Winter Wishes: A Regency Christmas Anthology

by Cheryl Bolen

“Oh, this cannot be good.”

  Gabriel, the Earl of Lockhart, heard the muttered words as he approached Lord Haswell’s study.

  “Not good at all... in fact, terrible. If I was to compare this moment to a food, it would be jellied eel.”

  Gabriel knew who that voice belonged to. Looking in the room, however, he couldn’t see her. He stepped inside, letting the light from the wall sconce behind him cast its glow.

  “Jellied eel, and quite possibly gruel also. Why anyone would eat either willingly is beyond me.”

  He cleared his throat, and the muttering stopped. A head popped up from behind the large oak desk. It was quickly followed by a body, and he found himself facing Miss Madeline Spencer. Society darling. Cherished youngest daughter of Viscount Spencer, and one of the most annoying women Gabe knew.

  Once they’d been childhood friends; now they were mere acquaintances, and not very good ones at that.

  “Gabe.... L-Lord Lockhart?”

  Her beauty reached out and hit a man square in the face. Her hair, which was the color of burnished gold, was thick and long when released from whatever elaborate creation it was pinned into most evenings. Gabe knew this because when they were children it was often loose, the morning’s ribbons consigned to nature, and by day’s end it was usually tousled with hay, dirt, and leaves. Her mother had been forever scolding her for her hoydenish ways.

  He’d very much liked the young version of the woman who stood before him. This one, however, was silly. She giggled a great deal and appeared to have little to say that was worth listening to.

  Most evenings she wore demure gowns that were anything but demure on her body. The woman was a walking siren, and Gabe hated that he was not immune to the pull of her beauty. Hated it even more considering their history.

  Men stared at her constantly, and many had offered for her hand. This he knew as their mothers were close friends. She had accepted none of the requests thus far, and he believed this was because only a marquess or duke would do. Madeline, in his opinion, was waiting for the wealth and status that she believed she deserved.

  “What are you doing in here, Gabriel?”

  “I think the more important question is, what are you doing here, Madeline?”

  “I-I asked first.” Her voice had lost its usual melodious tone and sounded high-pitched and panicky.

  A memory of her saying just those words slipped through Gabe’s head. He dismissed it. This woman was as different as night was to day from the child he’d known.

  She’d always hated jellied eel, however.

  “I was just taking a walk. Now, tell me why you are here alone in this study, muttering about jellied eel and gruel, Madeline?”

  Now he thought about it, that was extremely odd. She was usually surrounded by her minions, who hung on her every word. Even if many had already left to spend the festive season with their families at estates across England, there must be some still in London.

  It was nauseating how infatuated both women and men were with Madeline. She’d once loathed how her elder sister behaved, the perfect society miss, and yet now she was an exact replica.

  “Ah... well, I am lost.” She said the last four words in a rush. They were a lie. Gabe knew this, as her head tilted slightly to the right. She’d always done that.

  “I find it hard to believe you would get lost in a house you have frequented before, Madeline. I think you’re lying to me.”

  It was cold in there, and he could see she was shivering. December in London could reach low temperatures, and a flimsy gown would provide little protection. White, with silver threaded through the hem and bodice, it floated around her lush curves and made her look like an angel… an extremely annoying one.

  “I came here so long ago.” She waved a hand about in a vague manner. “But enough of that. How is your dear mother? I have not seen her in weeks.”

  “So long ago?” he said, ignoring her question. “Surely you came to the performance by Lyndovsky at the beginning of the season? The violinist,” he added, in case she’d forgotten who he was.

  “Ah yes, of course. I had forgotten about that.” She giggled inanely, which made him want to gnash his teeth. Brainless twit. He’d once had great hopes for this woman. Once, he’d even wondered if she would be his wife one day.

  “What’s going on, Madeline?”

  She started, looked over his left shoulder at the door.

