Carols & Courtship

Monday, December 15 {EDITED}

Mrs. Ambrose couldn't have planned it better. Victor Embry stayed the night in one of the manor's many available spare rooms, and dined with them for breakfast while his horse was tacked and shoed. When word came that his horse was ready, they all headed for the door to see him off. As Victored inspected his horse, Mrs. Ambrose held them all back in the foyer.

"Wait!" she hissed at Colonel Ambrose.

"You don't want me to see off our guest?" he asked dryly.

"No," she whispered as she pinched Holly's cheeks and pushed her towards the door. "Let Holly go by herself. Give them a moment alone. We shall wave from the doorway."

"Mama!" Holly objected. "I don't have my overcoat—" she started to say, but was shoved roughly into the cold morning air. She shot her mother a glare over her shoulder but proceeded to the drive, knowing she couldn't ignore Mr. Embry. She gathered her skirts in hand to keep the hems of her dress from getting soaked with snow and carefully traversed the icy path to meet Victor at his horse.

"I must thank you and your family for the hospitality," Victor said with one hand on the reigns of his mount.

"It's our pleasure," Holly said easily. There wasn't much about Mr. Embry's company she didn't enjoy. There was much to look at as well. He too had changed much since the days of their youth. His square jaw was covered in a tawny stubble and his light eyes had creases at the corners. He no longer had a boyish charm as she remembered, but an elegant set of features that set her heart fluttering.

But Holly prided herself on being the most sensible of her family. She wasn't the type to fall to pieces in the presence of such beauty.

"I think, if my memory serves me right," Victor began, "The last time I saw you, I kissed you," he said, his lips pulling into a smile.

"And then you left for London," Holly replied coolly though her heart sputtered to know he remembered such a fleeting moment from so many years past. He looked like a man who would have kissed many women.

"I'm starting to regret that," he said with a lopsided grin. "I do hope I will see more of you this Christmas season."

He took Holly's hand and placed a chaste kiss on her pale skin — all without taking his blue eyes from hers. She watched him cautiously. No one had heard from him in years and now he had returned to the country without notice. As Victor Embry slung a leg over his horse and galloped down the drive, Holly got a distinct feeling that there was more to his story.

Once he turned onto the road, she hurried back inside, but not before shaking snow from the bustles of her gown.

Mrs. Ambrose began her inquest with a barrage of questions before the door was even closed."How did it go? What did he say?"

Colonel Ambrose gave his daughter an apologetic smile and flew from the foyer before he could get caught up in the talk of suitors and matchmaking.

"He looked so handsome. He was a handsome youth too," Mrs. Ambrose continued on.

"You certainly didn't encourage me to acknowledge him when he was young," Holly groaned, marching towards the direction of the library.

"Yes, but now he has made something of himself!" Mrs. Ambrose objected.

Holly spun round, her skirts rustling on the wood floor. "Either way, I don't see how it matters. I won't need a husband when I become a great naturalist and world explorer," she announced, giving her mother an impish smile and dashing off towards the library.

Mrs. Ambrose made a noise of disgust. "Don't you even start!" she squeaked, chasing her daughter down the hall. "I'll hear none of this blasphemy. You'll fall in love and then you'll see," she said before she gave up and toddled back to the parlor, muttering something about "—too many brains for her own good."