Read Online The Christmas Secret by Julia London - Free Book Online

put her off, aye?”
    “Perhaps it should have, but it did not,” Mr. Bristol said. “She opined that was the reason America would never survive as a nation distinct from Britain. She seemed very firm in her opinion and was inclined to argue.”
    Eireanne laughed roundly. “I am astounded, for Molly and Mabe Hannigan generally agree with every word a handsome gentleman utters.”
    Mr. Bristol grinned, his soft brown eyes shining up at her. “Well now . . . I am heartened to know that you find me handsome,” he said, playfully placing a hand over his heart and bowing over it. “Miss O’Conner, would you do me the honor of accompanying me on a short walk?”
    Eireanne would have liked nothing better and stepped down from her perch on the split rail fence. “I would be delighted.”
    “Splendid,” he said and leaped over the fence in one fluid movement, landing beside her and presenting his arm. “Which way shall we wander?”
    She gestured to the path into the woods. “A short walk through there leads to the cliffs and the sea, if you’d like.”
    They strolled along a path that led into the woods. Eireanne had always loved this walk, as had many before her; the path had been beaten down by generations of O’Conners. On either side, a soft down of moss covered the floor beneath towering trees. Eireanne looked up at the spots of crisp blue sky that could be seen through the treetops, and pulled her cloak more tightly around her. “Ballynaheath is so lovely this time of year. I am happy you agreed to join us for the Christmas feast,” she said. “I do believe it is my favorite event of the season.”
    “Then it shall be mine, as well,” Mr. Bristol said agreeably.
    Eireanne gave him a dubious smile. “I wonder, Mr. Bristol, if I said that jumping off the cliffs was my favorite sport, would you agree?”
    “Naturally,” he said. “I am a man, and I am, therefore, easily persuaded by a pair of pretty blue eyes.”
    “It would appear that you have been in English society long enough to have perfected the art of flirting.”
    “Flirting?” he said, feigning surprise, then he laughed. “If I may be so bold, Miss O’Conner, in your case, it is very much the truth. I am doing my best to flirt. And now I must ask, who has made you so cynical? Mr. Canavan?”
    Eireanne choked on a laugh. “Mr. Canavan! I scarcely know him. Do not believe the chatter you hear at supper, Mr. Bristol. Mr. Canavan holds Mabe Hannigan in high regard, and he always has. Not me.”
    Mr. Bristol’s brows rose. “You seem quite certain of that. How do you know what is in the man’s heart?”
    “It is obvious in the way that he looks at her, aye?”
    “Is it, indeed?” Mr. Bristol asked. He paused in his walking. His gaze skated over her face, across her eyes, to her lips, and down. “And how, pray tell, does he look at her?”
    The way you are looking at me now, Eireanne thought. Her pulse ticked up a notch or two. “He, ah . . . His eyes never leave her,” she said, as Mr. Bristol’s gaze lingered boldly on her chest.
    “Mmm.” He casually lifted his gaze to hers again. “What else?”
    “He agrees with her at every opportunity, even when she is quite wrong,” she said. She could feel the warmth spiraling through her again, but it felt deeper, stronger than before. Mr. Bristol’s gaze was intent and, if she allowed herself to believe it, full of want. “And she is often wrong, really. Sometimes dreadfully wrong, and apt to say outrageous things.”
    “Is that how Mr. Canavan endears himself to the fairer sex? Tacit agreement in all things?” He chuckled. “Frankly, I do not see the point in it. There is no amusement in constantly agreeing with one another, is there? I prefer a lively conversation and lively thinking. But never mind me—if I understand you, Mr. Canavan’s agreeable nature is your proof of his esteem? Beside the look,” he added with a wink.
    “It is the truth,” she said with certainty.