  “Madeline, is there a problem you wish help with?” Reluctant as he was to utter those words, he was a gentleman and his mother would likely be furious with him if he did not offer to assist her. “Have you broken a shoe ribbon or torn a hem?” His sigh was loud in the small room.

  This was her first season, and yes, he hadn’t seen her for years, as they’d drifted apart when he left for Eton, but he’d been looking forward to meeting her again when his mother told him she was in London. That had changed when she’d treated him like a stranger, then proceeded to ignore him while gushing over everyone else.

  “Madeline?” Gabe prompted when she said nothing.

  “No, I need no help, and my shoe ribbons are in excellent health, as is my hem. I have told you, I simply became disorientated.” She straightened the seams of her gloves, avoiding his eyes. “Now, excuse me, I must leave as my dance card is, of course, full.” She raised her chin and glided past him. Gabe stopped her, wrapping his fingers around her wrist.

  “What are you up to?” Something was off here; he just couldn’t quite tell what.

  She trilled out a hideous laugh. “I became disorientated, nothing more. Now I really must return. Please excuse me.”

  She jerked her arm free with surprising force and then left. The woman didn’t even walk like other people; she glided.

  Gone was the girl who had swum, jumped, and run over their estates as children. This one was perfect in every way... except one. She wasn’t real anymore.

  “No, excuse me,” Gabe muttered. He drew in a deep, steadying breath and inhaled her scent. Elusive, a soft floral musk that she no doubt paid a fortune to have created. “God save me from precious women.”

  Dismissing her and the nagging sense of disappointment in the woman she had become, Gabe moved behind the desk. Dropping to his knees, he looked underneath.

  There was something there. Reaching out, his fingers touched a piece of paper. Retrieving it, he headed back out the door to stand beside the light.

  It was an official document of some kind with Lord Haswell’s seal on the bottom—a deed of sale for a property in London. The location was in Spitalfields.

  Haswell was one of the old generation of noblemen who did not believe in being anything but a gentleman. They lived off their titles and whatever their ancestors had left them. So why did he own this property in such an area?

  Memorizing the contents, he took it back into the room and placed it in a desk drawer, then made his way back to the ballroom.

  What the hell would Madeline Spencer want with such a document? Gabe was certain she’d been searching for something, and as this was where she’d been looking, it added up that this was what she’d been seeking.

  Entering the ballroom, he was immediately bombarded with noise. Music, voices, and a riot of color. With Christmas Day not far away, those who had not retired to their estates were here tonight enjoying the Haswells’ hospitality on a bitter London evening.

  Fires roared, throwing out heat, and when combined with the overperfumed guests, the scent was not always pleasant. Above hung chandeliers lit with hundreds of candles dripping wax on those dancing below.

  “But what could possibly make you frown on such a joyous evening, my dear Lord Lockhart?”

  “Good evening, Lady Glimley.” Gabe bowed before her. Married to the aging Lord Glimley, who spent more time with his friends than her, she was always on the prowl for a new bed partner. Her eyes had been focused on Gabe recently.

  “I do believe I have a dance free in the third set.” She leaned forward so he could s
ee down her bodice.

  “I fear I must leave shortly, my lady. Perhaps next time.”

  She patted his chest in a way that suggested she was far more familiar with his body than she should be, then sailed away in a cloud of heavy scent.

  “That woman would take you in her bed any way she could get you.”

  Mr. Elliot Yates moved to Gabe’s side. They had been friends for many years, and there was no one he trusted more. Shorter, and balding, the man had married a woman because his parents had dictated he should. As luck would have it, he also loved her.

  “And yet I still resist.”

  “God’s truth, I’m unsure why. Her prowess is legendary.”

  When Gabe said nothing, Elliot, who liked to talk, moved on to his next topic of conversation.

  “That idiot Hawkins needs shooting.”

  “Why?” Gabe searched for Madeline and found her surrounded by men and women. Popularity had not been a problem for the youngest Spencer sibling since she’d entered society.

  “Other than the fact he has that thing with his fingers, he also speaks as if everyone around him is hard of hearing, and sniffs constantly.”

