Read Online One Christmas Morning & One Summer's Afternoon by Tilly Bagshawe - Free Book Online Page B

attested to last night’s lack of sleep and a hellish day of rehearsals. The Furlings Hunt Ball would get under way in a matter of hours, attended by a raft of stunning, perfectly groomed women. Apparently, Tatiana Flint-Hamilton had come home for the event, on the lookout for a new lover and determined to outshine all the competition.
    She won’t have to try very hard to outshine me
,
Laura thought miserably.
I’m going to look like such a frump
.
    What on earth had possessed her to bring Daniel to the ball as her date? If he hadn’t already realized how far out of Laura’s league he was, tonight was sure to bring the point home to him.
    Oh well. Too late now
.
    Jumping into the shower, slathering cinnamon body scrub onto every inch of her skin, and washing her hair twice with extra-shine shampoo, Laura tried to push today’s disastrous dress rehearsal out of her mind. It was well known in theatre lore that the best productions had the worst dress rehearsals. Perhaps today was actually a good omen. Everything that
could
go wrong
had
gone wrong. Tomorrow’s performance could only be better.
    It was only Daniel’s presence that had stopped Laura having a knockdown, drag-out fight with Gabe Baxter, who clearly thought the whole Denver Trotter incident hilarious.
    ‘You put something in that boy’s drink, didn’t you?’ Laura had hissed at him, pulling him aside backstage.
    ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    ‘Pull the other one. I know Denver isn’t the most likable child …’
    ‘He’s a bloody menace.’
    ‘But he
is
a child. What you did was completely uncalled for.’
    To Laura’s amazement, Gabe actually had the temerity to lose his temper with
her
. ‘Oh? And who made you the judge of what’s called for and what isn’t? That lad’s been bullying poor George for weeks now, and no one’s done a damn thing to stop him. Those teachers at St Hilda’s should be shot.’
    This was one point on which Laura agreed with him. The teachers should have stepped in, but none of them dared face the wrath of Denver’s father.
    ‘Whatever you may think about me, Miss High and bloody Mighty, I am not a snob. I was sticking up for the Monroe boy, posh or not.’ And with that Gabe had turned on his heel and stomped off, without even offering to help clean up the mess he’d made.
    Forget him
,
Laura told herself, climbing out of the shower and drying herself, rubbing hard at her scalp to try to wake herself up a bit.
Forget the lot of them. Tonight’s about me and Daniel, nothing else.
    Half an hour later, she came downstairs to find Daniel kneeling on the window seat, with his head outside.
    ‘Listen.’ He beckoned her over. ‘How lovely is that?’
    The church bells of St Hilda’s were pealing, a rich, layered sound ringing out through the cold night air. It was pitch black outside, so there was nothing to distract the senses from the ancient melody other than a lingering smell of wood smoke.
    ‘They’re practising for the Christmas Eve carol service,’ said Laura. Washed and scented, with her freshly dried hair hanging loose and glossy down her back, she felt a lot better than she had earlier; although she still wished that her burgundy velvet dress didn’t feel quite so tight. If she ate too much at dinner tonight, her bodice was in serious danger of popping open and giving the gentlemen of the Furlings Fox Hunt more than they’d bargained for.
    Closing the window, Daniel slipped an arm around her waist. ‘You look amazing.’ He kissed her, pressing his lips to hers, then moving slowly down her neck and collarbone to the tops of her spectacular breasts. Laura shuddered with desire.
    ‘We could always skip the ball,’ she whispered, running a hand through his thick, chestnut hair.
    Daniel laughed. ‘And waste that beautiful dress? I don’t think so.’
    Laura hid her disappointment as he stood up and stretched, scratching Peggy’s ears before retrieving his suitcase.
    ‘I’ll go