A Very Lusty Christmas [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)
Page 1
The Lusty, Texas Collection
A Very Lusty Christmas
Lieutenant Kate Wesley couldn’t believe the audacity of the two pursuit pilots! Bad enough Gerald Benedict grabbed her into a steamy, delicious kiss, but his brother Patrick did the same thing! They let her go, promising to see her soon. Kate knows that will never happen. There is no room for romance between a lieutenant and a major, or two, in 1942.
Yet before she knows it, Kate is promoted and sent to a small town in Texas to be the nurse-administrator for a convalescent home. She soon learns a formidable family matriarch by the name of Sarah Carmichael Benedict is behind this move—and those two pilots she thought never to see again are determined to woo her.
With the future tenuous at best, will Kate risk everything for love? And will her men find the root of the malfunctions that have been plaguing the airfield, before becoming victims of foul play themselves?
Note: There is no sexual relationship or touching for titillation between or among siblings.
Genre:Historical, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length:69,051 words
A VERY LUSTY CHRISTMAS
The Lusty, Texas Collection
Cara Covington
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED:Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device.You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book.This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at
legal@sirenbookstrand.com
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
A VERY LUSTY CHRISTMAS
Copyright © 2013 by Cara Covington
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-128-2
First E-book Publication: January 2013
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy ofA Very Lusty Christmasby Cara Covington from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Cara Covington’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Covington’s right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
www.SirenPublishing.com
www.BookStrand.com
DEDICATION
Christmas has always been a special time of year for me, a time of family and friends, a time to share love and to reflect on the blessings we’ve all been given.
Who better to represent the spirit of Christmas in Lusty than Grandma Kate?
Kate has been a favorite of you, the readers, since she first appeared inLove Under Two Honchos.
Thank you, readers, for continuing to honor me with your continued loyalty. If not for you, I would be nothing.
This book is also dedicated to my son, Anthony. I miss you, baby. But I know we’ll be together again someday.
A VERY LUSTY CHRISTMAS
The Lusty, Texas Collection
CARA COVINGTON
Copyright © 2013
Chapter 1
December 24, 2012
“Can I get you anything, Grandma Kate?”
Kate Benedict turned her attention away from the Christmas tree, festooned with decorations gathered over so many years of living. She never tired of the change of seasons or the rhythm of life.It’s hard to believe that I’ve actually turned ninety-one. The number amazed her, when she thought about it, because inside, she felt as young at heart as ever.
She felt as young as she had been the very first day she’d set foot in Lusty, Texas.
Kate smiled at Ginny Kendall, one of the several new “granddaughters” she’d been blessed to have gained over the last couple of years. When she looked at Ginny, she saw a little of the young woman she herself had once been.
Married into the family just a few short months ago, her new baby due any day, Ginny had already brought so many blessings to the family. One of those things she’d added to Lusty had been more family—not only her precious son, Benny, but also her only other family member, an aunt she’d just recently met herself. Kate grinned, thinking of the unexpected bonusthathad turned out to be, for Ginny’s aunt Maggie had recently married Kate’s triplet grandsons.
As if conjured by Kate’s thoughts, Maggie Benedict joined her niece in the doorway of the great room and looked in, her smile soft and, Kate thought, very content looking.
“I don’t need anything, thank you, sweetheart,” Kate said. “I always like to take a little time on Christmas Eve to admire the tree, and the story it tells.”
“Today is your wedding anniversary, isn’t it, Grandma Kate?”
“It is indeed.” Ginny had said “is,” not “was.” Trust Ginny to understand that just because her beloved husbands had left this earth, didn’t mean Kate felt any less married to them. Her thoughts flew back to Sarah Benedict, and the first time she’d met that gracious woman.Life really is a cycle.For here was Ginny, and Kate believed the relationship the two of them were building reflected the one she’d had with her own dear husbands’ beloved grandmother.
Ginny came into the great room, and sat beside Kate on the long sofa. Maggie also stepped in, and took the chair adjacent to them.
“How many years is it for you, today?” Ginny asked.
“We married on Christmas Eve, 1942.”
“Seventy years!” Kate grinned at the sound of the new voice, a slight British accent shading the words. Penelope Benedict, her arms, for the moment, empty of her baby daughter Ellie, didn’t stand on ceremony. She came right in and sat next to Kate on her other side.