  “What thing with his fingers?” Gabe kept his eyes on Madeline as she smiled and played the pretty with the people around her.

  “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how he snaps his fingers in your face to make a point. Verbrook told me next time Hawkins did it, he would stuff them up his nose—which would solve both annoying habits.”

  “Yes, not the easiest person to converse with, I’ll give you that.”

  “He just has to walk into a room to annoy me,” Elliot added. “There is also the matter of his belief Miss Spencer is toying with him, but one day will see the error of her ways and marry him.”

  “Why do you care who she marries?” Gabe dragged his eyes from Madeline. Strangely, his heart had started to thud harder inside his chest.

  Promise you will love no one but me, Gabe. She’d once said those words to him.

  “I couldn’t give a fig about that woman, but for some reason my wife does.”

  “Where is your Lyndy?”

  “Home. She is poorly.”

  “Poorly how?” Gabe looked at Elliot. The man was blushing and wore a foolish smile. “She’s with child,” Gabe guessed.

  “I never said that!”

  “You didn’t have to, the glow and besotted look on your face told me.”

  “Well, it is rather exciting.”

  “Extremely. Congratulations, my friend, I am happy for you both.”

  “Thank you. Lyndy wants you to be its godfather because you are supposedly my only sensible friend.”

  Something warm and heavy settled in Gabe’s chest.

  “I would be honored. Let’s hope it has her hairline and temperament.”

  “A great many women love bald men. And what’s wrong with my temperament?” Elliot glared at him.

  “It’s fiery, and that’s me being polite.”

  “Well, rather that than sullen. You scare everyone off with your scowl, Gabe, and gruff ways.”

  “Gruff ways? Oh, now I do protest.” Madeline was now taking the floor with the sniffing finger-flicking Hawkins. Light from above made her dress shimmer as she walked.

  What the hell was she doing in that room looking at that deed?

  “You have a fearsome reputation, even if it is not warranted,” Elliot added.

  “Harsh.” But true, Gabe added silently. He hadn’t always been that way, but life had changed him, and not always for the better.

  “Yes, well, you will never get a wife if you do not learn to smile. Apparently, according to mine, you are something of a catch, but women are terrified of you.”

  “What utter rot,” Gabe said, once again looking at Madeline. She was laughing at something Hawkins said. In turn, he was gazing at her adoringly.

  “I’ll just say Miss Hindle to strengthen my point.”

  “She tripped on her shoe ribbon,” Gabe snapped. “I said nothing to her, but she made the entire event into a production. She did not faint because of my savage scowl.”

  “If you insist.”

  “I do. Now tell me what you know of Miss Spencer.”

  “As in?”

  “As in what do you know of her, Elliot. Not a terribly taxing question, even for you.”

  “I’m not sure why I put up with you.”

  “Because no one else will have you.”

  “Why the interest in Miss Divine?”

  “Is that what they’re calling her?” She moved with grace. Dainty hands held her skirts as she sank into a curtsey. “And I am merely curious, not interested, Elliot.”

  “I thought your families were close and you spent time together as children? Shouldn’t you know more about her than I?”

  “Children, Elliot, not adults. We are now strangers.” Gabe watched as she turned and her eyes caught his. She stumbled, which he found an interesting reaction. Madeline was never clumsy.

  “I don’t know anything about her, actually, which is strange. I mean, people always talk, and I of course am an excellent listener.”

  “You’re a gossip,” Gabe added.

  “But there is rarely anything interesting said about Miss Spencer, other than that she is sweet and polite.”

  “Sweet?” Gabe scoffed. “The woman’s after the loftiest title and biggest estate she can lay her hands on through marriage.”

  “Lyndy gets angry if I speak like that, as she likes Miss Spencer.”

  “That seems odd, considering your wife is usually a woman of intelligence. If my memory serves, marrying you was her only lapse in judgement.”

