Convenient Christmas Brides: The Captain's Christmas Journey ; The Viscount's Yuletide Betrothal ; One Night Under the Mistletoe

by Carla Kelly

  * * *

  Monty had been so relieved to see Gabriel’s house that all he wanted to do was take Juliet in his arms and hold her. When she put her arms around him, his heart flipped in his chest. Maybe there was a chance for them to work through their past and find a way to a happy marriage. Maybe he could find a way to get Juliet to forgive him.

  Juliet took his hand and put her head on his shoulder. ‘I just love Christmas, Monty. Isn’t it beautiful in here?’

  It was now that they were touching.

  ‘The family is in the blue drawing room,’ Charlotte said, ‘and dinner will be served soon. I imagine you both want to take some time to change and attend to your needs.’

  Andrew came striding into the entrance hall with a smile on his face. ‘There you are. I thought I heard voices.’ He eyed Monty up and down and gave him a slight knowing nod.

  ‘I see you’ve been busy gathering the greenery,’ Monty said to his brother.

  ‘I have. Nicholas was a big help. We found if he sat on my shoulders, we could get the sprigs from the top of the holly bushes.’ His brother shifted his gaze between Monty and Juliet. ‘You’ve been gone all day.’

  ‘We have.’

  ‘But you don’t appear to have any mistletoe.’

  The mistletoe he had gathered was still inside Laurel Cottage. He didn’t think he could convince Juliet to go back with him to retrieve it any time soon.

  ‘It’s a long story.’

  ‘We have time.’ Andrew crossed his arms. The slight cock of his head and raised brow let Monty know his brother was enjoying himself.

  ‘You’ll have to wait for another day. My wife and I are tired from our outing. Please inform Olivia we’d like to dine in our rooms tonight, if she would be agreeable.’

  ‘It’s Christmas Eve,’ Andrew replied, placing his arm around Charlotte.

  ‘We are newly married. I think we could be excused this year from spending the evening with all of you.’ He tugged on Juliet’s hand and pulled her towards the staircase.

  ‘Did you find the bottle of brandy I left in Laurel Cottage?’ Andrew called after them.

  Monty froze on the staircase and turned around. ‘How did you know—?’

  ‘I went riding this afternoon and saw smoke coming from the area of the lake and remembered the cottage. I left a bottle of brandy there a few months ago when I stayed on the island, fishing with Nicholas.’

  Monty continued to walk up the stairs with Juliet. ‘Goodnight, Andrew.’

  A deep-throated laugh filled the entrance hall. ‘Goodnight, Montague. Goodnight, Juliet.’

  * * *

  They hadn’t been in their room long when a maid arrived with two cups of wassail for them from Olivia. The smell of apples and cloves always reminded Monty of Christmases spent in this house. He handed a cup to Juliet, who was sitting on their bed in her dressing gown, waiting for the footmen to bring up buckets of hot water for her bath.

  Just as he began to raise his glass to his lips, she reached out and clinked her cup against his. He froze.

  ‘Does that mean...?’

  ‘I trust you. I understand why you did not tell me about the boats, even though I wish you had. And I know now why you couldn’t elope with me. We were foolish children to think that we could have fallen in love with each other in a week. I know that now.’

  ‘I love you.’

  The heavy lashes that had shadowed her cheeks flew up as she stared at him.

  ‘I do,’ he continued. ‘I don’t know if you will believe me. But I do. I think I always have. For the last four years I’ve been searching for someone who could make me feel the way you did. I have kissed my fair share of ladies, looking for anyone who could make me feel a fraction of what I felt kissing you, but none of them ever did. I thought I could find someone else to take your place. But there is no one else who can. Not for me.’

  He took the cup of wassail out of her hand and placed it along with his on the writing desk by the window. When he went back to the bed, he knelt down in front of her and took both her hands in his.

  ‘You are everything I have ever wanted. With you, my heart feels full and I find I have true contentment in my life. I am not asking you to love me. I know that I hurt you and for a long time you hated me for that. What I am asking is for you to please give us another chance to find happiness with each other. That one day...maybe...you will find you love me again.’

  Tears were in her eyes. He didn’t know if that was good or bad. But when the first tear slid down her cheek and she leaned in and kissed him, he knew it was a good thing.

