Timeless Christmas Romance

by O’Donnell, Laurel

  “Did anyone see him actually lay the baby in the ground? Or could it have been just an empty casket?”

  “What are you saying?” Dominick seemed like he was becoming angry, so Alex had no choice but to tell him the truth.

  “Your brother, Peter. He had a twisted leg, didn’t he?”

  “Aye, I remember my mother telling me that had he lived, she didn’t even know if he’d ever be able to walk. Sometimes, nature knows the best course. We just have to believe that things happen for a reason.”

  “And what if nature has been fooling you all for the last two and twenty years?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Dominick, my father told me that the baby did not die. He stole it and raised it as his own.”

  “Wait. What are you saying?” asked Dominick.

  “Look at the resemblance between us. Plus, I had a bad leg from birth. I didn’t want to believe it, but now I am convinced. Dominick, I believe I am your brother, Peter.”

  Chapter 7

  Charlotte smiled from ear to ear, standing under the mistletoe holding on to Alex’s arm. She had purposely stood here a dozen times tonight, each time making sure it was only Alex who kissed her.

  The Christmas celebration was in full swing. The main meal of boar’s head and brawn pudding, as well as minced pie and roasted goose, had been some of the best food that Alex had ever tasted. The musicians started playing, and the tables were cleared away. He could see the longing in Charlotte’s eyes to dance as she silently watched the others.

  “Ah, there you are, Lady Charlotte.” Dreyfis walked up, having had too much ale to drink. He staggered a little as he walked. “I am here to save you from this broken-down man. Dance with me.” He reached out and pulled her to him. Charlotte looked back in desperation.

  “Leave her alone, she doesn’t want to dance with you, Dreyfis,” said Alex. He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. He had left his father’s sword in Dominick’s solar as well as his things but would use his sword if need be.

  “What did you say?” Dreyfis slowly turned around, still gripping Charlotte’s arm.

  “You heard me. The lady doesn’t want to dance with you.”

  “Well, it’s not like you’re going to dance, so keep your mouth shut.” He turned back around. Alex drew his sword from his sheath. Someone gasped, and the musicians stopped playing. Everyone slowly crowded around them in a circle.

  “Are you threatening me, Sir Lame?” said Dreyfis with a chuckle. “Because I would love to challenge you once again.” He pushed Charlotte to the side and drew his sword.

  The hall was filled with the sound of metal clashing against metal. Children cried, and women screamed. The crowd moved away, giving the dueling men room.

  “What’s going on here?” growled Summer’s husband, Warren.

  “Wait,” said Summer, holding out her hand, stopping her husband from intervening.

  “Show him a thing or two, Alex,” shouted Dominick, pushing through the crowd to get to the front.

  “I don’t want trouble on Christmas,” said Alex.

  “The killer decides to show his cards finally.” Dreyfis lunged for him, and Alex backed away. Surprised to hear the man call him that, he realized he must know about his past. “Surprised that I know you are naught but a mercenary?” snarled Dreyfis as they continued to spar. “I remember you as well as your father since you once came to my castle for a job, but I turned you down.”

  Alex didn’t remember but, then again, his father had always been the one to get work for them.

  “Then you must know that I can fight and beat you,” said Alex.

  “Does Lady Charlotte know you are naught but a paid assassin?”

  Charlotte held her hand to her mouth, terrified to see the duel between Alex and Dreyfis. She didn’t like this at all. Dreyfis was fighting dirty, playing on Alex’s emotions to try to distract him. Then again, Alex had a stone-like face, not showing his hand at all.

  “I don’t care if he’s a mercenary,” Charlotte called out. “I love him.”

  “You do?” When Alex turned to look at her, Dreyfis stuck out his foot and tripped him. Alex fell to the ground, his sword clambering to the floor in the process.

  “And that is why you’ll never be able to protect a lady and will never marry in this lifetime.” Dreyfis chuckled and turned to replace his sword in the scabbard.

