Once Upon a Christmas Kiss(2)

Though he knew Jeremy meant well, Lucien wished most heartily that his cousin would leave off thinking about his love life.

Aloud he said, “Thank you both for your hospitality. I’m sure I shall have a delightful time making the acquaintance of these lovely ladies. Though I do wish, Jem, that you would listen more to your lady wife.”

Far from being insulted, his cousin laughed as he and Helen led Lucien into the house.

“I’ve put him in the Blue Room, Jeremy,” Helen said before excusing herself to handle some housekeeping matter.

Alone with his cousin, Lucien asked, “How many are you expecting this year? I know you usually like to keep the numbers small for holiday parties.” He hoped there were enough other gentlemen in attendance to keep him from the ignominy of being the only bachelor presented to a bevy of single ladies. He was perhaps cynical about these things, but he did know that his wealth, coupled with his baronetcy, would draw the attention of most matchmaking mamas. And he had someone else in mind for the role of wife.

“You know me too well,” Jem said with a wry smile. “I’ve never known why people insist on filling their houses to the rafters at Christmas. Much better to have a small group that can actually talk with one another.”

Lucien agreed. Not just about Christmas house parties, but house parties. Making idle chatter was so tiresome, especially with someone you were unlikely to see again from one night to the next.

“We will be a party of fourteen, including Helen and me.” As they reached the first landing, Jeremy frowned. “I don’t mind telling you, since you know how loathe you’ve been these last few years to attend, we had to invite both our local schoolmistress and her sister so that the numbers would be even.”

Despite himself, Lucien felt a pang of guilt. Had his refusals become so routine that his cousins actually found his acceptance extraordinary? “My apologies, old man,” he said with genuine remorse. “If I’d known accepting this year would upset the applecart, I’d not have done it.”

“Not at all,” Jem said pounding him on the back. “Helen was beside herself with joy when we received your note. I think she had begun to give up on you completely. You know how she loves to have the family together for the holidays. And this year especially.”

Noting the cat-that-licked-the-cream expression on his cousin’s face, he grinned. “You old devil! Congratulations!”

Jeremy broke into a grin. “Thanks, old fellow. I don’t mind telling you that we were beginning to despair of ever having children. So this is a very special Christmas for us, indeed.”

By this time they had reached the Blue Room, and once Lucien had congratulated him again, Jeremy took himself off to greet other guests as they arrived.

Lucien had just stepped into the large, well-apportioned room, when he recalled that he had neglected to ask at what hour dinner would be served. He knew country hours meant early, but it could vary from house to house.

He hurried out of the room, hoping to catch Jem before he made it back downstairs, but instead of finding his cousin he almost knocked down a lady who had the misfortune to be walking past at just that moment.

“Oh, I say!” Lucien reached out an instinctive hand to stop the woman from taking a tumble. “I’m terribly sorry.”

When he looked down to see her expression, however, speech became impossible.

For a fleeting moment, Lucien wondered if she’d been brought here as some sort of fulfillment of his dearest Christmas wish, but her shock on seeing him soon disabused him of that notion.

“Sir Lucien,” Winnie gasped, clearly as surprised to see him as he was to see her. “I did not expect to meet you here.”

That made two of them.

Fate, you old bastard, mayhap you’ve got a romantic streak after all.

Feeling lighter of heart than he had since leaving Yorkshire, Lucien smiled. “Miss Nightingale, what a pleasant surprise.”

***

“A house party? But I thought we’d be spending the holiday here.” Miss Winifred Nightingale knew she sounded like a disappointed child, but she couldn’t help it. It had been years since she and her sister Cordelia, a village schoolmistress, had been able to spend a holiday together, and if she were completely honest, she’d been looking forward to a bit of indolence as well.

Christmas at the home of Lord and Lady Hurst would mean mixing with a class of people who would spend the entire holiday looking down their noses at the Nightingale sisters. And it would also mean that Cordelia would try her best to throw Winnie in the path of eligible gentlemen. As the elder sister, Cordelia had always taken her role as protector seriously, which meant attempting to ensure Winnie had some security for the future—no matter how Winnie protested.