Jonathan tore his gaze away from the glowing promise in brown eyes long enough to meet his father's look. "I am willing to learn from a man with more experience, sir, if he will have me."
"He'll have you all right, and with open arms." Embarrassing himself with this display of emotion, Mr. Drummond gestured curtly at Charles. "Come, Carrington. If we harbor any hopes of getting these two off our hands, we'd better turn in. I don't think the carpet will suffer more if it waits until morning."
Grinning, Charles returned the letter to his sister, bussed her on the cheek, shook Jonathan's hand, and gesturing at the maid and butler hovering in the doorway, dismissed everyone but the lovers from the room. Obviously quite pleased with himself, he grabbed up the bottle of brandy and guided his distinguished guest out of the room for one last drink of celebration.
Smiling, Jonathan lifted Diana's fingers to his lips and admired the lovely color in her cheeks. He could not mistake the love he found in those clear, bright eyes, but he would have no mistake this time. Not daring to let himself hope more, he pressed the letter upon her.
"Read it, Diana. I do not think I can stand the suspense any longer."
Nodding, she unfolded the pages. For four years her happiness had been stored away in a secret hiding place. Four years were long enough. She read swiftly, starting with her father's letter to his best friend's son. She wept over the words of praise and caution, and by the time she read his approval at the end of the letter, she was blotting her eyes with her handkerchief.
Jonathan had not needed her father's letter to speak his case, but she had not realized how much her father's approval meant to her. Her tears blotted the pages she carefully tucked away for later perusal.
Jonathan's youthful letter, on the other hand, brimmed with life and hope and dreams. He explained his father's opposition to his only son's desires to serve his country, and his own need to do his patriotic duty. He spoke of the difficulty of his decision to buy a commission rather than return to his father's comfortable house. Then he spoke of the life and the love he wished them to share if she would wait. The ring was to be her signal that she was prepared to set all others aside in favor of him. He did not expect her to make the decision soon or even quickly, but only to mention her decision to wear the ring when she wrote to Charles.
It was a young man's letter, full of nonsense and dreams, but the man standing before her now waited with the same eagerness and anxiety as the youth who had written it. The healing gash upon his forehead whitened with tension.
Eyes streaming with tears, Diana lifted the letter and kissed it as she would have done had she discovered it four years ago. Then twisting the ring upon her finger, she gazed longingly into his handsome face.
"Four years I waited for this letter. Four years I could have been wearing this ring. Do you think we can make up the lost time somehow?"
"It won't be easy, but I'll try. I love you, Diana. If I promise to find other topics besides the weather, will you marry me?"
"You have four years of letter writing to catch up on," she said with a teary smile. "Do you think you can do it by the time my year of mourning is ended if I tell you how much I love you and how much I have missed you?''
"I can move mountains and learn to deal with Frankie and Freddie if you'll just show me how much you mean those words." Jonathan stepped daringly closer, sliding his arm around her waist as he reached to set the bulky letter aside.
"Jonathan!" Startled by his sudden brash behavior, Diana brought her hands to his chest to hold him off.
He smiled, glanced knowingly at the sparkling ribbons of the mistletoe still dangling among the remaining greenery overhead, and returned the heat of his gaze to her pink cheeks. "I caught you under the kissing bough, my love. You can't refuse."
"So I can't." Acknowledging defeat gladly, Diana slid her arms about his neck and felt the warm pressure of his lips against hers and melted into the strong embrace she had only been allowed to dream of for so many years.
In the hallway, peering through the crack between the doors, two young girls giggled with delight at the sight of their brother and sister embracing beneath the mistletoe.
Caught up in the romance of the moment, they failed to note the shadow sneaking up from behind, dangling a piece of greenery, until the branch hung over their heads. A whispered "Surprise!" caused them to glance in tandem at the mistletoe, and squealing, they bolted wildly for the stairs.
Elizabeth's protesting cry of "Charles!" as she ran up the stairs made no impact on the pair in the drawing room. While the others raced madly through the upper halls, the happy couple laid more sedate plans for the future, all of them spoken through the magic of kisses, with the permission of the kissing bough above.
***
Lambs Wool Punch Recipe
This traditional Christmas punch has been served since the Middle Ages. The name probably refers to the fluffy white flesh revealed by the broken skin of the roasted apples which float on top of the bowl of ale.
4 eating apples
4 pints of ale or cider
6 cloves and 1 tablespoon of grated nutmeg. Half a teaspoon of ground ginger. Pinch of allspice. I cinnamon stick, 1 - 2 tablespoons dark soft brown sugar
Heat oven to 400. Place the apples in a baking dish with a little ale, cider or water and cook for 30 minutes until the apple flesh is "woolly" in texture.
Meanwhile, heat the ale or cider, spices and sugar to taste in a large pan over a low heat until very hot, but do not allow to boil. Strain into a large serving bowl. Scoop out the apple pulp with a spoon, discarding the core and the pips and pile on the hot ale. Serve hot with a scoop of apple flesh.
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Susan King
Susan King is the bestselling, award-winning author of 22 historical novels and novellas praised for historical accuracy and lyrical writing. Writing as Susan King and Sarah Gabriel, she is the author of several historical romances for major publishing houses; as Susan Fraser King, she writes highly acclaimed historical fiction, including Lady Macbeth and Queen Hereafter, published by Random House. Her backlist novels are now being released in e-book form and she is currently working on new fiction. A founding member of the successful author blog Word Wenches, Susan holds a B.A. in fine arts and an M.A. in art history, and did her Ph.D. work in medieval art history. She lives in Maryland with her family.
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Mary Jo Putney
A New York Times bestselling author, Mary Jo Putney was born in Upstate New York with a reading addiction, a condition with no known cure. Her entire writing career is an accidental byproduct of buying a computer for other purposes. Most of her books contain history, romance, and cats. Her current Lost Lords series include No Longer a Gentleman, May 2012, and Sometimes a Rogue, September 2013. October sees the release of the mass market edition of Mischief and Mistletoe, a Christmas anthology by the eight authors of the Word Wenches blog. She has had ten Romance Writers of America RITA nominations, two RITA wins, and in 2013 is the recipient of the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award.
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Patricia Rice
With several million books in print and New York Times and USA Today's bestseller lists under her belt, former CPA Patricia Rice is one of romance's hottest authors. Her emotionally-charged contemporary and historical romances have won numerous awards, including the RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice and Career Achievement Awards. Her books have been honored as Romance Writers of America RITA finalists in the historical, regency and contemporary categories.
A firm believer in happily-ever-after, Patricia Rice is married to her high school sweetheart and has two children. A native of Kentucky and New York, a past resident of Nort
h Carolina, she currently resides in Southern California, and now does accounting only for herself. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Authors Guild, and Novelists, Inc.
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Christmas Roses: Love Blooms in Winter Page 21
