They walked up to Sycamore Cottage, and he released her arm right before they got to the front door.

“Thank you for this afternoon,” he said.

She smiled at him.

“Oh no, thank you! I had a wonderful time.”

He took a step back as James opened the front door.

“As did I. Have a good evening.”

When Vivian walked inside, it was to find her daughter looking at her with a huge grin on her face.

“Okay, Mom. I need more details about what’s going on between you and that very attractive man.”

Vivian smiled and shook her head.

“I can’t imagine what you mean.”

Maddie laughed out loud.

“Oh really? I saw you two walking up here, arm in arm. Come on. Don’t worry, the Duke is out somewhere, and the Duchess is upstairs. You won’t have an audience.”

Okay, fine, she had to tell her daughter something.

“I’ll admit that he is a very attractive man. But I promise, nothing is going on there. I have a feeling he doesn’t see that many black people during the course of his job, which is probably why he gave me the tour of Sandringham yesterday. When we were there, we saw the stables out of a window, and I said something about them, so today we went to the stables. But that’s all—I probably won’t even see him again before we leave.”

Though . . . she needed to find a way to ensure that part wasn’t true.

She grinned at Maddie.

“But that’s not important—listen to what happened when we were at the stables: I met the Queen!”

Maddie almost dropped her wineglass.

“WHAT? The Queen? The ACTUAL Queen? Tell me everything.”

“Not only did I meet her, she gave me a compliment! She saw me riding—”

“Wait, WHAT?” Maddie stared at her. Vivian steered her daughter into the sitting room so she could put that glass of wine down before she really dropped it. “You rode a horse? What is going on?”

Vivian laughed.

“Get me some of that wine, and I’ll tell you the whole story. Just wait until I tell Aunt Jo. She’s going to lose it.”

Vivian walked up the stairs an hour later. She wondered if she’d see Malcolm again. She hadn’t wanted to be direct about wanting to see him again when they said good-bye, so she’d said nothing.

Wait. Why hadn’t she wanted to be direct? What possible benefit was there for her in not being direct? Here she was, on vacation in England, and there was this attractive man—why shouldn’t she tell him what she wanted? All he could say was no. So what? Plenty of people had said no to her in her life. What would it matter if he did?

When Vivian walked into her room, her eyes landed on Malcolm’s letter of the morning on top of the bureau in the corner, and she smiled.

She suddenly knew what to do.

Chapter Five

When Malcolm walked into Sandringham House the next morning, the normally calm building was bustling in preparation for the upcoming royal family Christmas festivities. He dodged around the rest of the staff and the many, many Christmas decorations as he made his way up to his small office. This house had so many Christmas trees he’d lost count.

When he got to his office, he picked up his phone and called over to the prime minister’s office, to see if there was any kind of concrete plan. Fifteen minutes later, he hung up the phone with a long sigh. Why had he even bothered calling? No one over there seemed to know anything. At least he knew that if they got to Christmas Eve without any decision, he wouldn’t have to worry about this again until early January. There would be a real riot if the whole government had to cancel their holidays.

Just then, a footman knocked on his open door.

“This was just delivered for you, sir.” The footman handed him a folded piece of paper, and he flipped it open.

Mr. Hudson,

Would you do me the honor of gracing Sycamore Cottage with the pleasure of your company on the evening of Christmas Eve? Ms. Madeleine Forest, Julia Pepper, James Dogal, the rest of the Sycamore Cottage staff, and I would all be delighted for you to join our Christmas Eve festivities.

Kind regards,

Vivian Forest

He read her note twice and realized how big the smile was on his face. He immediately reached for his notepad.

Ms. Forest,

I accept your invitation with pleasure. Would you do me the honour of riding with me again tomorrow? This time, we could even go outside the fences, if that idea is acceptable to you.

Sincerely,

Malcolm Hudson

He buzzed for someone to deliver his letter to Sycamore Cottage.

When he got back to his office after his meeting with the Queen, another note was on his desk.

Mr. Hudson,

Nothing would delight me more than to further my acquaintance with Polly. I look forward to welcoming you tomorrow at 2 p.m., if that time is acceptable to you. I cannot guarantee it, but there may be scones here to greet you.

Kind regards,

Vivian Forest

He grinned down at the paper. Vivian had asked him the day before if he was married, and this minor interaction with her made him so relieved he wasn’t anymore. His ex-wife had always been irritated with him when he dropped his work facade to joke around with Miles, or to attempt to joke around with her. She certainly never would have written him notes like this, which he could tell amused both him and Vivian very much.