opened. There stood a frozen looking footman and a tall man wrapped in a greatcoat, top hat, and a thin, threadbare scarf.
“Reverend Michaels,” said William warmly, stepping forward to greet his guest.
“Ah, Your Grace,” Reverend Michaels said, bowing low.
Roaring started in Prudence’s ears the moment Alexander appeared. He was just as handsome as before, though a little more tired looking than she remembered.
A year. A whole twelvemonth since she had last clapped eyes on him, and still her heart twisted in devotion as it had then–perhaps more so.
How was it possible he had gained in good looks in that time? As Chalmesbury stepped forward and helped the vicar off with his greatcoat, Prudence could not help but stare. Alexander was as tall as she had remembered. There were a few wrinkles around his eyes, but they did not age him. Rather, they gave him a maturity he had lacked before. A maturity that twisted something deep within her.
If only she had thought about this in advance. Prudence looked down at her day gown, chosen because she did not mind getting the holly, ivy, and mistletoe all over it. They almost always dressed for dinner, and the one day she did not…
“I had better stand, then,” whispered Charlotte with a smile at Prudence, struggling to rise with her heavy stomach weighing her down.
John leaned in with an arm, which she took gratefully. Smoothing down her gown, she stepped forward to greet her guest.
Prudence had instinctively started to rise, but she sank back down. She was no longer the mistress of the house, as she had been for two years. It had been more a formality for when important guests had visited. William had always jested he needed a woman of the house, and she was the best he had.
Not anymore. She looked wistfully at William and Charlotte as they greeted Alexander warmly. She could never have imagined William wed–her brother married to anyone was quite a thought.
“’Tis strange, is it not, seeing them together.”
John had spoken quietly. He had slid into Charlotte’s vacated seat and was watching them with a wry smile on his face.
She nodded. “I never thought William would marry, not really. It had always been us four against the world.”
He smiled. “What would you say if I said I was getting married, Pru?”
A smile crept across her face. “You cannot tease me that easily, John. I know you better than that. Why, I do not think anyone will trick you into matrimony. You are far more likely to end up a bachelor.”
Was there something sad in his eyes–something akin to disappointment? Prudence did not have time to consider him carefully, for Alexander’s voice now rose enough to catch his words.
“–and by staying just a day longer with yourselves, I will avoid the exorbitant rates these charlatans attempt to charge for Christmas travelers. ’Tis an outrage! Anyway, the six shillings saved through that careful economy will…”
Prudence stood up. It was time to introduce Alexander, not to the child he once knew under the mistletoe, but the woman he would be fortunate to find under the mistletoe.
Clearing her throat as she stepped across the hallway, Prudence knew exactly what she was going to say. She had rehearsed it most thoroughly before her looking glass that very morning, but as she reached Alexander talking so animatedly to William and Charlotte, she was overcome.
He was so handsome, so charming, the boy and then the man she had idolized for so long. And now, he was here.
“Alex!” she said with a smile, stepping forward and pulling him into an embrace.
Prudence’s eyes closed with joy as she felt his strong arms around her, his heady scent filling her lungs. Being this close to him was all she wanted for the rest of her life.
“P-Pru–Prudence!” Alexander’s splutters were quickly followed by a gentle shove that separated them.
She looked up into his eyes and smiled, but it faded almost immediately.
“My word,” he said gruffly. “Hullo, Lady Prudence.”
A tinge of embarrassment crept around her heart, but she could not regret her instincts. She wanted to be close to him, and she was determined to have him.
“Good evening, Alexander,” she said aloud with a twinkle in her eyes. “How wonderful to have you here for Christmas.”
Chapter Two
Alexander took a step away from the woman who purported to be little Pru Lennox.
She could not be. The Pru he remembered, the girl he had known for years, was a slight little thing, scrawny almost. A slip of a thing. A