  Alex had enough. He let out a loud roar, rolled across the floor, grabbing his sword and knocking Dreyfis to the ground as well. Then he pushed up from the ground letting his good leg hold him and pressed the tip of his blade to Dreyfis’ throat.

  “I have killed for less,” snarled Alex, losing control of his emotions. “I look forward to pushing my blade right through your heart because you are naught but a despicable man who does not deserve to live.” Bottled-up years of anger pushed through Alex’s veins. He no longer cared if he was right or wrong. It didn’t matter that this was not a paying job. He hated this man more than anyone he’d ever met in his life and would put an end to his goading right now.

  “Alex, don’t,” came Charlotte’s voice as she stepped through the crowd with tears in her eyes. “You are better than this. Don’t lower yourself to his standards.”

  “Kill me,” Dreyfis shouted from the floor. “Or are you too frightened to do it because you are lame?”

  “That’s enough,” said Warren stepping through the crowd with his sword drawn. “Lower your blade, Alex. I won’t have blood spilled on my floor on Christmas, even if this man deserves to die for the way he’s been treating you. Sir Dreyfis, you are banned from Framlingham. I don’t want you ever to return.”

  Alex slowly lowered his sword while Dreyfis got to his feet.

  “I’m sorry,” Alex apologized to Warren, turning to put away his sword. “I never meant for this to happen.”

  “Well, I did! I will never let a cripple make a fool out of me,” came Dreyfis’ response from behind him.

  “Alex, watch out!” cried Charlotte.

  Alex spun around, drawing his sword with one hand and his dagger in the other just as Dreyfis lunged at him meaning to stab him through the back. Alex’s blades both sank into the man’s chest, and he dropped dead to the floor.

  The crowd became silent, watching in curiosity and fear. Alex felt horrible for what had happened. He retrieved his blades and headed for the door.

  “Alex, where are you going?” Charlotte ran after him, catching up quickly in the corridor since Alex couldn’t run.

  “Go back,” he said, not looking at her. “I have ruined everything, not to mention I have killed a man on one of the holiest days of the year. I can’t stay here any longer.” He pushed his blades into the sheaths as he walked, heading for the courtyard.

  “Stop right there, Alexander Masterson!” she shouted.

  Alex stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly, not used to be yelled at by a woman.

  “That’s better,” said Charlotte in a soft voice. “Alex, I don’t want you to leave. I love you and want to marry you.”

  Alex’s head spun so much that he became dizzy. He went from being made a fool of one minute, to killing a man on Christmas the next. And now, Lady Charlotte was saying she loved him and wanted to marry him. He didn’t deserve this. It frightened him to hear her say this. Never had a woman loved him for who he was.

  “You want to marry a cripple and a commoner, not to mention an assassin?”

  “Alex, you are a good man. You are kind and loyal and courteous. I know you didn’t mean to kill Dreyfis. It was done in self-defense.”

  “Lately, I have felt as if I am starting to have feelings for you, too, Charlotte. But it can’t be right since we just met and don’t even know each other.”

  “I know all I need to know. I love you for who you are, not who you were or who you might become.”

  “Alex, please stay,” called out Lady Summer, rushing through the crowd to get to him. “You are welcome here, and no one bl
ames you for what happened to Sir Dreyfis. You were only protecting yourself as well as Lady Charlotte.”

  “I – I don’t know,” said Alex, looking at Summer and then back to Charlotte. Everything was happening so fast. He needed time to think things over. “I’ll stay in the stable tonight, and I will decide in the morning.”

  He left the ladies standing there, feeling as if he couldn’t make any kind of decisions until he knew for sure if he was Alexander Masterson or Peter Mowbray.

  Chapter 8

  Alex spent the rest of the night in the stable, having offered to bury Dreyfis, but Warren told him he would do it since he was the lord of the castle. He stood watching out the stable door as two servants finally finished digging the grave in the small graveyard attached to the garden. Then, Lord Warren and some of his knights laid Dreyfis’ body in the hole without a casket, and the servants covered up the grave.

