Page 9 of Yule Be Mine

Chapter Four

Grinning wider with every step, Penelope reached the clearing well before Yule put in an appearance. Pleased with how well her endeavor had worked out so far, she took a moment to congratulate herself on a plan well executed. Of course, she’d been arranging this first meeting with Yule for the past two years, ever since Mama began talking about Charlotte’s come out. It had been her own suggestion that she and Charlotte come out together, ensuring she would be taken to all the entertainments and not left at home with a governess. Because how else was she to meet and enchant Yule Quartermain?

And things were progressing nicely. So far today, she’d done exactly what she’d set out to do. She’d talked to Yule respectfully, using his formal name as Charlotte had suggested. When she talked, she’d spoken with him about the approved topics, such as the weather and Mr. Dickens, which had worked admirably to further their conversation. And now she’d given him notice—thrown down the gauntlet, metaphorically speaking—that she was actively looking to get kissed during the Mistletoe Run. She’d shocked him, of that she was certain, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. At least he couldn’t deny any longer that she was a young lady—an eligible young lady—one he could look on with an eye to becoming his wife.

Whether he would do that, of course, was still uncertain. But Penelope would do everything within her power to make that happen. So, when she reached the clearing, where other guests were also straggling back in as well, she hurried toward their host’s son, Fritz Kastner, smiling her sweetest at him. “Good morning, Mr. Kastner.”

“Good morning, Miss Penelope.” He returned her smile, his eyes lighting up. “How may I help you?”

“We are about to commence with the Mistletoe Run, are we not?” She glanced toward the growing number of people grouped over in the trees, all of them looking upward.

“Yes, as soon as all the guests have returned from the woods.”

“Then my partner for the greenery gathering, Mr. Ulysses Quartermain, and I wish to be paired together for the first round of the run. If you can do that, Mr. Kastner, we would truly be very grateful.” She smiled at him, batting her eyes ever so slightly.

“Uh, well, I will see if that can be arranged, Miss Penelope.” The gentleman looked very uncertain. He glanced around the clearing and spied Yule, just coming toward them.

“I know the selection is usually random, however Mr. Quartermain and I are old friends and we have laid a wager on whether or not he will be able to catch me.” She giggled and Mr. Kastner visibly relaxed.

“Ah, I understand, Miss Penelope.”

If one mentioned the word “wager” with regard to a Quartermain, no one thought anything further of the matter.

“Yes, exactly. Thank you, Mr. Kastner. I appreciate your help with this.” She turned just in time to see Yule setting the basket of cuttings down with the growing pile beside the waggonette. Swiftly, she rushed toward him, taking his arm just as he put the heavy basket down. “Mr. Kastner says they are making up the game right now. Over there.” She pointed toward the guests milling around under the skeletal oak trees. “It seems we are just in time.”

“Penelope, you didn’t mean what you said just now, did you?” Yule’s frown from the night before was back.

“Why would that be a bad thing, Yule?” Please, couldn’t he simply give in and let her have her way? “That is what mistletoe at Christmas is for.”

“When you’re of a proper age for it, perhaps.”

Anger surging through her, Penelope swung herself around so she stood in front of him, stopping him mid-stride. Her body fairly trembled in outrage. “And you don’t think I’m of a proper age?”

His frown seemed more from confusion than anger. “No, I don’t. And I can’t understand why you think you are either.”

“Because I am of a proper age, you ninny.” What on earth was wrong with him?

Yule cocked his head, his frown becoming more pronounced, but before he could speak, Mr. Kastner appeared, grabbed their arms and propelled them forward.

“Come right along, now.” He pulled them along the two lines of people, one only men, the other only women, standing or stamping their feet in the cold, until they reached the beginning of the lines. “The easiest way to make sure the two of you are paired together is to put you at the front of the line. You don’t mind running first, do you?”

“What are you talking about, Fritz?” Yule pulled his arm out of his friend’s grasp, then looked around, his face registering the horror of finding himself opposite Penelope, about to try to catch her as she ran under the huge green ball of mistletoe twisting in the cold breeze above them.

“Good luck on the wager, old chap.” Mr. Kastner slapped Yule on the back as he hurried away from them. “On your mark.”

Penelope glanced at Yule to find him glaring at her, his stare sharp enough to puncture her heart. At that moment, with his active malice directed at her, all she wanted to do was run as far and as fast as she could to get away from the wretched man who couldn’t see that she wasn’t the little girl he’d said goodbye to ten years ago. She was a woman, with a woman’s feelings that he’d just trampled on as if they were of no consequence whatsoever.

“Get set.”

Blinking back tears, Penelope turned her face toward the lane between the trees, where she intended to run like the wind and never look back. If she never saw Yule Quartermain again it would be too soon. She tensed, ready to—

“Go!”

With a cry, Penelope leaped forward, dashing away as though the hounds of hell were snapping at her feet, though they would have been much preferred to her true Quartermain adversary. Her half-boots slipped on the snow, causing her to wobble, but she found her footing and regained her stride. Listening keenly for his pounding footfalls, all she heard were the racing of her own heart and the shush shush of her own feet. Instinctively, she slowed and, despite her vow, glanced back over her shoulder.

Yule hadn’t moved. He stood watching her, his face pinched, his brows in a deep frown.

So he wouldn’t even chase her? He didn’t want to get within yards of her, was that it?