The Kissing Bough Read Online Free Page B

shoulders. She sent a quick sideways glance at the athletically built groom waiting for her. “It would be nice to go up into the warm.”
    “Simmons, escort…ah…Betsy back into the servants’ hall, if you please.”
    “Very good, sir.” Simmons held out his hand.
    Betsy reached as if to take it, then pulled back. “Oh no. I couldn’t. I’m supposed to stay with Miss Lucinda. To look after her, like.”
    “The servants’ hall is very warm,” James said. “And I happen to know that all manner of delicious Christmas treats have magically appeared there. Do you like plum pudding and March pane, Betsy?”
    “Oh, yes, sir. Indeed I do.” Her cheeks creased with a smile. Then she shook her head and sighed. “But what about Miss Lucinda?”
    “I promise you, on my honor, no harm will come to her. Simmons, am I a man of my word?”
    “You are, sir.”
    Betsy frowned, the thought of March pane and warmth clearly tempting. “I don’t rightly know. It all depends on what Miss Lucinda wants.”
    “You deserve a little treat, Betsy.” The same could be said of Lucinda. Just this once. To do something a little bit daring. Something to remember in the years ahead.
    “If it was to come to your mother’s ears that I’d deserted my post…” Betsy’s gaze swung back and forth from Lucinda, to the house with its promise of warmth and sweetmeats, to the groom smiling up at her.
    “I promise not to tell her, Betsy. You may go with a clear conscience. I’ll be perfectly safe with Mr. Lymon.”
    That part wasn’t quite true. She didn’t think James would do anything to harm her, but the feeling she had when she was around him was too powerful to be called safe.
    “There you are then, Betsy. If Miss Lucinda has no objection, I think you may feel free to seek some comfort.” James smiled and whispered conspiratorially, “I’ll sneak Miss Demerham back into the house so her mother never suspects you were not with us all along.”
    Simmons held out his arm. “Come, Betsy.”
    Betsy’s looked again at the handsome groom. Her face turned pink and she scrambled out of the curricle, placed her hand on his forearm, and with her head held as high as if she were the lady of the manor, allowed him to lead her away.
    Lucinda watched the two of them stroll back toward the house. Amusement mingled with awe at James’ powers of persuasion. “Do you always order everything to suit yourself?”
    “Generally,” he replied. “I certainly don’t allow stuffy conventions to interfere with my pleasure.”
    “Even if ignoring those conventions harms other people?” she asked.
    “How is a little ride in the country going to harm you?” He took her hand in his, and even through the leather of the gloves they both wore she could feel the heat. “I would get no pleasure from any activity that made you unhappy.”
    Before she could think of a reply, he dropped her hand, picked up the reins again and set the horses into motion. “We have a lot to do before we go back. We must get on.”
    “I thought we were going for a drive.” Apprehension stirred in her breast. Perhaps she shouldn’t have sent Betsy away.
    “We are.” He grinned at her. “But we are also going to visit all my brother’s tenant farmers and most of the villagers.”
    Lucinda wrinkled her brow. “But won’t they all be in church?’
    With one hand, James reached behind him and pulled out a large hessian sack. “They will. Which is precisely when Father Christmas will pay them a visit.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Look in the sack.”
    She obeyed, and there inside, glittering out of the shadows was a mound of coins.
    “You’re going to leave money for them?”
    He nodded. “I told my brother last night my time in New France had been profitable.” He returned his attention to the road. “The estate farmers, along with everyone else, have suffered with the crop failures this year. It will be hard for them to survive until next summer. If the