“Show me,” said Evelina in a breathless voice.
He laughed, then reached out both his arms and legs, propelling them through the snow. “You see?” he laughed. “I am making the shape of an angel.”
Evelina giggled, then did the same thing herself, pushing her arms and legs through the snow. It was harder to do it with her legs because she was constrained by her dress, but she thought she managed a reasonable facsimile of an angel in the snow.
Laughing, she turned to look at him. His head was already turned towards her. Their eyes locked together again.
How green are his eyes, she thought in wonder.As green as a river on a warm summer’s day.
He was studying her face intently now, his eyes roaming slowly over it, from her eyes to her nose before lingering upon her mouth. Evelina felt her face grow hot, and tiny tingles of delight spread throughout her body like a host of fireflies spiralling in the night sky.
Hastily, she got to her feet. “I really should get back home,” she whispered, her voice thready, unable to look at him. “My father might start to wonder where I am and send out a search party.”
It was a lie. Papa didn’t notice where she was any longer, nor how long she had been gone. Papa existed in some kind of limbo world now. She knew she could probably stay away for the whole day before he might slowly emerge from that world and wonder where she was.
“Of course,” said Jude hastily, jumping to his feet and shaking off the snow. “I will get the basket.”
They kept walking towards the house. Evelina didn’t dare look at him again. When they reached the edge of the gardens, they stopped, turning towards one another.
There was an awkward silence. He passed the basket to her.
Evelina took a deep breath, feeling a stab of sorrow. That magical, snowy world that they had briefly inhabited together was already starting to fade away. The real world beckoned, and this was the boundary. This was where she became Lady Evelina, and he was just a coachman without a name.
“Thank you,” she whispered shyly. “It was… fun.” She hesitated. “I have not had such fun in a very long time.”
“It was my pleasure, milady,” he said, his voice strangely husky. “If you ever want to have such fun again, you only need to ask me.”
Evelina bit her lip, blushing, before walking quickly down the path. She didn’t look back.
Her heart was pounding hard, and her mouth was dry. Something had happened between them in those woods. Something that had never happened to her before. She had never felt such closeness to a man before.
And that man was a servant.
Her face felt like it was on fire, and guilt and shame filled her soul. She had crossed so many boundaries with him today. She knew it was wrong. Very wrong. She knew that if anyone knew about it, they would be horrified, cautioning her to watch her step. She couldn’t even imagine telling Caroline, and she was her very best friend in the entire world.
But then the guilt and shame evaporated. No one knew about it. It was just harmless fun and nothing of significance had passed between them. They had simply romped like children, throwing snowballs and making snow angels. It wasn’t as if they had kissed.
Evelina took a deep breath as she hurried into the house, tightly gripping her basket filled with Christmas greenery. She really had to stop indulging in this with him, though. She felt like she was standing on the edge of a vast precipice, moving slowly towards the edge. Whichever way she looked at it, there was nothing but destruction.
Chapter 8
Jude stared at the lady’s retreating figure as she hurried along the path towards the house, clutching her basket. For some strange reason, he wanted her to look back at him, but she never did. His heart fell to the ground.
“What are you doing, Jude Huxley?”
He swung around, his heart beating hard. Sally Potter was standing there with a basket of laundry on her hip. Her hair looked fiery red beneath her white maid’s cap. She was gazing at him intently.
“Nothing,” he said hastily. “Nothing at all.”
“Really?” asked Sally, tilting her head to the side. “That was Lady Evelina scurrying away, wasn’t it? I saw the two of you talking. Did you accompany her into the woods?”
Jude felt his face colour. “No. I just carried her basket for a bit of the way to help her. That was all.”
Sally nodded, but didn’t look convinced. “I see. Yes, it would have been a bit odd accompanying her into the woods, wouldn’t it? Seeing as you are just a coachman and all.” Her lip curled up into a sneer. “The toffs are very big on maintaining a strict ladder of command and all that. I’m not even allowed to speak to them since I am just a lowly kitchen maid.”
Jude took a deep breath. He needed to get away from her. “It was nice talking to you, Sally,” he said. “But I must get back to work.”
“Wait,” she said, her voice turning flirtatious, placing a hand upon his arm. “Don’t rush off, Jude Huxley. You’ve barely spoken to me.” She smiled at him. “Have you thought anymore about going to the village dance with me?”