  “I don’t actually know,” Elliot said, not taking offence. They’d been tormenting each other with insults since they met one drunken night a few years ago. “She always says things like ‘there’s a lot more to Miss Spencer that people don’t see.’ It’s all very vague, and when I question her further, she won’t add anything.”

  Miss Spencer gave her dance partner a blinding smile that had him stumbling.

  If I was to compare this moment to a food, it would be jellied eel.

  The old Maddie, as he’d once called her, would have said something like that, but not this one… well, he’d not thought she would. Clearly he was wrong.

  “Come.” Gabe pushed off the walls. “Let’s leave before people start behaving badly, as they tend to do after too many libations. We’ll visit the club. It’ll probably be our last time before we leave for my estate.”

  Elliot and Lyndy had chosen to spend the festive season with Gabe and his family rather than their own.

  “Yes, but I cannot be late, as I need to check on Lyndy.”

  “You’re not going to fuss around her for the entire nine months, are you?”

  “Probably, and it’s only six now.”

  Gabe threw a last look at Madeline Spencer. She lifted her head as if sensing him. Their eyes caught and held again, and then she quickly looked away.

  Shrugging off the ripple of awareness, he followed Elliot from the room. Whatever had put Madeline in that room had nothing to do with him.

  Nothing at all.

  Chapter 2

  Maddie tapped her spoon against the cup as she thought about that deed of sale she’d found last night in Haswell’s study.

  “You will desist at once, Madeline. That sound should not be heard at the breakfast table... or any table, for that matter.”

  “Sorry, Verity.” She lowered her spoon as her sister scowled at her.

  “You are even more preoccupied than normal this morning.”

  Maddie muttered something and continued to stare into her cup of tea.

  She’d needed that document but had not been able to reach it under the desk after it had fallen from her hands. That fiend Lord Snotty had stopped her from retrieving it. How dared he looked down his nose at her.

  Once she’d hung on every word he uttered. Once, Maddie had believed he would be the
man she’d marry. Of course, at twelve years old she hadn’t really known what she wanted, but still, Gabriel had been her hero.

  “You sighed, Madeline. If you are not going to share with us why, then desist that also.”

  “Sorry, Verity.”

  He’d approached her at the beginning of the season when she’d been attending her first ball, so handsome and assured. Maddie’s shock at seeing the changes in her old friend had tied her tongue into knots. He was no longer the thin, shy boy she’d known.

  Once she’d loved this man, or at least the boy he’d been, to the depths of her innocent heart. Now he was a cold, aloof stranger with piercing blue eyes that seemed to look right through her.

  He’d tried to talk to her. Maddie had replied with foolish giggles and a few silly comments she managed to get out of her dry mouth. He’d then bowed and walked away from her after a few minutes of strained silence. They’d not spoken again.

  She’d spent plenty of time observing the earl when he wasn’t looking during the nights they frequented the same society gatherings.

  Maddie often wanted to gnash her teeth at the young ladies of her acquaintance as they constantly sighed or twittered about him. “He’s so handsome.” “His eyes are like the sky on a cloudless summer day.” “He sits a horse like no other.” On and on it went. She found it nauseating and disturbing at the same time. The latter because somewhere deep inside her she still felt slightly proprietorial about Gabriel. Foolish, she knew, but nonetheless it was there. He’d once been very important in her life, and she’d never been able to shake that.

  Handsome seemed too simple a word for what Gabe had grown into. Thick brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and a large, solid body that he clothed elegantly.

  “Must you stare vacantly into your cup, Maddie? It makes you appear simple. But perhaps you are thinking about someone you met last night? Which gentleman has captured your interest? Lord Silvers, perhaps? I believe he is quite enamored with you. Or Lord Lockhart. You and he once believed you would marry. Has the time come to renew your acquaintance with him?”

  Maddie didn’t like her eldest sister very much. Love her, yes, but like… definitely not. Engaged to an earl who was equally as pompous as she, Verity rarely let an opportunity pass to annoy Maddie with her lofty opinions.