Page 21 of Christmas Comes to Little Valentine

“By the by, I can’t go calling you Miss Bancroft all day. Not if we are engaged,” he said, keeping his voice low.

“Margaret,” she said, and then pulled a face. “But I don’t like that. My father called me Meg.”

“Meg,” he repeated, smiling. “I like it. I think it suits you, it’s very…”

“Short?” she suggested, raising her eyebrows.

He snorted and shook his head. “I was going to say, ‘to the point.’”

“That’s me,” she replied, biting her lip.

“Courage, Meg, and I am Nathaniel. Nat to you,” he added with a wink.

“Meg and Nat?” she repeated, staring at his outstretched hand and wrinkling her nose. “It sounds like a disease. I’m so sorry, sir, you’ve an acute case of megandnat,” she said gravely.

Nat stared at her in surprise, then burst out laughing. “That’s very good!”

“I’m nervous,” she admitted. “I talk nonsense when I’m nervous.”

“Well, the next weeks will certainly be interesting if you don’t relax, then,” he quipped. “Shall we? If we don’t get out soon, they will wonder what’s wrong.”

“Yes. Of course.” He saw the effort she took to square her shoulders, to put up her chin, and then to place her hand in his. “Once more unto the breach, dear friends,” she murmured under her breath.

Though he knew he ought not to, Nat could not help but lift her fingers to his lips and kiss them.

“Brave girl,” he murmured, before climbing out and helping her down. “Good day, Howard!” said he said, relieved to see a familiar face as the butler stepped forward to greet them.

“Good day to you, Mr Ashford, sir, and may I say how good it is to see you back at the hall. It’s quite like old times.”

Nat smiled, rather touched by the fellow’s sincerity. Howard had been in his grandmother’s employ for as long as he could remember and lived in his memory as a kindly fellow who always had a barley sugar about his person to cheer up a small boy. He looked older now, his hair thinning on top and snowy white, but his eyes still sparkled with good humour. Though, he was a terror to anyone he considered a jumped-up mushroom. Nat well remembered that he could shrivel an uninvited guest’s liver with a single contemptuous glance.

“Well, there are one or two differences,” Nat replied, his tone confidential as he lifted the hand that still held Meg’s and gave a conspiratorial grin.

Howard’s eyes widened, and his smile was so broad Nat felt again the sense of misgiving that had begun nagging at him on the way here.

Don’t you care that they’ll be disappointed?

Meg’s words rang in his ears with unpleasant clarity, but Nat pushed them away. He would be engaged one day. Just not today.

“Oh, sir! That is splendid news. Congratulations!” Howard said, and with such enthusiasm that guilt writhed in Nat’s guts, unsettling the steak pie further.

“Shh!” Nat told him uneasily. “I’ve not told the old lady yet, though I thank you for the kind sentiment. For the moment, might I make the introductions? Meg, my dear, this is Mr Howard, who runs Hatherley Hall and any other property that grandmother calls home with apparently effortless efficiency, and is kind to small, grubby boys. Howard, this is Miss Margaret Bancroft.”

“I am pleased to meet you, Mr Howard. Mr Ashford speaks so fondly of his time here at Hatherley House I have been all eagerness to see it for myself,” Meg said, striking exactly the right tone of warmth and formality to win Howard over.

If she had been too eager to please, he would have known at once something was afoot and recoiled. As it was, Nat could tell he liked her at once.

“I am certain Mr Ashford will want the pleasure of giving you a tour of the place himself, but if you would like a guide, I am at your service, Miss Bancroft,” Howard said respectfully, though it was an offer he certainly did not make often, so he must have been impressed.

Meg looked genuinely delighted, which Nat supposed was hardly to be wondered at, what with her love of history.

“Oh, I should like that very much,” she said, and with charming enthusiasm. “I have been wondering about the town too, Little Valentine is such an odd name and—”

“Another time,” Nat said firmly, seeing anticipation shine in Howard’s eyes, and his desire to give the entire history of the spa town and the house evident. “Now we’d best greet Grandmama before she sends for us.”

“Indeed, sir,” Howard said ruefully. “I shall take you to her at once, for she is beside herself at having all the family here again, and I shall be taken to task for dillydallying.”

Meg cast a glance at Nat, who merely smiled. He only hoped she was courageous enough to stand up to the Dowager Duchess of Hawkney. If she was, they would get along famously. Of that, he was certain.