“Lord Gillingham?” Leonora asked, her eyes going wide. “But I thought you said−”
“Not him!” Louisa interrupted with a wide grin. “She’s talking about our dear Mr. Hawke.”
Leonora clasped her hands together. “He kissed you? How? Why? When? Where?”
Anne nodded, loving her cousins for their excitement.
Louisa put a finger to her lips. “I’d say, when and where are easy: a few minutes ago, in the library, am I not right?” Biting her lower lip, Anne nodded. “How? Well, judging from the look on your face, I think it’s safe to assume that this kiss went significantly better than the last.” Anne felt her face turn as red as a tomato. “Then, there is the question of why?” Louisa took a step toward Anne. “Why did he kiss you?”
Needing a bit of space, Anne ventured over to the window and looked down at the frozen grounds. “He found me in the library, and I apologized for our kiss. I told him that…it had been my first and−”
“Your first?” Louisa exclaimed, and as Anne turned to look at her over her shoulder, she found her cousin’s eyes as round as plates. “Well, that certainly explains yesterday’s disaster.”
A weak breath shuddered past Anne’s lips as the word reminded her of the moment she’d shared with Tobias only moments ago. Still, she could not deny that there was a bit of a dark cloud hanging over that precious moment. Why had Tobias kissed her? Why indeed?
Sighing, Anne turned to look at her cousins. “I don’t know why he kissed me. I was so nervous, but then suddenly, it felt like…us again.” Her gaze moved from Louisa to Leonora. “Do you think he only kissed me to make amends for that awkward mistletoe kiss? Because he knew that it had been my first? Did he feel guilty? Did he pity me?” The thought made her insides twist and turn.
Louisa chuckled, “You know I love you, do you not?” she asked as she stepped forward and grasped Anne’s hands.
Anne nodded.
“Therefore, saying this hurts me more than it hurts you, but it must be said.” Louisa inhaled a bit of an overly dramatic breath and then met Anne’s gaze head-on. “You’re a fool.”
Anne stilled. “Pardon me?”
“Well, it’s either that or you’re blind.” She lifted a hand and held it up to Anne’s face. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
Anne frowned, staring at Louisa’s hand before moving her gaze to her cousin’s face. “What on earth are you talking about?”
Louisa shrugged. “Well, you must be as blind as a bat if you cannot see that that man loves you.”
Anne’s jaw dropped, and her heart stumbled.
“You cannot know that,” Leonora threw in as she stepped forward, giving up her observational post for a more active one. “Although I do hope you’re right, we cannot know if Mr. Hawke did not kiss Anne for any of the reasons she listed.”
“Oh, he didn’t!” Louisa objected vehemently.
Leonora crossed her arms over her chest. “How would you know?”
“I simply do,” Louisa insisted. “I was right before, wasn’t I?” She looked from Leonora to Anne, a challenge in her wide blue eyes. When neither one of them objected, she turned to Anne. “You do not see him as a brother, do you?”
Smiling, Anne shook her head. Indeed, here and now, that thought seemed ludicrous. How could she ever have thought of him as a brother?
“Then trust me now,” Louisa pleaded as she once again grasped Anne’s hands. “Go claim that man before Lord Gillingham manages to spoil everything.”
Anne swallowed, now more terrified than ever before to have been mistaken. To lose Tobias despite her cousin’s reassurances. No longer would she be satisfied with his friendship. No, now, she wanted more. A curse of her own making. But did he as well?
“I promise I’ll speak to him,” Anne mumbled, at a loss as to how to breach such a sensitive subject. “Perhaps tomorrow or−”
Louisa groaned, “At your pace, I’ll die of old age before you two finally tie the knot!”
Anne stared at her cousin. “How can you be so certain?”
“I simply am,” Louisa told her with a gentle smile. “If you were me and you’d seen what I’ve seen, you would be as well. Trust me, dear cousin, and don’t wait too long. Or you’ll forever regret it.”
Chapter Eleven ~ Lady Louisa’s Moment
With two dozen guests staying at Windmere Park, breakfast was a rather loud affair. Cheerful voices echoed up and down the table as plans were discussed, discarded, altered and ultimately agreed upon. Tobias, however, only had eyes for Anne.
Never in his life had he been as oblivious to the world around him as he was now. He barely noticed what he put in his mouth and chewed for his focus lay with the bewitching, young lady two seats down on the opposite side of the table.
So close.
But still, too far away.
Fortunately, this morning, she was flanked by her two cousins. They whispered to each other confidently, and occasionally their eyes looked across the table at him. While her cousins’ eyes swept over him with a somewhat less restrained directness, Anne only ever glanced in his direction, quickly dropping her gaze back to her plate the moment their eyes met.
Tobias smiled at the somersault his heart did whenever that happened, and he could not wait to speak to her again.
Perhaps even kiss her again.
Would she want him to?
If only he knew.
After breakfast, many headed outside to the frozen lake. The sun shone brightly, and the air was brisk and refreshing. Snow had stopped falling overnight, but now lay in thick layers upon the ground. Footmen had cleared it off the frozen lake, though, and people were gathering on its banks, strapping on skates.
“I assume you have yet to speak to her,” Phineas remarked as he came to sit next to Tobias on one of the benches that had been set around the small lake, “for she is over there and you are here.” His brows rose, demanding an answer.
“I fail to see how this is any of your business,” Tobias replied defensively as he strapped on his own skates. “I will speak to her when the time is right.”
Phineas scoffed, “Then you’ll be waiting forever, dear Brother, for I have no doubt you’ll always manage to conjure a reason to delay.” His hand settled upon Tobias’s shoulder. “Speak to her. Now.” His other hand gestured across the lake to where Anne and Leonora were skating near an overhanging willow tree. “Before it’s too late.”
Tobias tensed the moment he caught sight of Lord Gillingham. The man’s gaze was fixed on Anne as he skated closer, the intent in his eyes unmistakable.
Phineas chuckled, “I wonder whose idea it was to hang one of those kissing boughs upon the tree there.” He laughed, his eyes moving to settle upon Tobias. “Lord Archibald seems oddly dedicated to uphold this charming tradition.”
Swallowing hard, Tobias noted that his brother was right. Not far from where Anne was skating, a bright green mistletoe sprig dangled from the tree above. “Bloody hell!” Tobias cursed when Lord Gillingham reached the cousins’ side, greeting first Leonora and then Anne.