Dashing through the snow, Christmas Caroling

 

After the long sleigh ride, Eliza had enough of the cuddling of her Uncle and Isabelle, not to mention the kissing from Sebastian and Katherine in between the singing of Christmas Carol’s. Katherine’s voice was pitchy at best, but she somehow thought her voice sounded like an angel, which had more to do with Sebastian’s outright lies than anything else did. If she heard one more person say Katherine had a lovely voice, she was going lose her dinner. Katherine sounded like a braying sheep.

Once the sleigh halted Eliza tried to push out first but her Uncle beat her to it and made sure Isabelle climbed down first and then Katherine. By the time she crawled over all the furs, everyone was already up on the landing in front of the door.

“Hello, is anyone going to wait for me?” she called, but the wind carried her voice away. Yanking her cloak, she grumbled, “Rude people.” Not to be one left behind she hurried after them up the front stairs and shoved her way up to the door beside Isabelle and Katherine.

“Isn’t someone going to knock on the door?” Eliza said, shivering from the frigid breeze. A lantern swung above making an eerie squeaking noise. The air smelled fresh and clean, but the dampness hanging in the air made it seem colder than it really was. She pulled her cloak closer. Her spirits had plummeted after she found out Sebastian was married. He didn’t even look as good as she remembered him. Somehow he had gotten old…well not old like her Uncle but old as in he was boring. Then when she heard the man they were going to visit was single and handsome…well that had made her spirits soar once again. Adjusting her hood, she twisted a few pieces of hair back into perfect ringlets and waited.

“Oh, I forgot the gifts,” said Isabelle, turning and giving Eliza a look.

“What?” She glared at Isabelle. “Oh, no, I am not going back to the sleigh,” she whined. When Isabelle continued to stare her down she added, “Do I look like a pack mule to you?” Not waiting for a reply, Eliza lifted her chin a notch and turned away from Isabelle’s unrelenting gaze. “You can get them yourself.”

“I will get them,” Sebastian exhaled, stepping around Katherine. He walked down the stairs to the sleigh, all the while hoping Devlin would keep the yammering chit for the duration of the holiday until she went back to London. He didn’t care if it was proper or not. Devlin may not like it but he could certainly take one for the betterment of all concerned, especially him. Devlin owed him a favor or ten at this point anyway.

After he gathered all the gifts, he walked back up the stairs. Once again, they were all huddled in front of the door.

Grayson lifted the knocker and slammed it down on the wood with a resounding thunk.

“For goodness sake, Uncle, you need to hit a little harder than that,” Eliza snapped. She was freezing.

Grayson tensed. Lifting his hand, he grabbed the knocker once more and slammed it down.

 

“Did you hear that?” Sadie asked, pulling away from Devlin. Her face flushed from their kisses.

“No, I do not hear a thing.” Actually, that was a lie, he heard someone knocking, but he was trying his best to ignore it.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

“There it is again.” She pulled away and straightened her gown. “Devlin, aren’t you going to get the door?”

He exhaled. “I suppose I do not have much choice at this point,” he muttered, walking to the foyer.

Sadie smoothed her hair and again adjusted her gown; she was so nervous, her hands shook. What would they think of her? What would Katherine say about the necklace? More importantly, what if she couldn’t stay?