Free It Happened One Christmas by Kaitlin O'Riley

is not what I meant. Je vois à travers toute ce. I see through your subtle pretense. I think you are here not for your little houses at all, Monsieur Roxbury, but because you needed an excuse to see my daughter again.”
    Once more Lisette released a cry of embarrassment. “Mother! Please!”
    Stunned by the turn of the conversation, Quinton paused before responding, afraid of digging himself in deeper. Although he had to admit the old woman was correct in her assessment of him and he had to give her credit. The only reason he was there was to see Lisette. “Yes, that is an added benefit. Your daughter is quite lovely.”
    â€œI do appreciate when a man is honest. Ma fille est très belle, n’est-ce pas? My daughter is beautiful, is she not?” Mrs. Hamilton smiled in satisfaction. “Well, then, you have no desire to sit here chatting with me, do you, when you came to see Lisette? Je suis aujourd’hui une vieille femme, et vous avez besoin d’être ensemble, seuls. Allez-y. I am an old woman. You two young people need time to be alone together. Go! Go take my daughter for a walk. The fresh sea air will do you both good after being in the city.”
    It was windy and cloudy with the threat of snow, not at all a day conducive to being out-of-doors. No one in his right mind would venture out on a day like today for a leisurely stroll. He had almost not come on the visit in the first place, since the weather was so forbidding, but he had decided to risk it anyway.
    Incredulous at Mrs. Hamilton’s startling suggestion, Quinton turned to Lisette, whose mouth was wide open with shock, mirroring his own. “Would you care to walk on the beach with me, Miss Hamilton?”
    â€œI would love to,” Lisette said in rapid response and rose to her feet, desperate to be away from her mother. “It will just be a moment for me to get my things.”
    As Lisette hurried from the room, Mrs. Hamilton watched her leave with a satisfied expression on her face. Like the cat that ate the canary, she grinned at Quinton. “It has been a pleasure to meet you, Monsieur Roxbury. Please do join us for supper this evening?”
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    Quinton and Lisette walked together from the house and instinctively headed away from the more populated area of the shore. The wind whipped around them and gray clouds hung heavy and low in the sky. Gulls screeched over the deserted beach and the sound of rough surf crashed around them. They said not a word to each other until they reached the damp sand.
    â€œAre you angry with me, Miss Hamilton?” he finally asked her.
    â€œWhy would I be angry with you?” Lisette asked a bit caustically. “Because you called upon me when I expressly asked you not to?”
    He gave a rueful smile. “Yes.”
    â€œYes, I am quite angry,” she blurted out. “I do not think this is a good idea.”
    â€œYet you came out with me anyway.” He had noted that fact, much to his delight.
    â€œYes,” she admitted with reluctance. “But I did not want to.”
    Quinton had his doubts about that. He asked the question that had been puzzling him. “Why was your mother so determined to send us off alone together?”
    Lisette grimaced. “She does not know that you are to be married shortly. An important fact that you neglected to mention to her, by the way.”
    He had not mentioned his wedding because he had not thought of Emmeline at all. In fact, he didn’t wish to be thinking of her now. “But surely she knows that you are engaged?”
    â€œOf course she does!”
    It seemed odd to Quinton that Mrs. Hamilton should conspire to have her daughter spend time alone with another man when she was already engaged. Unless . . .
    He paused and placed his hand on Lisette’s arm, causing her to stop walking as well. She looked up at him, her pretty face surrounded by the white ermine that trimmed the hood of