O Night Divine A Holiday Collection of Spirited Christmas Tales - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,252

could step away, put some distance between them.

Only then did he realize his seat was opposite her.

“You know, this meal reminds me of the fare in the Golden Hind,” said John with a grin, poking at his roast beef with a fork. “Do you remember, Michaels, the roast dinner they would do on a Sunday?”

With perhaps his first natural smile since his arrival, Alexander nodded. “The gravy there was like nothing I had ever tasted.”

“Oh, and the pudding!” William said with a sigh. “I have been attempting to persuade Mrs. Rose, our cook here, you know, that sticky toffee pudding is a suitable dish for a duke, but to no avail.”

Charlotte laughed. “And to think, I should have some sort of control over my own kitchen! But Mrs. Rose has been here thirty years, and she knows the palate of a duke best.”

They all laughed, and Alexander found himself, finally, relaxing. Perhaps they were not so different, after all. The Lennox brothers had only ascended to their titles what–three, four years ago? Perhaps a little longer, and yet it had seemed to wipe away all their good-naturedness from before. But it was still there if you knew where to look.

Where he was determined not to look was at Pru.

“And how is your congregation in Bath, Michaels?” Charlotte asked as they tucked into their delicious meal. “I have heard good things about your sermons, I must say.”

“My word,” said Pru with a small smile. “Are you saving souls, Alexander?”

Why was it only Prudence who called him by his name–and why didn’t he mind?

“I do my best to serve my congregation,” he said, attempting a little humor himself. “Though I must admit, at times I wonder whether they are the ones saving me! They are particularly good to me.”

“If anyone has saved you, ’tis I,” said Pru with an arched eyebrow that made his heart thump wildly. “I am your true savior.”

“Prudence!” William hissed with a scandalized look. “You cannot say such a thing, not to a clergyman–and at Christmas, too!”

John was laughing, and Charlotte was trying to hide a smile behind her napkin. Alexander hardly knew what to think. True savior?

“I refer only to that time when I had to help pull Alexander from that ditch, do you remember?” Pru protested with a look of mischief. “He had fallen right in, and you two had left. I was the one who helped him out, covered in ditchwater and mud from head to toe!”

The table echoed with laughter, but Alexander did not join them. Was it not enough that he was now on a much lower station than his old friends–but he had to be reminded of that shameful incident?

He was a man now, a gentleman, and due some respect. Why was it so difficult for others to see?

“I do remember, now you come to mention it,” John laughed. “Goodness, but we were wild then. You would not believe it, Charlotte–we used to go swimming in the lake, utterly naked!”

William chuckled as Alexander felt the flush creep over his face.

“You must excuse us, Charlotte, Your Grace,” he said hurriedly. “We were but children, and–”

“Children? I think I was seventeen when I ceased swimming nude in that lake,” interrupted William. “So you and John must have been…what, fifteen?”

“I have come to expect nothing less from my husband and his family,” said Charlotte reassuringly to Alexander.

“You know, ’tis a shame Honora and Prudence could not enjoy the waters,” William continued. “A real shame.”

“Ah, but who is to say,” said Pru archly, as Alexander took a sip from his wine glass, “I was not watching?”

Alexander spluttered, wine slopping from his glass into his roast dinner, and the table once again resounded with laughter.

Placing his wine glass carefully back onto the table, he looked up to see Pru smiling with a frighteningly knowing look.

No, surely not. Surely she was jesting–she could not have been hiding behind one of the trees around the lake. Because if she had, that would mean she would have seen…well, everything. All of him.

It was enough to drive a man wild. If only the favor could be repaid, and he could see all of her…

Alexander pushed the thought away firmly as the conversation continued. He was here for Christmas, five whole days, and so he needed to get a grip on himself. He could not be having these…these fantasies about one of his hosts!

Pru winked and then joined in with the conversation as though she had been paying attention the whole time.