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She stared at him. Was he mad? “I still don’t understand.”
“No, I suppose you don’t, so consider yourself fortunate.” He shook his head, but his frown had changed into a faint grin. “By the by, Jane has wed as well; my brother even has a babe set to arrive next month. Everywhere I turn, there is happiness and romance. It’s… difficult, and as much as I try, I feel as if I’m on the outside looking in, as if life is riding by and has forgotten me.”
“Oh, you poor thing,” she murmured, though she doubted he heard it. “That’s understandable. I’ve never married either.” As another swatch of silence stretched between them, punctuated by occasional bleats from the sheep, she rushed to fill the void despite more raindrops. “I was engaged once, to a solider, but the war took him like it stole away so many men from so many women.”
Remembering the man she would have wed sent an ache into her heart, never quite gone but living with the pain grew easier with time. Before he’d gone to war, she’d lain with him—what woman wouldn’t when he’d looked so handsome in his uniform?—but no children resulted from those quick bouts of copulation. It had both relieved and saddened her. He was naught but a memory now.
“You have my condolences.”
“Thank you.”
“I beg your pardon, but you’re not hideous, so whyhaven’tyou wed? Surely your heart wasn’t buried with your fiancé?”
Her cheeks heated again, but she didn’t know if it was from annoyance or pleasure. “Quite frankly, no one has asked me, Captain Marsden. And besides, there aren’t many candidates in the village. I rarely get up to London, so unless an eligible male were dropped here from the skies, I shall remain unmatched.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter, when it absolutely did. She longed to have a family of her own, to live a life for herself, but that opportunity had happened. “I keep busy by teaching young girls in the village how to play the pianoforte and give the odd singing lesson. In fact, I’m scheduled for one in about an hour.”
“Oh.” But he didn’t offer anything else.
Despite having an appointment, she was loath to leave his company, separated as it was by the flock of truly stubborn sheep. “Beyond that, I keep Papa’s house.”
“Ah.” He glanced about as if expecting to see the modest manor pop out of thin air. “Where do you live?”
Noelle couldn’t help her smile. “Evergreen House is a mile to the south of here.” She pointed in the direction that she’d come.
“Again with a Christmastide connotation.”
“Of course.”
More rain drops splattered her cheeks, in a greater number this time. “I suppose I should continue walking to the village. The rain will only delay me further.”
The captain frowned at the sheep blocking the road. “Since I can obviously not move forward and there is precipitation in the offing, I’d be happy to convey you to your destination. That is if you don’t mind the tight quarters of the gig.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the vehicle and the gray mare who contently grazed upon the roadside grasses. “It’s the least I can do to honor our old friendship.”
“Or it’s because you’re too impatient to wait for the sheep to clear the road.” But the idea held appeal. She certainly didn’t wish to arrive at the home of her pupil looking like a drowned, muddy rat. When he began to sputter, she smiled. “However, I’d be delighted to accept your assistance.”
“Good.” He moved to the side of the road. “If you’ll come around the flock this way, it appears less muddy.”
“How decent of you to concern yourself with the state of my hem.” She maneuvered around some of the more disgruntled sheep.
“Rather, it’s concern at keeping the gig as clean as it can be,” he shot back, and when she snapped her gaze to his face in some consternation, amusement lined his expression. “I jest, of course.” His sensual lips curved into a grin that released a few butterflies in her lower belly. “I did say I used to be a jokester.”
“Levity suits you.” And rendered him even more handsome than he’d been in his brown study. “You should continue to chase it even if your life is less than ideal.”
“I’ll consider it.” The captain held out his hand. “Allow me to assist you over the ruts. It’s beginning to become a trifle slick in places.”
“Thank you.” As soon as Noelle put her fingers into his gloved palm, frissons of heated awareness danced up her arm to her elbow. With a gasp, her gaze flew to his. Answering shock reflected in his eyes that she could see now were a wonderful hazel color. “Rain during the holiday season is quite annoying. I’d rather have snow.”
“Why is that?” He led her to the left side of the gig, and as she gathered her skirting in her free hand, he assisted her up into the vehicle.
“Snow is ever more romantic than pedestrian rain, and when it blankets the ground, it hides the ugliness that winter brings. One doesn’t see the mud, the dead branches and grass, or the barren trees any longer. Everything is fresh and new.”
“I must admit, I’ve never thought about it in those terms.” When the captain climbed into the gig and settled beside her, the left side of his body pressed against her, for the confines of the carriage werequitesnug. “Though, snow in London does render the streets and gardens pretty for a time until the coal dust blackens everything once more.”
Noelle nodded, for she was temporarily rendered speechless. It had been a long time indeed since she was this close to a man, and one who smelled as delicious as he did. His crisp, clean, almost Alpine-like scent reminded her of cold winter mornings and evergreens. It wafted to her nose, and she tamped down the urge to openly sniff him. To say nothing of the tingles playing her spine at his proximity and warmth.
No, this man wasn’t the youth she remembered from the past or the man she’d seen only occasionally when at Worchester Park with her father. He was real, solid, and quite vital, and if she didn’t keep a firm hold on herself, she’d do something stupid like attempt to buss his cheek.
The ride to the village took hardly any time, for banter and conversation saw to that. As he halted the carriage at the short lane that led to her pupil’s cottage, she said, “Thank you for the ride, Captain Marsden. Perhaps I’ll see you around the area during the holiday season.”
Though the emotion in his eyes was clouded, those hazel depths twinkled as he if knew a joke that no one else did. “You can make certain of it, Miss Gedney. Meeting you this afternoon has put a bright spot in my otherwise dull existence.”
Those words made her smile as she climbed down from the gig and walked up the lane.
