Free On A Cold Christmas Eve by Bethany M. Sefchick

from him as he placed a cloak around her shoulders, and instead leaned a bit more fully into his touch.  Perhaps it wouldn't take him long to convince her to come to his bed after all.
    Together they walked out onto the terrace and then down the cut-stone steps to where the garden lay dormant.  He watched her as her gaze took in the barren grounds, yet he didn't see the disgust he'd anticipated, and would have expected in another woman.  In the spring and summer, Overlook Hill was magnificent, but now in the dead of winter, it looked decayed and rotted.  It would take a strong woman to see the possibilities, to see what it would become when the Earth awoke again.  He was pleased to see that Lucy was just such a woman.
    "It must be magnificent in the summer," she finally said, turning to look at where a fountain, with a cupid in the center, lay dormant.  "Such life and possibilities here.  It reminds me of my home when I first returned to England before my come-out."
    "Treton Hall," he said, pleased that she could see the potential within his home.  "I visited once a few years ago.  It is still magnificent, and well cared for, and, unless I miss my guess, it will be overrun with even more children than it is now within a few years."
    Lucy reached out to touch a dead rose.  "My uncle sold it immediately after my father died.  I have not been back since, but I am glad to know that the new owners care for it as my family did.  I should wish to see it sometime, even though I know it is not possible."
    "We can visit whenever we wish," Adam assured her, not surprised when she looked up at him, her aquamarine eyes wide with surprise.  "Fitz and Amelia have made it their summer home."
    Lucy felt a mix of shock, sadness, and yet a bit of joy rise up inside of her.  She missed the Hall, even though she'd only spent a little more than a year there with her family, but she was glad that someone who could appreciate it and love it as she did had purchased it.  She was even happier that it was the woman she was quickly coming to think of a sister.
    "I had no idea," she finally managed, her voice thick with emotion.  "From what my uncle said, I had assumed that..."  The rest of what she was about to say was cut off when the doors on the terrace flew open and someone called for Adam, a note of panic in their voice.
    Lucy's gaze flew to his face and she saw it set in a grim line.  Whatever was happening, she suspected that it wasn't good, at least not with that look upon on his face.  With a firm hand, he grasped her arm and led her back through the gardens and across the terrace.  It wasn't lost on her that he kept her just to the back of him, as if protecting her, though she had no idea why he would do such a thing.
    By the time they returned to the ballroom, the small orchestra that had been playing was silenced and a cacophony of voices had taken its place.  People were moving about nervously, and even though there had been few guests for the wedding, Lucy noticed that most of the men formed a small circle, surrounding someone who stood in the center of the room.
    "Gentlemen," Adam nearly whispered, refusing to raise his voice and display his true anger.  That single word made all activity in the room cease as effectively as if he'd shouted.  "Is there a problem?"  He also gripped Lucy's hand, unwilling to let her out of his sight until he was certain he knew what was happening.
    Harry, dressed in his finest waistcoat, stepped forward.  "There is someone here who was just leaving."  Then he tossed a dark look over his shoulder, one that spoke of a mind for murder rather than just a polite escort to the door.  "Though I would prefer it to be the wine cellar, were that at all possible."  It was then that Adam saw the gun clutched tightly in his friend's hand.  There was only one reason Harry would reach for a weapon in a crowded ballroom.  Archibald had come home.
    Then the one man whom Adam would seriously