Read Online Home for the Holidays by Johanna Lindsey - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Johanna Lindsey
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ignored.
“There are countless reasons that could have detained him, none of which include any dire circumstances,” he told her. “You have been inconvenienced by the delay, but there is no reason to think it is anything other than a delay.”
The word he’d chosen, “inconvenienced,” almost brought forward a bitter laugh from her. Was that how he viewed an eviction, as no more than an inconvenience to the tenant? Yet she did realize that he was trying to bolster her hope, which she had finally abandoned. She just wished she could borrow some of his optimism, but it didn’t work. Her own had sustained her this long, but was now gone.
She couldn’t talk to him anymore. The lump in her throat was all but choking her. But there was nothing more to say. She’d already answered his reason for detaining her, that and more.
And then she looked at him. A mistake. She shouldhave walked out while she still had some of her wits about her. She might have been able to manage a few words in parting at the door. But looking at him, she saw the concern in his golden eyes that he probably didn’t realize was there, and burst into tears. Impossible to stop. Impossible to control.
It was too far from the window to the door. She didn’t make it before his hand was on her shoulder, stopping her, then his arms were gathering her close.
It was what she had needed for several weeks now, a shoulder to cry on. That it was the shoulder of the very person responsible for some of those tears pouring out of her didn’t seem to matter much.
He held her close, and tightly, as if he were overcome with emotion himself. He wasn’t, surely. He was just trying to comfort her and probably wasn’t sure how to go about it, was probably quite unaccustomed to women falling apart in front of him.
It
was
comforting, having his arms around her, his solid chest to lean on, and so nice that she was loath to end it. But when the tears started to dry up, she started to become aware of him in a different way, in the way that so disturbed her and rattled her common sense.
She stepped back quickly, breaking his warm embrace. “Thank you, I’m fine now.”
She wasn’t, but it was the correct thing to say to him.Unfortunately, he was too perceptive, and blunt enough to remark on it.
“You aren’t.”
She really was, at least for the moment, in the matter that had needed comfort. It was something else altogether making her tremble now. And she was afraid to look at him directly, to see what was in his eyes this time. She suspected that it would be a terrible risk, to subject herself to that molten fire if it was there again. Her emotions were just too fragile at the moment to withstand it.
So she turned away toward the open doorway and even passed through it before she said, “I
will
be.”
Whether he heard her, or would have argued the point, was moot. She didn’t give him a chance to, practically ran all the way to her room.
Chapter Ten
L ARISSA HAD BEEN TOLD LAST EVENING, WHEN SHE HAD gone down to dinner and had eaten it alone, that the baron usually wasn’t at home in the evenings. Quite understandable for a member of the
ton,
particularly during one of the more prominent social Seasons, which was in full swing, to be attending one social gathering or another. So he rarely ate at home, which for her had been good news.
It was why she went downstairs tonight. She wasn’t expecting to see him again that day. Besides, she had no reason to offer to take her meals in her room, so it would be quite rude to do so.
He joined her.
Having assumed he wouldn’t, it was quite disconcerting, watching him walk into the room, offer her a curt nod, and take his seat across from her. Her embarrassment returned over the outburst of tears he’d been witness to that afternoon. Horrid emotion, to be so uncontainable and embarrass her like that. But at the time she hadn’t thought of that, hadn’t thought of anything except the grief pouring out of
“There are countless reasons that could have detained him, none of which include any dire circumstances,” he told her. “You have been inconvenienced by the delay, but there is no reason to think it is anything other than a delay.”
The word he’d chosen, “inconvenienced,” almost brought forward a bitter laugh from her. Was that how he viewed an eviction, as no more than an inconvenience to the tenant? Yet she did realize that he was trying to bolster her hope, which she had finally abandoned. She just wished she could borrow some of his optimism, but it didn’t work. Her own had sustained her this long, but was now gone.
She couldn’t talk to him anymore. The lump in her throat was all but choking her. But there was nothing more to say. She’d already answered his reason for detaining her, that and more.
And then she looked at him. A mistake. She shouldhave walked out while she still had some of her wits about her. She might have been able to manage a few words in parting at the door. But looking at him, she saw the concern in his golden eyes that he probably didn’t realize was there, and burst into tears. Impossible to stop. Impossible to control.
It was too far from the window to the door. She didn’t make it before his hand was on her shoulder, stopping her, then his arms were gathering her close.
It was what she had needed for several weeks now, a shoulder to cry on. That it was the shoulder of the very person responsible for some of those tears pouring out of her didn’t seem to matter much.
He held her close, and tightly, as if he were overcome with emotion himself. He wasn’t, surely. He was just trying to comfort her and probably wasn’t sure how to go about it, was probably quite unaccustomed to women falling apart in front of him.
It
was
comforting, having his arms around her, his solid chest to lean on, and so nice that she was loath to end it. But when the tears started to dry up, she started to become aware of him in a different way, in the way that so disturbed her and rattled her common sense.
She stepped back quickly, breaking his warm embrace. “Thank you, I’m fine now.”
She wasn’t, but it was the correct thing to say to him.Unfortunately, he was too perceptive, and blunt enough to remark on it.
“You aren’t.”
She really was, at least for the moment, in the matter that had needed comfort. It was something else altogether making her tremble now. And she was afraid to look at him directly, to see what was in his eyes this time. She suspected that it would be a terrible risk, to subject herself to that molten fire if it was there again. Her emotions were just too fragile at the moment to withstand it.
So she turned away toward the open doorway and even passed through it before she said, “I
will
be.”
Whether he heard her, or would have argued the point, was moot. She didn’t give him a chance to, practically ran all the way to her room.
Chapter Ten
L ARISSA HAD BEEN TOLD LAST EVENING, WHEN SHE HAD gone down to dinner and had eaten it alone, that the baron usually wasn’t at home in the evenings. Quite understandable for a member of the
ton,
particularly during one of the more prominent social Seasons, which was in full swing, to be attending one social gathering or another. So he rarely ate at home, which for her had been good news.
It was why she went downstairs tonight. She wasn’t expecting to see him again that day. Besides, she had no reason to offer to take her meals in her room, so it would be quite rude to do so.
He joined her.
Having assumed he wouldn’t, it was quite disconcerting, watching him walk into the room, offer her a curt nod, and take his seat across from her. Her embarrassment returned over the outburst of tears he’d been witness to that afternoon. Horrid emotion, to be so uncontainable and embarrass her like that. But at the time she hadn’t thought of that, hadn’t thought of anything except the grief pouring out of
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