The Twelve Days of Christmas

Chapter 13

As a parting motherly gesture, Agnes had pinned my hair carefully into a chignon. I looked like a completely different person and even I could have been tricked into thinking I belonged at the palace. Ben had only increased my confidence when he did a double take as I stepped out of my room.

“Thank you, Ben.”

“I didn’t do anything, miss.” He held his arm against his hip so I could slip my arm through his as he escorted me to greet the king for the second time in a day.

“You sent me Agnes. She is an amazing woman. You are a very lucky man.” I smiled up at him and he nodded.

“I still have to pinch myself, miss.” He had gone shy, almost like a schoolboy. We walked down to the dinner party in silence from there. Neither of us really had anything to say. Nevertheless, every so often, I caught him looking down at me. I could almost feel the pride radiating out of him.

As we approached the white, gold trimmed double doors, two men stepped forward to open the doors for us. Ben paused in the doorway and lowered his head. “Just remember, titles and wealth do not equal worth. Only a good heart shows someone’s worth.”

I lay my hand over his. “Thank you, Ben, for everything.” Just like that, he released me like a bird heading back out into the wild. I wasn’t sure I would thrive, but I would certainly survive. It was just one night out of my life. I could handle one night.

There were more people in the room than I had expected. Everyone was standing around with a drink in hand. As though my observation had conjured him, a smartly dressed man with a silver tray stopped in front of me. The tray contained several glasses of what I assumed were champagne and a few tumblers of whiskey. “Can I interest you in a drink, miss?”

“Yes, thank you.” I reached out for the crystal glass of whiskey as he lowered his tray slightly. Sipping at the nectar and realising the smoothness of the single malt would be dangerous. It went down way too easily.

As I look up from my glass, I saw him. He just stood there across the room, beside his friend William. As though it was the most normal thing in the world, but of course, for him, it was. Something distracted him and he looked in my direction. The look of shock and appreciation in his eyes was enough to force me to drink heavily from my glass. It was as if he was seeing me for the first time.

He clapped William on the back brotherly, before moving away. He was heading straight for me. It looked as though a couple of people were looking for him to stop and join their chats, but he barely took any notice. He looked so determined.

His hand instantly slid around my waist, and his hand landed on the base of my back. Pulling me towards him slightly as he dropped a kiss on my cheek in greeting. Lingering close to my ear as he did. “You look magnificent.”

He didn’t look too bad himself in his charcoal grey suit. The navy tie around his neck only made his eyes look more dark than usual. It was remarkable how much his eyes changed. They seemed to have a different shade for every possible emotion. “I’m going to assume that you are responsible for me being here.”

“I am. If I’m honest, I couldn’t cope with not seeing you for a moment longer.”

“You need to stop this. The invites, the meddling, the pressure.” He looked shocked. As though I had slapped him.

“I don’t understand. Most girls would love this stuff. There was a whole room of women that were falling over themselves to be involved in this kind of activity.”

“I don’t doubt it. I’m just not one of them. This stuff it doesn’t impress me, just makes me particularly uncomfortable.” The dismay that was obvious had me taking pity on him. He was only reacting the way he would with anyone else. It wasn’t his fault that the entire evening was my idea of a nightmare. “I’m just not the sort that likes to be the centre of attention. I prefer to blend into the background.”

He took my hand without saying a word. Heading for the double doors I had not long come through. Not waiting for the staff to open the doors as he charged through, dragging me along with him. “Where are you taking me now?”

Still, he didn’t say a word, but as we spilled out of the doors, Ben snapped to attention. “You needn’t worry Ben, I know my way around.”

“You know Ben?” I uttered the shocked words as we travelled down a long corridor. “Where are we going? We can’t just walk out.”

“No one will notice our absence, not really. Ben used to be William’s minder at university, so, yes, you could say I know him. He pulled the two of us out of a fair few scrapes.” We seemed to be going through doorway after doorway. The rooms were all as grand as the last, and it was clear that Alex knew his way around.

As he pushed a set of double doors open, it revealed the most wonderful untouched snow covered garden. I stepped out, taking it all in. There was snow as far as the eye could see. He took my hand again, leading me down the steps. “I thought you would appreciate this, and with everyone busy, there is no one to see us misbehaving.”

I looked at him quizzically. “We can’t. It’s the palace. It’s the King’s garden.”

“Yeah and it’s not the done thing, but they cut our snow filled morning short because of palace duties, so they owe us. So, come on, master of snowflakes, what’s first?”

I tapped him on the arm. “Tag!” Then set off running and lifting my dress up at the same time.

“I have no idea what that means?”

I paused, just frozen to the spot. Who didn’t know what tag was? Then I felt the tap on my shoulder from behind, followed by laughter. “Tag! I can’t believe you fell for that.” I spun around, but he was already jogging away from me.

“Game on!” It carried on like that for so long. We were both way too competitive and just kept running after one another.

As I ran for him yet again, he was just pulling away from me and I dived at him. Taking him off guard enough that we both tumbled to the ground. We must have made quite the sight, me in my coral silk and him suited and booted, rolling around in the snow like children. Luckily, he seemed to be right and everyone was too preoccupied to notice such things.