Suddenly You(43)

Apparently a small spinster had broken through his well-constructed defenses. He wanted to pursue her, equally as much as he wished to abandon her, and neither seemed possible. Worst of all, Amanda was a respectable lady, one who would not be content with a mere affair or a light dalliance. She would want to own the heart of any man she became involved with—she was too proud and strong-willed to desire anything less. And his calcified heart was not available to her, or to anyone.

Chapter 8

“Here we come a-caroling

Among the leaves so green;

Here we come a-wand’ring,

So fair to be seen,

Love and joy come to you,

And to you glad Christmas too…”

Amanda smiled and shivered in the open doorway as she, Sukey, and Charles listened to the children caroling on her front doorstep. The small group of boys and girls, a half-dozen in number, warbled the tune amid the folds of knitted scarves and caps that nearly concealed their faces. Only the tips of their reddened noses and the white puffs of their breath were visible as they sang.

Finally they finished the song, holding the last note as long as possible, while Amanda and the servants clapped in appreciation. “Here you are,” Amanda said, giving a coin to the tallest child. “How many more houses did you plan to visit today?”

The boy answered in a thick Cockney accent. “We thought to find one more, miss, an’ then it’s ‘ome to eat our Christmas supper.”

Amanda smiled at the children, a couple of whom were stamping their feet to relieve the numbness of their toes. Many such children were sent out to carol on Christmas morning to earn some extra holiday money for the family. “Here, then,” Amanda said, digging into the pocket at her waistband to find another coin. “Take this and go home at once. It’s too cold for you to be outside any longer.”

“Thank you, miss,” the boy said in delight, and a chorus of echoes followed from his comrades. “Happy Christmas, miss!” The group hurried down the front steps and away from the house, as if they feared she would change her mind.

“Miss Amanda, ye oughtn’t to give yer money away so freely,” Sukey chided, following her into the house and closing the door against a rush of bitter wind. “‘Twouldn’t harm those children to stay out a bit longer.”

Amanda laughed and wrapped her knitted shawl more tightly around herself. “Don’t scold, Sukey. It’s Christmas Day. Now, let us hurry…Mr. Devlin’s carriage will be arriving for me soon.”

While Amanda attended the Christmas party at Jack Devlin’s home, Sukey, Charles, and the cook, Violet, would be celebrating elsewhere with their own friends. Tomorrow, known as Boxing Day because coins and boxes of cast-off clothing and utensils were donated to the poor, Amanda and her servants would travel to Windsor for a weeklong holiday at her sister Sophia’s home.

Amanda would be glad to see her relatives on the morrow, but she was very pleased that she would spend today in London. How nice it was to do something different this year. She felt positively gleeful that from now on, her relatives would not always be certain of what to expect from her. “Amanda not coming?” she could almost hear her crotchety great-aunt exclaim. “But she always comes for Christmas Day—she has no family of her own. And who will make the brandy punch?…”

Instead, she would dance and dine with Jack Devlin. Perhaps she might even allow him to catch her under a sprig of mistletoe.

“Well, Mr. Devlin,” she murmured, filled with anticipation, “we’ll see what this Christmas Day will bring the both of us.”

After taking a luxuriously hot bath, Amanda donned a robe and sat before the fire in her bedroom grate. She combed her hair until it dried in an explosion of reddish-brown curls. Deftly she twisted it into a coil atop her head, and allowed a few tendrils to dangle around her forehead and face.

With Sukey’s assistance, she dressed in an emerald-green, corded-silk gown with two rows of fluted green velvet banding at the hem. The long velvet sleeves were confined at the wrist with jade bead bracelets, and the square neckline was cut low enough to reveal an enticing hint of cle**age. As a concession to the cold climate, she draped a burgundy silk-fringed shawl over her shoulders. A pair of Flemish-style earrings dangled from her ears like golden teardrops, gently swinging against the sides of her neck. Studying the overall effect in the mirror, Amanda smiled with pleasure, knowing that she had never looked better. There was no need to pinch her cheeks, as they were already pink with excitement. A fluff of powder on her nose, a dab of perfume behind her ears, and she was ready.

Wandering over to the window, Amanda sipped her cooling tea, and tried to still the leap of her heart when she saw that the carriage Devlin had sent for her had arrived. “How silly, at my age, to feel like Cinderella,” she told herself dryly, but the ebullient feeling remained as she hurried downstairs in search of her cloak.

After the footman had handed her into the carriage, complete with foot warmers and fur-lined lap blanket, Amanda saw a wrapped present on the seat. Tentatively she touched the jaunty red bow atop the small square package, and extracted the folded notecard that had been tucked beneath the ribbon. A smile tugged at her lips as she read the brief note.

Although this is not quite as stimulating as Madam B’s memoirs, you may find it of interest. Merry Christmas—

J. Devlin

While the carriage rolled along the icy street, Amanda unwrapped the present and stared at it with a quizzical smile. A book…a small and very old one, the leather cover ancient, the pages fragile and brown. Handling the volume with extreme gentleness, Amanda turned to the title page. “Travels into several Remote Nations of the World,” she read aloud. “In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver…”