Page 11 of Border Lord’s Bride

"Is that why you're here, Elizabeth? To build a new future?"

The tears she'd been fighting spilled over her lashes and onto her cheeks. I have no future without you. She wanted to say the words, but they lodged in her throat. Instead, she stepped toward him and took his face between her palms. She pressed up on her toes and brought her lips to his, ever so gently, before pulling away. "The future awaits," she whispered against his lips.

Lucius did not kiss her back. "I need time, Elizabeth, to sort things out."

"You have three days, Lucius," Elizabeth said. And on those words, she hurried back to the manor.

When the first rays of sunlight woke Elizabeth the next morning, her thoughts immediately returned to last night. Had Lucius thought about their moments beside Marcus's grave as much as she had? Lucius had been unresponsive to her profession of love and to her kiss. Was all hope for a future together lost? Or had the night given him the time he'd claimed he needed to think about their situation?

Only seeing him in the flesh would tell her what she needed to know. But it was the hope of change that fueled her movements as she dressed then hastened downstairs to the great hall. She gazed about the chamber only to find Marie tending to a pot hanging over the fire in the hearth.

"Excuse me, Marie. Where might I find Lord Carrick? Is he about yet?"

Marie tapped her spoon on the edge of the kettle before turning to face her. "I'm sorry, my lady. He's already gone."

"Where?" she asked in a pleading whisper.

Marie shrugged and offered an understanding smile. "He said nothing, only to expect him later because of the snow."

"More snow?" Elizabeth swallowed her disappointment as she moved to the shuttered window on the opposite side of the large room. She pulled up the latch and swung the shutter out to see snow lying three feet deep against the side of the manor. Beyond lay a pure white carpet with no hint of shrubs or landscape. Even the loch lay covered in a sheet of white. The skeletons of oak and rowan trees that lined the loch's eastern shore glistened beneath a layer of ice and snow.

Abovestairs, she could hear the girls' excited chatter as one by one they drifted down the stairs, until they all stood at the window.

"I've never seen so much snow." Iris, who showed no signs of her usual grumpiness, leaned through the open window and breathed in a deep breath of the cool, crisp air.

"It's lovely!" Camellia exclaimed with a bright smile.

"Let's go outside." Lily tugged on Elizabeth's skirt. "Please?"

"It's two days until Christmastide. We must gather the greens and decorate." Heather looked at Elizabeth expectantly.

"It's two days until you and our brother are to be married." Rose bent down and lifted Lily into her arms. "We need to prepare."

"We can do both. Play outside and gather greens." Lily nodded, sending her curls bobbing around her flushed cheeks.

"Please, Elizabeth, say we can," they begged in unison.

When she held up a hand, silence fell. "Break your fast first," she told them. "Once you have dressed in your boots and warmest cloaks, hats, and mittens, then you can go outside. Understood?"

Five girls nodded enthusiastically and hurried from the chamber, dancing along the hallway toward the stairs, talking loudly, and making wild plans for all the fun they'd have in the snow.

It seemed like only a few moments before they were gathered once more in the hall dressed for their adventure out of doors. Elizabeth had used her time to find an ax and a pair of shears, along with a basket for gathering the greens. She knew exactly where she would take the girls—to the woods that served as a border between Midwick Manor and Huntingdon Hall. Holly, ivy, and mistletoe grew there in abundance.

They left the manor through the kitchen door facing the open terrain covered in white. Once outside the younger girls seemed more excited about playing in the snow than finding decorations. Rose and Camellia agreed to indulge them for a time, and they put their decorating mission aside temporarily.

While the young girls scurried about in the snow, Rose and Camellia made a large snowball, then a smaller one, before putting them together into a snowman greeting visitors to the kitchen door. Heather and Iris lay in the snow, making a host of snow angels. Lily gathered and threw snowballs at everyone.

Elizabeth ducked to avoid taking a snowball in the head. Caught up in the girls' good humor, she swept up a handful of snow and sent it flying. It hit Camellia square in the back. The sixteen-year-old's eyes widened as a smile wreathed her face, and suddenly Elizabeth found herself the center of all the girls' snowballs. Her dramatic responses to each hit and miss, and her own missiles, kept them all laughing for much of the morning. Finally, when the girls had had enough, they followed Elizabeth up a hill for several hundred feet to the top of a ridge. The ridge stood no more than five feet wide, but the narrow sliver of land had always served as a dividing line between the two estates. It had been one of her favorite places to come as a child and wait for Lucius to join her for an afternoon of frolicking and games.

"You can see Midwick Manor and Huntingdon Hall from here," Lily exclaimed.

Elizabeth shook off the memory and looked down on the place she used to call home. A pang of sadness filled her. This ridge was a divide between her future and her past.

"Do you miss your home?" Rose asked quietly beside her.

Elizabeth swallowed thickly and looked up at the tall blonde. "I do and I don't. It's hard to explain."

"I'm old enough to remember how things used to be between you and Lucius," Rose said. Her light eyes held a note of sympathy.