The Christmas Carrolls by Bárbara Metzger Page B

Still, I hadn’t ought to have dragged you back to Winterpark two weeks early, just because my gout was plaguing me.”
    “What, I should have stayed for yet another affair where one waits an hour to make one’s curtsy, then spends an hour trying to leave the premises through the hordes of other guests? Two weeks of that was enough to last a lifetime, though I suspect Mama will have us all back in Town in the spring.”
    They both sighed.
    “But all females love shopping,” the earl said, moving to protect his queen. “I shouldn’t have taken you away from all that.”
    “You didn’t abduct me so you’d have a chess partner, Papa. I begged Mama to let me accompany you. Since Madame Celeste already has my measurements, even she agreed there was no call for me to spend endless hours being poked and prodded. No, thank you. Papa, I’d much rather be in the country with you, overseeing some of Mama’s projects for the wedding.”
    “What, instead of dancing with all the young bucks at Almack’s or riding out in the park?”
    “You know I don’t care much for that kind of thing, Papa. The haut monde is Joia’s milieu, not mine.”
    “No, you’d rather be in the lending library or attending a dry-as-dust lecture.”
    “Actually,” she said with a smile, easily countering his move, “I’d rather be at university, but I am resigned to my lot. I did get to visit some of the museums and such, showing Merry about, to her dismay, I might add. I’m sure she wasn’t sorry to see me go. But are you sorry we were forced to come home early without Mama and the others?”
    “Lud, no. One more afternoon sitting around drinking catlap with all those old biddies and I’d have driven Joia and Comfort over the border myself.”
    “That wouldn’t be how you happened to trip over Merry’s dog, would it?”
    The earl studied the board more carefully. “Fool animal shouldn’t have been in London in the first place.”
    “And you shouldn’t have been feeding him scraps of bacon on the sly to keep him underfoot. But don’t worry, I won’t tell Mama.”
    “Your mother always knows everything there is to know, young lady, and it’s only two weeks before she returns. We might have some company before then anyway, so we won’t be rattling around by ourselves. I invited young Rendell to bring some friends for the hunting. Someone might as well be enjoying my horses while I can’t.”
    “What, did you see Evan in London? I never did. Is he down from university, then?”
    “Never saw the boy. Saw his father, though, extended the invite through him.”
    “I didn’t know Mr. Rendell was back in this country. Evan’s last letter never mentioned it.”
    “He is, saw him at m’club. Chap’s as brown as those coffee beans he’s been importing.” He brushed that aside, with one of her pawns, to get to the meat of the matter. “But about Evan. Seems he and Cambridge have finally convinced Rendell that his son is no scholar, so the lad will be in Berkshire within the month.”
    “Then we’re sure to see him, if you’ve offered to mount him and his friends. You know our stables are far superior to his grandfather Blakely’s. Check.”
    “Fustian, poppet. Young Rendell always spent more time here than at his grandparents’ house when he wasn’t at school, and it’s not because of my cattle.” He studied the board a minute. “Nor because our cook is finer than Squire Blakely’s, either.”
    Holly tried not to blush. “He’s always found companionship at Winterpark. There were no children near the Manor for him to play with.”
    Lord Carroll snorted. “You’re not children anymore, my girl.” He put down the knight he was thinking of moving, to stare at his middle daughter. “Fact is, I’ve been thinking it’s time for you and young Rendell to announce your engagement. We could do it at the Christmas ball, don’t you know, and let your mother start planning for that June wedding she wants so