Free Christmas Belles by Susan Carroll Page B

prospect of finally being ushered
into the house to give her abrupt behavior much further consideration.
    Round the front of the house, it appeared that Doughty had
managed to at least locate a groom. The young man was helping the steward unload
the baggage. Chloe paused to stare at the burly seaman with such fascination
that Trent felt obliged to introduce him.
    "This is my steward, Miss Chloe. Mr. Doughty."
    "Oh, he is much more what I had imagined that
you—" Whatever she had been about to say, she swallowed it with a guilty
look.
    Burdened as he was by Trent's trunk, Doughty managed a bow
of sorts and flashed his infamous grin. "Morning, miss "
    After staring a moment more, Chloe smiled back, a most dazzling
smile. Trent discovered that she had two dimples. He also reflected that she
had not given him such a smile of welcome. Though he did not know why that
should bother him, it did. He growled at Doughty to stop grinning and get the
baggage stowed inside.
    "And after that, snag hold of that groom and see where
the deuce Mr. Lathrop has disappeared to!"
     
    The event Chloe had so dreaded had come to pass. The captain
had arrived. Although she was ashamed to admit it and even felt it was wicked,
she had been offering up silent prayers since Emma had made her announcement
yesterday. Prayers that something might happen to keep Captain Trent's shadow
from their door, some adverse wind, some change in his orders. Better yet, some
change in his mind.
    But those prayers must indeed have been wrong, for they had
gone unanswered. Here was the captain, striding across Windhaven's threshold,
and Chloe's acquaintance with him had not gotten off to the most auspicious
beginning.
    If she had only recognized him at once, she could have saved
herself a deal of embarrassment. That was all Agnes's fault, spouting a bunch
of nonsense about rum-soaked tyrants who bellowed and waved cat-o'-nine-tails.
    Captain Trent did not in the least resemble the fierce
sailor Chloe had been expecting. In fact, he appeared very much the gentleman,
from his fine-chiseled features to the gleaming tips of his boots. She would
not have taken him to be a seaman at all except for his deep tan and the
slightly rolling gait to his walk
    When she ushered him into the drawing room, he glanced about
him with a slight frown. Never had the flaws in the chamber seemed so glaring
to Chloe, from the stain on the carpet to the splintered woodwork on the
window.
    Although the captain hadn't said a word, Chloe felt obliged
to speak up, hating the defensive note in her own voice. "It's a
well-proportioned room, isn't it? And if you look out that window over there,
there is a lovely view."
    "I am sure there is," the captain said politely.
He stripped off his cape, and Chloe could not restrain a small gasp. He looked
very much like a modern-day knight in his uniform, except that instead of the
shine of armor, he had gold epaulets affixed to a pair of broad shoulders. The
blue broadcloth jacket tapered to a trim waistline, a score of bright buttons
drawing attention to the breadth of his chest.
    Seeming self-conscious beneath Chloe's stare, Trent
straightened his cuffs. "I suppose the uniform does look a little strange
in a lady's drawing room," he said.
    "Oh, no. You look very handsome. That is, it does. I
mean the uniform—" She broke off, recollecting that this was the enemy she
was admiring, the man who had come to Windhaven to take their Emma away, to cut
up all their peace.
    The captain acknowledged her compliment with a fleeting
smile. Chloe could not imagine why, but she had the distinct impression that
she made him a trifle nervous. Perhaps he thought her quite mad after that
business about the fairies.
    She could try to offer some better explanation of her game
with Peggety. The child lived in a tumbledown cottage at the edge of the
village. She already knew too much of the grim realities of poverty. Let Emma
knit her wool caps and Old Meg fill the babe with hot