Forever My Love (Berkeley-Faulkner #2)(76)

The first few sleighs began to skim over the thick, well-packed snow, the bells on the horses’ bridles providing a merry chorus to the thrashing hooves. Contrary to Mira’s expectations, the sleighs did not travel in a single line; there were too many antics going on that prevented any sort of organization from imposingitself on the large group. A few of the young men made a game of passing each other despite the protests of their female passengers. Several sleighs tried to lag suspiciously far behind the others, leaving little doubt in anyone’s mind about what the occupants intended. Stolen kisses and other quickly taken liberties were far from uncommon during a sleighing party. Just in front of them, a young man with auburn hair caught a small clump of snow that had been kicked up by the horse’s hooves and surreptitiously dropped it down the neck of the girl beside him, eliciting squeals of indignation. Mira chuckled and glanced at Alec. “Who it that?”

“Spencer Whitebrook,” he replied, his eyes twinkling. “A lad about your age… locally famed for his original approach to the art of courtship.”

“Ah… now I am forewarned. I will tell Rosalie not to consider him as a good prospect.”

“Before you start crossing names off the list, you should realize that you don’t have a wide range of choice—now wait, let me finish before you give me that freezing stare. It’s not because of you—God knows that you have enough of what it takes to attract a man—it’s just that there’s an unusually limited supply of marriageable young men this year.”

“Which must explain why you’re considered to be one of the prime catches.”

Alec raised an eyebrow. “Are you implying, Miss Germain, that if there were more eligible bachelors around, I might not be so high on the list?” “Definitely somewhere in the middle.” “You’ve wounded me deeply,” Alec said, laughing softly. “Why such a poor opinion of me? I’ve been told occasionally that I’m quite tolerable.”

“Sometimes you are. Sometimes you are a great deal more than tolerable… but sometimes you are a great deal less than tolerable.““Wouldn’t you say that averages out fairly?”

“No… because you are less than tolerable more than half the time.”

“Before I decide that you’re a great deal less than; charming, why don’t you tell me how living with the Berkeleys suits you?” ‘■

“It suits me very well, thank you.”

“So demure… so ladylike… you’ve been spending too much time with Lady Berkeley. Tell me the, truth—you’ve dared to before.”

“Yes, I’ve told you the truth before… and you waited exactly twelve hours before betraying my confidence!”

Alec was not in the least disconcerted by her accusation. “There were extenuating circumstances. The fact that he was handling you like a Fleet Street doxy in front of me was one of them.”

“Don’t use that as an excuse for telling Sackville that you knew his secret! It wasn’t your right to do so You bullied it out of me in the first place, but I lacked enough common sense to realize that you would use it against Sackville when it suited you. It was dishonorable and—”

“Don’t bring up the subject of honor in reference to any of it,” he said softly, throwing her a swift warning glance. “I don’t value honor lightly, my petite friend, and I regret the fact that so far it has had no place in any of my dealings with you. Of all the qualities you seem to inspire in men, honor is not one of them, nor honesty. I know exactly what I did, and what Sackville did, and the reasons why.”

“You’re looking at me as if I’m the one to blame for everything,” she said, her brown eyes narrowing. He was as aggravating as ever—but what a relief it was to be able to talk to someone so freely! He was the one man in the world to whom she could say almost anything she liked. They had a common understanding.born of the intimacy they had shared, that enabled her to talk with him in a way she would never attempt with someone else, not even Rosalie. “It’s convenient for you to blame me for the way you and Sackville behaved, but I would have expected more justice from you.”

“Now why,” Alec inquired dryly, “would you have expected that?”

“Because you wouldn’t dare have the gall to judge me when you’re so much more unscrupulous than I am.”

Alec chuckled. “Point taken.” “Good. Then I would prefer not to talk about this any longer.”

“You were the one who brought it up.” “We were talking about the Berkeleys,” Mira said, making an effort to steer the conversation in another direction. She did not want to spend their time together exchanging recriminations.

“Yes, and you were telling me what you thought of them. Are they treating you well?”

She looked at him quickly, surprised at the tone of his voice. He almost sounded concerned… but his expression was bland as he met her eyes. “They’re treating me well,” she replied, “but aside from the earl and Lady Berkeley, I find them all very…” “Judgmental?”

“Yes, that’s exactly it. Whenever Rosalie’s not around, they seem to go out of their way to find fault with me.”

“If that’s all, you’re doing well. The Berkeleys are known for being that way. They don’t reserve their criticism for anyone in particular, they hand it out to everyone.”