  Alex didn’t feel right about this at all. He never meant to kill the man, but it happened. And the part that frightened Alex the most was that he lost control of his emotions. Never before had anger overtaken his body like this. Nay, it didn’t feel good at all. But what did feel good was the fact that Charlotte said she loved him and wanted to marry him. He had feelings for her, too. But how could he marry her when he didn’t even truly know who he was?

  “It’s all set,” said Dominick, coming out of the darkness, startling Alex. He had been so focused on the burial that he hadn’t even seen the man coming.

  “What’s set?” asked Alex.

  “I told the servants to leave the shovels in the garden. Later on, when everyone is asleep, you and I are going to dig up the grave of Peter Mowbray.”

  A chill ran up Alex’s spine. As much as he wanted to do this, he had already caused enough trouble tonight. He’d killed a man, and he didn’t need to unearth the stillborn that Lady Summer revered.

  “I don’t know about this,” said Alex, shaking his head slowly, holding on to the frame of the door. “It doesn’t feel right. I don’t think I can do it.”

  “You have to,” said Dominick. “You can’t go on living, not knowing who you are. Besides, I am kind of curious to find out if you really are my little brother.”

  “What about Lady Summer?” he asked. “How do you think she’ll react when she finds out someone dug up Peter’s grave? You know she’ll be able to tell since there is snow on the ground, not to mention the ground is partially frozen. It took all night for those servants to dig Dreyfis’ grave. It was because they had to build a fire to thaw out the ground first.”

  “If you really are Peter, my mother is going to be happy,” explained Dominick. “Don’t you know how hard it was for her to lose a child? And it wasn’t just once. She had several miscarriages as well.”

  “I know,” he said, feeling his heart go out to her. She was a wonderful, beautiful woman and deserved to know if her son was alive. But did she deserve to have a son like him?

  “I’ll be back at midnight with a bed of hot coals. Since it was a newborn, the grave shouldn’t be that deep. Someone’s coming. I’ve got to go.”

  * * *

  “Alex, is that you?” asked Charlotte walking through the dark courtyard. While the Christmas celebration would last for nearly a fortnight, most of the torches and candles had blown out tonight in the strong wind.

  Snow swirled around her as she approached the stable to find Alex holding on to the doorframe, staring out the door. She knew he was watching the burial of Dreyfis and feeling poorly about it. Disturbance covered his face.

  “Do you want to talk?” she asked, wrapping her cloak tighter around her. It was frigidly cold tonight. The wind went right through her and made her teeth chatter.

  “All right,” he said. “But inside, out of the snow and wind.”

  When she walked inside the stable, Alex slid the door closed behind them. It smelled like hay and horses and damp earth. “Alex, I don’t like to see you sleeping in here. It’s too cold, and no place for a man to stay.”

  “I don’t mind. I’ve stayed in worse,” he said, limping over to a wooden bench and motioning to her to sit. He lit a lantern and hung it on a hook on the stable gate. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “I – I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to spend time with you.” She didn’t want to ruin her private time with him talking about Dreyfis.

  “Why would you want to spend time with me? I’m a mercenary.”

  “You are a wonderful man,” she replied. “I don’t care what you did in the past. I want to spend the future with you.”

  “I don’t have another job, Charlotte.” He got up and paced as well as he could with his twisted leg. “All I know is being a hired sword.”

  “Then you’ll learn a new trade. Perhaps, you can stay here and help train the knights. You have a wonderful skill with weapons.”

  “You deserve someone better,” he told her.

  “You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself,” she replied.

  “What? Why would you say that?”

  Charlotte made herself comfortable on the bench. “Ever since you arrived in Framlingham, you have been pitying yourself because of your leg, and because you aren’t a knight or a noble or have a lot of money.”

  “Don’t those things bother you?”

  “Nay, not at all. The only thing that bothers me is the fact you haven’t told me yet if you want to marry me.”

