Wanton Christmas Wishes
Page 26
She slid off Michael’s lap, found her robe and belted it firmly around her waist. After listening again, she went to her chest of drawers and found her set of dueling pistols and laid them on the couch beside Michael. Without questioning her further he opened the box and set about loading one of the pistols as she did the other.
“Can you help me back into my chair?” he asked as he rebuttoned his pantaloons.
Once that was accomplished, she went to the door and opened it a crack. There was the sound of Gallic cursing and the shrill yelp of a dog that made her stiffen. Michael laid a hand on her arm.
“Let me go first. Whoever it is won’t be expecting me. You can follow behind and shoot anyone who tries to shoot me.”
He sounded much calmer than she felt and she nodded. “It sounds like my old cook. Why would he come back?”
“Maybe the duke managed to prevent him leaving the country, and he came back because he had nowhere else to go and a task to complete.”
Another muffled whine made Angelique growl quietly like one of her pets.
“Remember, we don’t want to kill him outright.”
“I do,” Angelique said. “He’s hurting my dogs.”
“We want to take him to the duke. Let’s go,” Michael whispered. “Give me a good push and then crouch down behind my chair so that he won’t see you.”
Angelique held the door open wide. After positioning him in the right direction, she shoved him hard and he hurtled down the slight incline toward the kitchen, one hand maneuvering the chair, the other holding the pistol concealed at his side.
“Merde!” the intruder yelled as Michael came into view.
“Drop your weapon!” Michael shouted. “Or I’ll shoot!”
Even as the cook’s hand came up, Frou Frou jumped off the table and sank her teeth into the man’s wrist. He screamed and the shot went wide and buried itself in the wall. Michael abandoned his chair in one fluid movement and flung himself over the cook, pinning him to the ground.
“Get help, Angelique!” He slammed the cook’s pistol hand against the slate floor until the man released his grip on the weapon. The three dogs continued to bark and jump around between the fallen cook and Angelique.
The back door swung open and the duke’s servant staggered in, rubbing the back of his head.
“Bastard clocked me one when I turned away.”
“Then come and take care of him now and get him to the duke.” Michael waited until the duke’s man produced a sturdy length of rope and then immobilized the cook with a swift blow to the back of the head. “That should do it.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Michael rolled onto his back and stayed on the kitchen floor while Frou Frou took up residence on his chest and licked his face. A little while later, Angelique crawled over to sit beside him, praising her dogs and patting Michael indiscriminately. The rest of her staff was discovered locked in their rooms. Elsa, who had brought the dogs down for their nightly excursion in the garden, had the misfortune to discover the cook breaking into the kitchen and had been trapped in the pantry.
Eventually, even the staff departed, leaving Michael restored to his chair and Angelique attempting to cuddle all three of her dogs at once. She turned to him and smiled, aware of the hint of exhaustion darkening his fine eyes and the faint shaking of his limbs.
He shoved a hand through his disordered hair. “I should go and make my report to the duke.”
Settling the dogs in his lap, she cupped his chin. “Not if we are to start for Gretna Green in the morning.”
His smile changed into something so warm, special, and just for her that she couldn’t look away.
“It’s far too cold to start for Scotland tonight.” He cleared his throat. “I’d settle for a place in your bed, and a marriage whenever you are ready.”
She sighed and kissed him gently on the mouth. “If that is your Christmas gift to me, I think I will treasure it for the rest of my life.”
THE END
If you enjoyed this story, please turn the page for an excerpt from book one in the Diable Delamere series, Educating Elizabeth.
More From Kate Pearce
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Finding himself back in England with no knowledge of his full name or what has happened to him for the last five years, Marcus Stortford recovers his memory with the help of widowed Amelia Smith. Once he realizes what has happened to him, Marcus wants revenge, but how far is he prepared to go to get what he thinks he desires and yet remain true to his gentle rescuer who has secrets of her own?
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Excerpt – Educating Elizabeth
Diable Delamere series book #1
copyright Kate Pearce 2012
"MISS WATERSTONE, THERE has clearly been a misunderstanding." Gervase held out his hand to her. "I swear I will not touch you again. You must let me help you."
