His eyes widened. He shook his head a little, as if trying to cope with a momentous new idea. Then, after a long silence, he said, on a choke of laughter, ‘I can see that I have a great deal of catching up to do. May I say, ma’am, and darling wife, that I expect it to be a pleasure?’
Jon leaned back against their sitting room door and let out a long sigh of relief. Beside him, Beth put her hands to her burning cheeks. She must have been terrified she would be caught, stealing back into the house looking like a grubby gypsy!
He could smile now the danger was over. ‘Chin up, my sweet. We are safe now. Only Hetty and my mother knew you were gone, and mama will have made sure that no one suspected a thing. You may trust her, you know. She has promised to support you. So hurry and get changed into something appropriate for a top-lofty society hostess.’
‘Your mother will support me? Are you sure, Jon? She does not like me above half. And if she-’
He stopped her worries by the simple expedient of kissing her again. ‘My mother’s mind was poisoned against you, I am sorry to say, by Miss Mountjoy. She detests me, and would do anything to injure me.’
‘Because she is your discarded lover?’
‘Good God, no!’ he exclaimed, though her new-found daring delighted him. ‘What made you-? Ah, Beth, you could not be more wrong. In truth, Miss Mountjoy…er…loved Alicia very much and blamed me for her un happiness. Now that Alicia is dead, the Mountjoy woman seizes every opportunity for mischief-making. But she is leaving Portbury soon. She will not trouble us any more.’
‘Poor woman. She must be very unhappy.’ Beth was shaking her head sadly. ‘And lonely, too, without Alicia,’ she added.
‘She is your enemy and yet you think kindly of her?’ He was thunderstruck. He had known Beth was generous, but this…?
‘Of course. Ask the rector when he arrives. He will tell you that we are to love our enemies.’
Jon stared at her in stunned silence. She was right. He would never be able to match her goodness. And he did not deserve such a treasure. ‘You must hurry now, love,’ he said gruffly, leading her towards her bedchamber door. ‘And while you are preparing to face your guests, I shall have an interview with Berncastle. I guarantee that his wife will be begging your pardon before the day is out. She will admit she mistook you for a woman named Clifford. Since she was foxed at the time, you will graciously forgive her, will you not?’
She let out a gasp of embarrassed laughter.
He used the moment to pick up her left hand and touch the ring. ‘You left everything behind but this. It gave me hope.’ He kissed it reverently. Then he patted her on the bottom and pushed her through the door before he changed his mind.
There was tension in the atmosphere of the drawing room. Although Mrs Berncastle had publicly avowed her mistake and apologised to Beth in front of everyone, Beth knew perfectly well that not one of them believed it. Soon the tale-bearing letters would go out, and the gossip would start. Poor Jon. How would he bear it?
Beth forced herself to ignore that horrid thought and threaded her way through groups of laughing young men and formidable dowagers to join Lady Rothbury by the fire. She smiled down at her. Poor woman. The high-waisted fashions were far from flattering on her, for she was as round as an apple. ‘Your daughter is joining us, I hope, ma’am?’
‘Oh, yes, Lady Portbury. Indeed, she says she plans to surprise me this evening.’ She cocked her head on one side, like a fat, black-eyed robin. ‘I fancy she is going to come down to dinner in her new evening gown.’
‘That will be splendid,’ Beth said kindly.
‘Why, Miss Rothbury!’ Mr Berncastle exclaimed at the same moment. ‘How fine you- Devil a bit!’ He rocked back on his heels and grabbed a chair to recover his balance. ‘I mean, beg pardon, but that is the missing mistletoe jewel!’
The whole room gasped as one and turned to stare at Miss Rothbury. She was dressed in figured white silk. And on her shoulder she was wearing a huge clasp of wrought gold and pearls in the shape of a bunch of mistletoe.
She smiled round innocently at the company and straightened the folds of her skirts. ‘I told you I should surprise you, Mama. Is it not beautiful?’ She stroked a finger over each of the pearls, and then down the golden stalk.
Lady Rothbury rushed forward to grab her daughter by the shoulders. She was almost weeping with embarrassment. ‘Child, child, what have you done? Where did you get this?’
Miss Rothbury looked confused. ‘I think I have always had it. Have I not, Mama? You know I have always loved pearls.’
Mrs Berncastle pushed her way to the front. ‘You must know, Lady Rothbury, that this jewel belongs to my great-aunt, Lady Marchmont. It was stolen from her last year.’ She glanced along the line of astonished faces and paused, like an actress. ‘We were both in the house at the time, as I recall. As was your daughter.’
Beth was gripped with boiling fury. How dare the woman make such accusations against a poor simple girl? There was no malice in Miss Rothbury, none at all, but Mrs Berncastle was clearly determined to have her revenge for that humiliating public apology. Well, Beth would not allow it. She strode across the room to stand between Miss Rothbury and her accuser. ‘Mrs Berncastle, I am sure you would not wish there to be
Faced with the grim challenge in Beth’s face, the woman paled and took a step back. After a moment, she shook her head.
‘Miss Rothbury must have picked up the jewel by mistake,’ Beth said flatly, daring Mrs Berncastle to contradict her. ‘She is fond of such trinkets and would not have thought it wrong. I am sure her mama will see that it is returned to Lady Marchmont with a suitable apology.’
‘Quite right, my dear,’ Jon said firmly, taking his place by her side and dropping an arm round her waist.
Bless him. Just when she needed him. They had their proof now, but at the cost of poor simple Miss Rothbury’s reputation. It felt so wrong. ‘I hope,’ Beth began, fixing each of her guests in turn with a stern glare, ‘that I may rely on everyone here to say nothing at all about this incident?’
‘I am sure they will not, my dear,’ the Dowager put in quickly, smiling warmly at Beth. ‘For it would be such a shame if there were to be no more invitations to Portbury Abbey, would it not? And all because of a little scurrilous gossip with no foundation. No foundation at all.’
Miss Rothbury was still looking bewildered and stroking her pearls. Then, seeing the Dowager’s encouraging smile, she began to laugh.
Slowly at first, and then with increasing mirth, the rest of the Portbury guests joined in, until the room was ringing with laughter.
Jon was not laughing. Instead, he squeezed Beth’s waist and pulled her into the centre of the room. He was looking down at her in a very serious way. Had he changed his mind? Was he thinking she had done wrong to support Miss Rothbury?
‘It is Christmas,’ he said, not attempting to lower his voice. ‘And at Christmas, a man may kiss his sweetheart under the mistletoe.’
Beth’s gasp of astonishment was caught in a long, delicious kiss that went on and on, until her head was swimming and her legs were like jelly. Her distant, austere husband was content to kiss his wife before all the world. Under the friendly mistletoe. Love was truly a wonderful thing.
‘The Reverend and Mrs Aubrey!’
At the sound of the butler’s announcement, Jon broke the kiss. Beth fancied he did so reluctantly. For herself, she would not have cared if it had gone on for ever.
‘My, my,’ the rector said, coming forward with both hands outstretched. ‘Now
Jon pulled out the last pin and watched with obvious satisfaction as Beth’s hair tumbled down. He stroked a curl back from her cheek. ‘You know, you are a remarkably good woman, Elizabeth Foxe-Garway. I swear you do not have an unkind fibre in your whole body.’
‘I-’ She could feel herself blushing all over. It was not helped by the fact that she was wearing nothing but a pair of silk stockings and her unbound hair. Jon had the advantage of her, for he had not yet removed his dressing gown.
She tried to make a dash for the bed, but Jon caught her up into his arms and stood, looking down at her with
