rather not.”
“Oh, come off it. You deserved far worse than that, and you know it. There is something that you have to say to us, is there not? An apology, perhaps?”
Alexander lifted his chin. “I do not.”
“I just don’t understand,” Joanna said, shaking her head. “Why did you do it?”
Alexander looked back and forth from one of them to the other. “I was looking out for my brother,” he said with a shrug.
“What do you mean?” Elijah said darkly.
“She’s a seamstress,” he said, lifting his hand toward Joanna. “She would make a fine mistress, yes, but do you truly want to marry a seamstress?”
“Yes,” Elijah said, standing now. “I do truly want to marry a seamstress. None of your scheming or ill will is going to keep that from happening, and unless you would now like to apologize to Joanna, I believe this conversation is finished.”
“Not quite yet.”
They looked to the doorway to find their father and Lord Baxter standing within it.
“I was looking for you, Elijah,” his father said in his deep voice. “I was told you came this way, and, as it happens, I am rather glad that I heard this conversation.”
“Then you know that I wish to marry Joanna,” Elijah stated, and Joanna’s heart began to trip at the possibilities of his father’s reaction.
It turned out, she didn’t have to worry.
“Yes, and I think she is a fine choice,” he said with a small smile for Joanna, who raised her brows, awestruck that he might actually agree.
He widened his hands out in front of him.
“If your sister can marry a footman, Elijah, then you can marry a seamstress. What this Christmas has taught me is that I would rather have you here with the family and happy, than for you to not be part of our lives any longer. And, in fact, there is something I would like to speak to you about. You as well, Alex.”
They both looked at him with attention, and Joanna stepped forward and placed her hand on Elijah’s back, ready to support him in whatever his father had to share.
“As you know, our family owns a few small estates. There is one in particular that I have intended for one of you to look after. Until this point, I wasn’t sure which of you could take on the responsibility of doing so. I had always thought it would be Alex, but I decided to wait until you returned from war, Eli, to give you a