She stumbled to her feet and continued to retreat until she reached the connecting doorway to his suite.
"Don't you dare come any closer, you...you disgusting reprobate!"
As she turned to run through the open door to his suite and into the freedom of the hallway beyond, Gervase gathered himself and made a lunge for her. With a cry, she crashed against his dressing table, knocked the contents to the floor, and went down on her knees. Her fingers closed around a small travelling clock. Straightening, she aimed it right at his head.
Gervase came to an abrupt stop and held up his hands.
"Miss Waterstone, please put the clock down. It is made of solid brass and you might injure yourself if you attempt to throw it. I'm sure we can sort out this very unpleasant situation to your satisfaction."
Her mouth worked and she swallowed twice before she was able to speak. "I'm well aware of how heavy the clock is, Your Grace. I am the one holding it, after all. My brothers taught me how to throw properly when I was a little girl, and I'm quite capable of hitting my target."
Her brave statement impressed him more than he cared to admit. Any other woman of his acquaintance would have been in floods of tears by now, not calmly threatening to brain him with his own clock. He fought an absurd desire to laugh.
"Well, if you wish to throw something at me, please go ahead."
He advanced a step toward her, one hand held out, and then froze as she drew her arm back.
"I don't think I could kill you, even though you deserve it. They would probably behead me at the Tower if I murdered a duke." She eyed him with great consideration as though he were a paper target. "No, I think if I winged you, it would be enough to stop you from following me."
Gervase laughed then and took another step forward. "Stop this foolishness, my dear. Give me the clock and we will talk. You have my word I won't lay a finger on you."
She took aim as he crossed the carpeted space between them and the heavy clock connected with his shoulder, ripping his dressing gown and making him reel backward.
"That," he said with deep appreciation, "was indeed an excellent shot." The shocking pain caught him unawares and he staggered to the side and fell against the marble mantelpiece, striking his head.
Eventually, he heard his valet's worried voice over the roaring in his ears. When Jacques bent over him, Gervase managed to grasp his sleeve.
"Don't let her leave."
Jacques's voice sounded puzzled and increasingly faint. "Who, Your Grace? You are the only person here."
If you enjoyed this excerpt, please go and check out more here!
Author Bios
Monica Burns is a bestselling author of spicy historical and paranormal romance. She penned her first romance at the age of nine when she selected the pseudonym she uses today. Monica is a survivor who believes every hero and heroine deserves a HEA
(Happily Ever After), especially if she's writing the story.
Jess Michaels is the author of nearly 50 books, most of them erotic historical romance. She believes in steamy sensuality, alpha heroes and happily ever after. She lives in Tucson with her awesome husband and two little old lady cats.
Madelynne Ellis is a NYT and USA TODAY bestselling author of contemporary and historical erotic romance. Her aim is to deliver scorching character-driven stories, that delight, torment and don't shy from the darker aspects of life. She lives in the UK with her crazy family and an even crazier cavachon pup.
Eliza Lloyd is the author of numerous erotic historical and steamy contemporary romance novels. She walks through life clutching a paperback and believes happily ever after is a luxury everyone should experience.
Kate Pearce is the NYT and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than thirty romance novels. She writes super sexy historical, paranormal, contemporary and science-fiction romance. She also gets to live in Hawaii, but thinks she deserves it because she grew up in very rainy England with five sisters and only one bathroom.
Samantha Kane is the award winning author of the bestselling historical erotic romance series Brothers in Arms, the historical romance series, The Saint’s Devils, the new contemporary erotic romance series Mercury Rising, the upcoming historical erotic romance series The 93rd Highlanders as well as other erotic and romance novels.
Copyright Page
Wanton Christmas Wishes
His to Command Copyright 2014 Monica Burns
The Kissing Bough Copyright 2014 Madelynne Ellis
Hamish Copyright 2014 Samantha Kane
All a Mistress Wants Copyright 2014 Eliza Lloyd
A Christmas Kiss Copyright 2014 Jess Michaels
Loving Michael Copyright 2014 Kate Pearce
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.