House of Trent 01.5 - His for Christmas by Jennifer Haymore

the ring in her hand.
    “Looks like you’ve another marriage in your future, my lady,” Evan’s mother said to Amelia. “Congratulations.”
    Amelia turned a lovely shade of pink and cast her eyes downward as she laid the ring on the tablecloth beside her. Evan fought the urge to whisk her away from all these people and take her somewhere safe. Preferably somewhere that contained a bed.
    “Do you not wish to marry again, my lady?” Fletcher asked her.
    “Someday, maybe,” Amelia said in a voice so low Evan almost couldn’t hear her. Then she cast a quick glance at him, her cheeks still flaming.
    On the other side of Amelia, Fletcher chuckled and said, loudly enough for Evan to hear, “What good luck for me,” which made Evan seethe. Manners, and the desire not to ruin Amelia’s parents’ dinner, were the only things that prevented him from throttling the man at that moment.
    After dinner, things only grew worse. George drank too much—a problem he’d had even when they were youths. When he began raising his tone belligerently over the indistinct murmurs of the drawing room as several of Berwicke’s daughters sang a Christmas carol, Fletcher took him by the arm and suggested they walk for a while. Clearly, Fletcher hoped the brisk air would sober his friend. As they passed Evan, George slurred, “Join us outside, old chap. Fletch has promised to share some fancy tobacco he acquired in India.”
    “In a while,” Evan murmured, not quite ready to end his current conversation with the countess. “You go on ahead.”
    They left, and he turned back to the older woman.
    “So you were saying?” she asked him, her hazel eyes shrewd and assessing. She’d asked him about how he’d encountered Amelia on the road.
    “I told Amelia I would be happy to take her home,” he said. “However, she refused my help, at first.”
    “Of course she did.”
    “I didn’t understand why, at the time. But she told me later.”
    The countess pursed her lips. “And what did you have to say for yourself, Mr. Cameron?”
    He looked the woman square in the eyes. “What I did was unforgiveable, my lady. But your daughter has given me the great honor of her forgiveness, and I will always be grateful for that.”
    The countess shook her head. “One of Amelia’s greatest shortcomings is her soft-heartedness. You will not find me so easy to forgive, especially of such a crime against a beloved daughter.”
    “I understand,” he told her. “I hope that someday I will prove myself worthy of your forgiveness.”
    She just gazed at him.
    “For,” he continued, keeping his tone even, though his heart galloped in his chest. “I believe I am in love with your daughter.”
    At this, her eyes went wide. Then, her lips twisted. “That’s not possible. You’ve known her one day.”
    “On the contrary. I’ve known her all my life.”
    “You are both adults now. Amelia has changed irrevocably from those innocent days of her girlhood. I am sure you’ve changed, too.”
    He leaned forward. “Yes, my lady, we’ve both changed. But we’re both still intrinsically the same people we were when we were children. Did my mother ever tell you of my youthful desire to marry Amelia?”
    She looked startled. “No.”
    “I was informed in no uncertain terms that she was too far above me, and such an event would never come to fruition. And yet, here I stand, years later, finding that my feelings on the matter of marrying your daughter have never wavered. However, I am a man now, whose hopes aren’t so easily dashed by those who consider themselves older and wiser.”
    “Is that so?”
    “It is,” he said softly. “And if Amelia will have me, I will be your son by marriage someday soon, my lady. If you cannot forgive a neighbor for his transgression, I hope you’ll find it somewhere within you to forgive a son.”
    She gave him a considering look. “I’d absolve a son, if he earned his forgiveness.”
    “I intend to earn yours,”