The Spinster (Emerson Pass Historicals 2)

That night we had roast beef for dinner, covered in garlic butter sauce. There were also fluffy rolls and roasted carrots and potatoes. I’d never eaten as well in my life. The Barnes family, jollier tonight than the day before, joked and teased throughout much of the dinner. All tension between Jo and Flynn seemed to have dissipated. Other than Quinn, who glanced with the worried eyes of a mother at Theo, everyone seemed in great spirits.

“Fiona, tell them what Viktor did today at the skating pond,” Cymbeline said.

“He had the gall to ask Cym to skate,” Fiona said. “Isn’t that terrible?”

“I don’t skate with my nemesis.” Cymbeline buttered a piece of roll with quick swipes. “He’s everywhere I am. Just to vex me.”

“He doesn’t try to vex you,” Fiona said. “He just does.”

“What did you say when he asked you?” Jo asked.

“I said I didn’t skate with boys,” Cymbeline said. “Except to race him.”

“Then she challenged him to one,” Fiona said. “And ordered the rest of the kids off the ice.”

“Cymbeline,” Quinn said. “You didn’t?”

“No one listened to me,” Cymbeline said. “Viktor refused to race anyway. Too afraid, most likely.”

“You hurt his feelings,” Fiona said. “I think you embarrassed him, too. Any of the other girls would have been only too happy to skate with him.”

“He didn’t seem embarrassed as he skated with every girl there by the end of the day.” Cymbeline scowled. “Not that I care.”

“I have a feeling that this rivalry is one-sided,” Flynn said. “Viktor is taken with our Cymbie.”

“Don’t say it,” Cymbeline said. “Or I’ll be sick.”

“Flynn, he’s three years older than Cym,” Quinn said. “Too old to be taken with her.”

“You’re much younger than Papa,” Fiona said, innocently.

Lord Barnes barked out a laugh. “That’s different. Mama was already grown when I met her.”

“Quite right,” Quinn said. “Not sixteen like Cymbeline.”

“You needn’t worry, Mama,” Cymbeline said. “I wouldn’t be caught dead with him.”

“A girl could do worse,” Josephine said. “He’s a stellar young man.”

“I agree,” Quinn said before glancing in my direction. “He was one of my first students, along with the rest of the children in this room.”

“They’ve all grown up so fast.” Lord Barnes took a sip of his wine. “So very fast.”

“Papa, I’m still young,” Fiona said. “Even if I’m no longer the littlest.” She turned toward me. “Before the littles came, I was the youngest.”

“Spoiled rotten,” Cymbeline said.

Fiona nodded solemnly. “I was, too.”

“But sweet just the same,” Theo said. “Kind of like Addie. Whereas our Delphia takes after Cymbeline here.”

“Why does the naughty one have to be equated with me?” Cymbeline asked.

“As if you don’t know,” Flynn said.

“I can remember the first time I set eyes on the lot of you,” Quinn said. “Phillip, on the way here from the train station, I’d fallen out of the sleigh and hit my head.”

“Knocked clean out,” Lord Barnes said. “Harley brought her here and we put her on the couch.”