  “Charlotte.” He dragged a weary hand through his hair and sat down next to her with a plunk atop the bench. “Don’t you see? I can’t marry you before I know who I am.”

  She looked at him oddly. “You are Alexander Masterson, son of Crandell.”

  “That’s not what I mean.”

  “Well, what do you mean?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Come here,” he said, placing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer.

  “When I’m with you, it feels right,” said Charlotte, laying her head against his shoulder.

  “I know.” He gently rubbed his hands up and down her arm, causing a tingling sensation to spiral through her. “It does feel right,” he admitted. “I guess I haven’t asked you to marry me yet because I don’t know if you’ll change your mind about me in the future.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “You are the only woman I’ve ever known who has accepted me just the way I am.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with the way you are.”

  “I wish I could believe that. I’ve been challenged ever since the day I was born. All I ever wanted was to be normal and to, someday, find a lady to love and marry.”

  “And you have.” She reached up and turned his face toward her, gently pressing her lips up against his. That heady feeling was back again, as well as the heat and excitement that went with it. “If you are going to insist on sleeping in the hay, then I will stay here with you tonight.”

  “Nay.” He pulled away as if the idea upset him.

  “Why not?”

  “You are a lady. You need to sleep in a bed and have handmaids serving you. You can’t stay out here, Charlotte.”

  “Then let’s just lay down for a few minutes in the hay together and hold each other. That’s all I ask.”

  “If I do that, I’ll want to make love to you.”

  The thought sent a feeling of lust right through her. “I’d like that,” she said, wanting it more than anything.

  “Charlotte, it has been a while since I’ve laid with a woman.”

  “Not as long as it’s been since I laid with a man. Seven years in the convent didn’t give me a lot of opportunities.”

  They both laughed at that, breaking the tension of the moment. Then he pulled her up against him, kissing her more passionately than just a simple kiss.

  “There’s no mistletoe here,” she teased him.

  “Thank goodness, because God help us if there was. Charlotte I want you very badly, but I don’t know if it’s right.”

  “What’s no
t right about it?” she asked with a giggle. “You won’t be taking my virginity since I’ve already been married.”

  “True,” he said, reaching out and touching her lightly on the nose. “I guess I just don’t want to disappoint you.”

  “You could never disappoint me, Alex. Now, are we going to make love before we freeze to death out here or not?”

  He stood up and extended his arm, pulling her to a standing position. “If you really want to, who am I to stop you? After all, you seem to be a woman who doesn’t like to be told no.”

  “You’ve got that right,” she said, reaching up and kissing him again. “I’ve never done it in a stable or in the hay before, Alex. It’s rather . . . exciting.”

  “I won’t let you lie in a stall that a horse might have sullied. We’re going to go somewhere where there is virgin hay.” He collected the lantern off the hook and led her through the stable.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, holding on to him so she wouldn’t fall in the dark.

  “Up there.” He held up the lantern and nodded to a loft filled with fresh hay.

  “Up there?” she asked, wondering if he could even climb the ladder with his bad leg. “Mayhap it would be better if we stayed down here.”

  He reached out and turned her face to look directly into his eyes. “I can do it,” he said in a low voice. “Or don’t you believe I am even capable of climbing a simple ladder?”

  Suddenly, she realized that she was the one pitying him instead of the other way around. She nodded. “I do believe that you can do anything you put your mind to, Alexander Masterson. Now, what on earth are we waiting for?”

  Charlotte climbed the ladder, purposely going slow to give Alex time to ascend and not rush it. He made it up the ladder with little trouble and hung the lantern on a hook and pulled her back into his arms.

  “Charlotte, once we do this, it can’t be undone. I still can’t ask you to marry me yet. But mayhap – mayhap, by tomorrow, I’ll have the answer I need to be able to plan the rest of my life.”

  “Alex, I don’t care.” She reached up and kissed him and started to unbuckle his weapon belt. “Even if you decide you don’t want me for your wife, I will never regret our intimate time together, and neither will I ever forget it.”