O Night Divine A Holiday Collection of Spirited Christmas Tales - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,217

and then I will have Lucy make ready for your ride.”

Alex went to sit in a plain wooden chair. It creaked under his weight and he felt like Gulliver, the giant amongst the Lilliputians, in this tiny cottage. Noticing there was no wood left with which to build up the fire, he went out to fetch some, but there was none cut outside. Frowning, he took the ax from beside the back door and, consumed with anger, stamped off into the woods. Were all poor widows treated thus? He thought perhaps many were. He would see to it that his tenants, at least, had fuel to warm their houses if there was no capable man to help them cut wood. Soon, he was heated from the exertion and stripped off his coat. He found the action of swinging the ax a balm for his anger. At this rate, they would have enough wood for the rest of the winter!

I wish he would leave, Anna thought as she went up the narrow staircase to the small room she and Lucy shared. Alex’s large presence filled the cottage and she was suffocating with painful memories and feelings she believed she had put behind her. He will not be here long, she reassured herself as she sat on the bed and leaned over to kiss Lucy on the forehead.

The little girl smiled with her eyes closed. “Good morning, Mama.”

“Good morning, my sleepy angel. The duke has come to take you for a ride and has brought us Christmas treats.”

Bright, little blue eyes popped open. Lucy sat up quickly, her mop of blonde curls in disarray.

“Help me to dress, please, Mama!”

Anna felt bittersweet, and she wanted to both laugh and cry. She took Lucy’s warmest wool dress and helped her into it. It had been a lovely dress when it was made, but she was growing fast and it was now too short by several inches. Hopefully, His Grace would not notice.

Anna handed Lucy the brush and began to massage Lucy’s tight leg as she did every morning.

“Hurry, Mama! I do not wish to keep His Grace waiting!”

“You know we must, my dear.” When she had finished, she put Lucy’s darned stockings and boots on for her and then carried her down the stairs, but Alex was nowhere to be found.

“Did he tire of waiting and leave, Mama?” Lucy asked in a disappointed voice.

Anna set her daughter down before the table and looked out of the window. “No, the curricle is still here.”

“A curricle? Does that mean he did not bring Midnight?” Lucy did not mask the sadness from her voice.

“Do you see the large basket?” Anna asked. “How could he have brought that on a single horse? Besides, it is lovely to ride in a curricle.” She tried to hide the longing from her voice. Alex used to tool her around the countryside, showing off his prowess with the ribbons.

“I suppose so.”

Anna sliced a piece of bread for Lucy and found some plum jam in the basket.

“My favorite!” Lucy exclaimed with delight, and the duke seemed to be forgiven for the moment.

Anna looked out of the back window and saw Alex chopping wood in the copse behind the cottage. It was hard not to break down and cry in that very moment. They needed these blessings so very badly, but she could not have predicted they would come from him.

She could still see the raw, masculine beauty that was Alex, despite the change in him. He had been a beautiful and lithe boy, but now he had filled out fully into a man, possessing a hint of underlying danger that was frighteningly attractive. His hair was overly long, although neither it nor his beard diminished his appeal. There was something about watching a man chop wood that fascinated her. As he lifted the ax and brought it down, a log split in two, and he wiped his brow before picking up the wood and walking towards her to place it on the pile. He was walking towards her! She hurried to move away, but he saw her staring.

Stepping towards the door, she opened it. He was standing there watching her with some emotion—was it longing or was it pain? They were both vulnerable, and she was not prepared to deal with his return. She forced herself to find her voice.

“Lucy is awake and ready, Your Grace.” She looked at the large pile of wood he had cut in the short time she had