Kel
sey Benedict, another new granddaughter, and Susan Benedict Evans-Magee arrived next and sat down, also without their newborn babies, and Kate knew that elsewhere in this very large house, a number of men had stepped forward to give their wives a break.
Carrie and Chloe Rhodes appeared at the doorway, and with them was Jillian Gillespie Jessop, wearing that very pretty and significant “necklace” that she was never without. The three had become fast friends over the last month. “Come and join us,” Kate said. All three young women were new to Lusty. Jillian had married Robert and David, doctors both, and had already become an integral part of the community. Carrie would marry her grandsons Chase and Brian early in the New Year.
And unless I miss my guess, by this time next year Chloe will have said yes to those two strapping young Jessops who are already completely smitten with her.
Yes, Kate Benedict loved the rhythm of life and never more so than when that rhythm embraced her loved ones, fulfilling dreams, and filling hearts. She also felt very blessed that these vibrant young women had all sought her out—knowing they all understood the significance of the day for her.
It had been a good day today, with family and friends coming in and out of the Big House, and the spirit of family and love and Christmas everywhere. She always missed her beloved husbands, of course. Not a single day went by when she didn’t think about them. But she’d join them one day, of that she had no doubt.
In the meantime she had so many loved ones, she could hardly complain of being lonely. Loneliness had never been a problem for long in Lusty.
Tamara Kendall came into the room, steaming mug in hand, no longer looking as harried as she had when she and her flyboy husbands had arrived just a few hours before.
They’d had a last-minute charter flight two days ago, to Colorado, and then had been stuck there an extra day due to weather. Tamara had settled in and settled down, not needing more than a half hour in the bosom of her new family for her spirit to relax.
For a woman who’d had no real use for familybeforeshe fell from the sky, she certainly embraced family now. Kate could certainly identify with that change.
Kate felt blessed to be here with all these amazing young women. This house had, over the years, certainly hosted its share of women of strength and courage and heart.
Here in this great room, generations of Benedicts had erected Christmas trees, year after year, as the music of Christmas carols filled the air. This year’s tree had been put up the day after Thanksgiving, as had been their tradition for the last decade. No longer did the family simply purchase a cut tree, either. Ever since Susan had been a young teen fascinated by environmental studies in high school, the Benedict tree had to be a living tree, borrowed and not, as young Susan had plaintively persuaded, “murdered” for the sake of family celebrations.
Cared for by everyone, this tree, like the ones that had come before it, would be replanted on New Year’s Day either in the park, or in someone’s yard.
Kate thought the Alvarez-Kendalls could use another tree in their very lovely backyard.
Kate let her gaze drift back to the tree that Chloe took a moment to admire closer up. From the pine-scented branches dangled ornaments odd and mismatched, old and new. Some had been made by the small hands of children, some by women who’d taken an interest in crafts, and some had been gifts, store-bought and lovingly bestowed and accepted.
“This is such a beautiful tree.” Chloe reached a hand out and gently touched one ornament, a delicate gold filigree angel, sending it spinning. “I’ll bet each piece here has story to tell.”
“They all do.” Kate’s eyes rested upon the tiny golden angel Chloe had caressed. Her arms spread as if in benediction, the tiny angel’s delicate wings glistened in the muted lights of the room.
In the evening, when the tree’s colored lights were turned on, the angel would sparkle red and blue, green and yellow. A draft would send her twirling, and she would make the colors dance on the branches, and on the other ornaments around her.
“That angel was a gift to me from my husbands, to mark our wedding and our first Christmas together.” She looked at the young women gathered around her. “It wasn’t a wedding gift, but a token of commemoration. You see, it was wartime, and we were all very mindful of that fact, and of the sacrifices taking place all around us. So many Benedict, Kendall, and Jessop cousins were overseas, fighting. Gerald and Patrick had been in the thick of things themselves, even before the United States declared war.”
“All my Gran had ever told me about them was that they’d been pursuit pilots for the RAF—the Royal Air Force,” Penelope said.
“The RAF? That’s England, right? How did that work? They were Americans, weren’t they?” Carrie eschewed the use of a chair, instead lowering herself down onto the rug, sitting yoga-style close to the sofa. Jillian joined her, gracefully slipping to her knees before changing position so that she sat with her legs outstretched.
