Page 60 of Holly & Folly

In the miserable hours since, he had come to the conclusion that there was little point delaying marriage anymore. What did it matter whether he married now or in ten years?

Indeed, better sooner than later. Let it be done before his heart had more time to desire what he should not and could not have.

There was a knock on the door, and Mother opened it. “Ah. I did not know you were with someone.”

“It is quite all right, Mother. Jeffard was just congratulating me on my upcoming nuptials.”

“Your what?”

He might as well have announced his intention to employ himself as a scullery maid.

“My upcoming nuptials,” he said, enunciating every word.

She hurried into the room and closed the door behind her, her eyes bright with an almost fiendish light. “Nuptials with whom?” The words were hissed more than spoken, and the fear in her expression made it painfully clear that she worried his response would be Miss Prescott.

If only…

“That, I do not know,” he replied. “No doubt you will be able to help me with the answer.”

She clapped her hands together. “Oh, but this is above anything!” She hurried over, took his face between her hands, and kissed one cheek, then the other. “You have made me the happiest of mothers!”

“I shall leave you two to celebrate,” Jeffard said, bowing with a strained smile.

Archie hoped his own smile was more convincing.

For the next fifteen minutes, Mother paced the room, discussing wedding details with herself before remembering that she had come to the study with a purpose: to insist Archie join the group of guests intending to ice skate on the pond.

Archie resisted the impulse to ask whether Nell would be joining the party. He could not have said which answer he would have preferred. He both wanted and dreaded to see her.

He decided to embrace his new role as obliging son and join the expedition.

Not just join it. Enjoy it.

Archie had known Mr. Tinston for many years. He had always liked the man.

But as Tinston stabilized Nell with a hand on her waist on the other side of the pond, Archie began to suspect the man of unsteady character.

His heart skipped a beat as Nell nearly lost her balance, but she managed to stay upright—with the doubtful assistance of Mr. Tinston, who nearly lost his balance as well.

Unsteady, indeed.

The Bellthorne guests were scattered across the surface of the pond: Freddie and his wife, Miss Caldwell and Mr. Fowell, Mr. Prescott and Miss Hollis. The list continued.

And yet Archie had eyes for one person only.

“You are quite an accomplished skater, Lord Dalmeer,” Miss Orston said, keeping a light grip on his arm.

“Not nearly so accomplished as you,” he replied.

Miss Orston laughed musically. “An accomplished skater and a soothsayer, then.”

Archie pulled his gaze away from Nell and smiled. “Far from it.”

But that was not entirely true. Archie was more skilled than she, for he had skated on this pond since he was but a few years old. It had been years since his last time, but a few minutes on the ice had brought back the memory easily enough.

He looked at Miss Orston through the corner of his eye.

She was everything he ought to want.