Her sister nodded, a pink blush staining her cheeks. “I was awfully shocked at such a wanton display of improper behavior. But she is our friend, and we must help them to the altar considering what we must assume had happened in his room last night.”
Callie cleared her throat. “Well, we know the purpose of a well-intended house party is to indulge in wickedness!”
Letty wrinkled her nose. “I am not entirely certain Mama would have brought us here if that were common knowledge. Nor do I think that is his lordship’s intentions.”
That was an astute observation, but Callie had pleaded with her mother to attend the earl’s annual Christmas house party after receiving the invitation. Perhaps her mother’s reluctance had been rooted in all the possible scandals on attending a house party! Though Lord Deerwood’s December parties had no salacious rumors attached to them to her knowledge. It was a tradition which his countess had started, but he had continued even though she had gone onto her rewards a little over ten years ago. It seemed the earl and his family had gotten the news of her passing on Christmas Eve while the family had awaited the doctor’s report.
For the last few years, the earl and his daughter had hosted a lavish house party which lasted for two weeks leading up to a Christmas day feast, which surely rivaled the table of the Queen Victoria. Despite the coldness of the season and the occasional falling snow, the earl’s guests would spend their two weeks of holidays hunting, riding, and even playing indoor games. In the evening, formal dinners would take place followed by music, some impromptu dancing, charades, whist, and games of billiards for the men where they could smoke indoors without fear of censure.
Many whispers suggested the earl held the house party to distract himself from the painful memories surrounding the yuletide season. For those invited, who did not care to spend Christmas alone or with intolerable family or wanted to be there for the earl, made their way to his palatial country home for the festivities. “It is not Vinnette I wish to help snag her beau. Though I will certainly speak with her to find out what it is that she wants.”
Letty paused in taking a sip of her tea, holding the cup in midair inches away from her lips. “Not Vinnette?”
“No.”
Letty frowned, wariness settling on her lovely face. “Then, who? We barely know anyone here, and I am still in disbelief th
at they invited us. The earl is well known, and only those in good standing are welcome. I cannot credit anyone from Society should recall us to their minds, though I am pleased we got asked to come this year.”
“It is Mama,” Callie whispered, clasping her fingers tightly over her teacup.
Letty stiffened, lowering the tart to her plate and brushing the crumbs from mouth. “Our mama?”
“Yes,” Callie replied, meeting her sister’s startled gaze. “I suspect she is in love with Lord Deerwood.”
Letty appeared dazed. “There is a rumor that he is an arrogant sort of man, very haughty and concerned with rules and propriety.”
“We didn’t see any evidence of such a disposition when he welcomed us yesterday.” The earl had almost appeared nervous, and his eyes had strayed to her rosy-cheeked mother often in the few minutes he’d made introductions to his other guests. At dinner, he had paid particular attention to their mother, who had seemed a trifle flustered with his attentions.
“Well, we hardly know him!”
“Exactly, Letty,” Callie replied with a wave of her hand. “We absolutely cannot believe in any gossip about the earl. We could, however, trust in Mama’s judgment. It is wholly unlikely she would admire anyone so haughty and prideful as the rumor suggests.”
Letty sighed. “He is also a man in his prime and is considered a most eligible parti. He is only seven and forty and still so handsome and dashing. Why would he ever consider our mother? You go too far with your ambitions, Callie!”
She stood and made her way over to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a section of the palatial estate. The light snow they had received this year had already started to thaw, and despite the chill in the air, the earl’s guests were enjoying the outdoors.
A group of well-wrapped guests played croquet on a lawn swept free of snow, and others practiced archery in good humor, laughing at each other’s hits and misses. Even in the distance, she saw a few people rowing on the lake which had not frozen this year. Merriment danced in the air. Despite being several days away, Christmas—its feel and scent—surrounded the earl’s country home. Holly, garlands of ivy, pinecones, and sprigs of mistletoe attached with bright-colored satin bows seemed to decorate every room. Fresh-cut red and white roses which must have been grown in glasshouses to bloom at this time of year had been artfully arranged, and in the evenings, the gardens and surrounding parklands were festooned with hundreds of decorative lanterns and candlelight, which cast an ethereal glow on the remaining patches of snow and the reflecting lake.
“’Tis the season to be hopeful,” she said, staring at their mother, who sat under a gazebo near the pruned rose gardens, a book in her hand. The earl in question strolled with a lady along the edge of the lake, and at times her mother risked glancing at them. It was painful and almost embarrassing to watch her mother’s evident tendre for the earl.
Lord Deerwood, in turn, seemed aloof as he strolled with the animated Miss Penelope Barrows. That lady was eight and twenty, and Callie had heard her only yesterday state her determination to marry by next year. It seemed Miss Barrows had decided on catching the earl. It was hard for Callie to determine if his affections were engaged. He seemed to be politely listening, but was careful not to stroll too close beside Miss Barrows. In truth, his manner suggested an indifferent listener.
“Mama has little to recommend her to become the wife of such a man,” Letty put forth, coming to stand beside Callie. “I cannot credit you would be so bold as to even contemplate it.”
“Mama is the daughter of a baron and was the wife of a viscount. Even if we are not wealthy, we have respectable connections!”
Letty worried at her bottom lip with her teeth. “Still, Lord Deerwood is—”
“Oh!” An unidentified emotion squeezed at Callie’s heart. “Look at the earl, Letty!”
Her sister leaned forward, and commented with wonderment in her voice, “He…he is staring at Mama when he thinks no one is observing. Oh, Callie, I daresay he likes Mama too!”
The expression on the earl’s face was one of acute longing. Unfamiliar emotions twisted through Callie, and she pressed a hand against the cool glass of the windows. A few light snowflakes danced in the air before settling on the thick verdant grass where a large peacock, with its iridescent tail spread preening, lingered.
“I daresay he admires Mama most ardently,” Callie stated, an unexpected hunger crawling through her veins. Many days she too had wondered what it would be like to be courted, to be sent flowers, to be taken on lengthy walks in the park, to be on a bench with her beau reading whilst he listened with rapt and sincere attention. She was four and twenty and had never experienced such delights. What would it be like to dance the waltz, and to be kissed? She closed her eyes, pushing aside those dreams which seemed so unattainable, given the family’s dire circumstances for the past five years.
Their mother lowered her book, and when she looked toward the earl, he hurriedly glanced away. Letty giggled infectiously, and Callie smiled.