Kate hid her grin at the familiar maneuver and instead focused on the conversation. “Yes, of course, on all counts. But when war erupted in Europe a couple of years before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the British sent out an SOS asking for pilots. Gerald and Patrick had both loved to fly—they were airmail pilots, and barnstormers before the war.”
“I’ve heard that term, ‘barnstormer,’ but never really understood it,” Chloe said.
“Oh, it was all the rage, beginning when my men were still boys. They’d grown up hearing of the derring-do of pilots who would perform aerial maneuvers, many in ‘flying circuses.’” Kate grinned. “Of course, their mother, Madeline, wouldn’t hear of them joining any kind of traveling troupe. But they learned to fly, and worked, saving their money until they could buy a plane of their own.” Kate chuckled. “Grandmother Sarah thought it would be good for them to use their passion, and the plane they’d purchased, to go out and make their living. And so they did. They formed a company, and offered rides to the curious. And they bid on, and won, an airmail contract here in Texas.”
“Is that how you met them?” Carrie asked.
“Oh, no, we met because of the war—well, in a roundabout sort of way. Actually, I didn’t know it at the time, but those two aviators sawmebefore I ever knew they, or a town called Lusty, even existed.” Kate couldn’t resist the laughter that bubbled up from the memory. “I’d noticedthem, and asked about them, and I thought I’d been clever and discreet. I never imagined they’d done the same, and more.” She grinned at the women gathered around. “Believe it or not, I have Grandmother Sarah to thank for everything.”
“Nowthatsounds rather familiar,” Penelope said. Her eyes lit up when she smiled, and sometimes, like right now, she looked so much like Eloise, her grandmother and Kate’s late good friend.
“Does it?” Kate could keep a poker face with the best of them.
“Mmhmm,” Ginny said. “It does indeed. Imagine, a family matriarch lending her hand at matchmaking.”
“Well, perhaps Karma does insist on having its due from time to time.” Kate sat back and waited. Her granddaughters were a curious lot, and she knew she wouldn’t have to wait long.
“You can’t leave it at that,” Chloe said.
“Will you please tell us how you met your husbands?” Ginny asked. “I’ve rarely heard you speak of them. Unless the telling will sadden you.”
“No, darling, I have only happy thoughts when it comes to my men. And, do you know, I think I’d like to do just that—tell you about them. Tell youourstory.” She’d already begun writing her own journal, of course. Not so much because she wanted to leave any great legacy behind, as both Sarah Benedict and Amanda Jessop-Kendall had done. She simply thought that her experiences had been unique, and in the writing, she’d felt herself oh, so close to her beloved husbands once more.
“In 1942 I was a nurse. I’d enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps and in the summer of that year, I was stationed at Walter Reed Hospital,” Kate began. “If I was off duty on a Saturday night, I would go to
the USO dances in Arlington. There weren’t all that many women in attendance at these social events. Aside from the fact I loved to dance, our boys—the soldiers and sailors on leave—deserved to have a bit of fun.”
Her gaze focused on the tiny angel. Music, far away and so very familiar, traveled the distance between the past and the present, and Kate surrendered to the memory…
Chapter 2
Early August, 1942
The familiar strains of Glenn Miller’s “Pennsylvania 6-5000” floated out the door of the USO dance hall as she stepped outside. The band playing tonight seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it, Kate thought, of keeping the place jumping. She’d listened to the Glenn Miller Orchestra in person once, on a trip to New York City with her parents. This local group of musicians hadn’t missed a single note. She’d make a point of complimenting Trudy on finding them when she saw her friend in the morning.
The balmy summer air caressed her face, teasing the few strawberry-blonde strands that had escaped her ruthless attempts at taming them. She closed her eyes and lifted her face, enjoying the freshness, letting the slight breeze dry the sweat on her brow and refresh her energy.
She’d danced nearly every dance for the last hour, as she usually did, never turning down a single request. Even the most junior PFC knew that Lieutenant Wesley would be pleased to trip the light fantastic.
It’s the least I can do for our brave boys.
As a member of the Army Nurse Corps, Kate served her country proudly. So many returning soldiers, wounded and broken, passed through the wards at Walter Reed General Hospital, where Kate had been a nurse for the past several months.