  ‘My love for you is still there. I tried to convince myself I no longer cared about you, but that was to protect my heart. I don’t know if we are able to stop loving someone completely. I think the love is always there in some form. I am happy with you. I think there was a strange part of me that was even happy while we were walking in the wood, because we were doing it together.’

  ‘I feel as if I’ve been given the finest Christmas gift I could ever ask for,’ he said, brushing her tears away gently with his thumb.

  ‘There isn’t anything else you might want?’ She had lowered her head and was looking at him seductively through her lashes.

  ‘There might be one other thing.’

  Laying her back on the bed, he breathed lightly between her parted lips. ‘Merry Christmas, my love.’

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed these stories, you won’t want to miss these other Regency collections:

  It Happened One Christmas

  by Carla Kelly, Georgie Lee and Ann Lethbridge

  Once Upon a Regency Christmas

  by Louise Allen, Sophia James and Annie Burrows

  Regency Christmas Wishes

  by Carla Kelly, Christine Merrill and Janice Preston

  Keep reading for an excerpt from A Texas Christmas Reunion by Carol Arens.

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  A Texas Christmas Reunion

  by Carol Arens

  Chapter One

  If not for the fact that Juliette Lindor had a baby riding her hip, she would have been tempted to march across the street and disrupt the robbery taking place at Beaumont Spur Savings and Loan.

  Goodness knew Sheriff Hank would not be running to the rescue of the townsfolk’s money. No doubt the half-hearted lawman was having a fine high time with his cousins, who were at this very moment incarcerated in his jail.

>   “For pity’s sake,” she muttered, witnessing the crime through the front window of her restaurant.

  Apparently the bank was destined to be robbed today. According to town gossip, which there was plenty of, the sheriff’s Underwood cousins would have held it up had they not been arrested last night for previous crimes. Beaumont Spur’s lawman was not so unworthy as to set his relatives free, but neither was he dedicated to holding up every jot and title of the law.

  Moments ago, the robber committing the current crime while wearing a ragged coat and a half-crushed hat had glanced every which way except heavenward before he slithered into the bank.

  Straining to listen, Juliette heard shouting but thankfully no gunshots.

  The thief backed out the door and nearly tumbled into a horse trough. Righting his balance, he dashed across a mound of melting snow that glittered in the midmorning sunshine. On the run, he glanced up and down Main Street, a leather bag tucked under his arm.

  Juliette rushed to the front door of the café and shoved the bolt into place. If the criminal was looking for a hiding place, he would not find it in her establishment.

  She would forbid him entrance for the muddy state of his boots alone, set aside the fact that he was a lowdown lawbreaker.

  The single customer in her restaurant looked up from his soup.

  “It’s the bank again,” she explained, catching and kissing the small fist grabbing for the front of her blouse.

  The gray-bearded gentleman shook his head but continued to spoon soup into his mouth. “Been ten months since the last holdup. I reckon that’s something. Still, this town isn’t what it used to be.”

  No truer words, as far as Juliette was concerned. She dearly missed the sweet Beaumont she had been born and raised in. “Levi, do you remember when we all used to gather about the spring in the town square on Sunday afternoons?”

  “Those were good days. My Martha used to make the sweetest cherry pies for everyone. You were only a little thing but you might remember.”

  She’d been eight years old when Martha Silver died, but she still recalled the flavor of sweet cherries on her tongue and the indulgent gaze of the woman smiling down at her.

  “Anyone get hurt this time?”

  Juliette walked back to the window and moved the curtain aside. “Mr. Bones is chasing the thief, so I imagine he wasn’t armed.”

  “That’s a mercy. Don’t begrudge the banker his business, but we did just fine without a bank for years before the rail spur came to town. I’m keeping my cash in the safe at the mercantile. Can’t recall Leif being robbed in all the time he’s been open.”

  Nor could Juliette. Of course, Leif Ericman was a giant of a man who had taken to wearing a sidearm since the arrival of the rail spur. For all that Leif had a wicked scowl, he was known for his kindness. A robber, a stranger to Beaumont Spur, would not know it, though.

  “I’m finished.” Levi slapped his spoon on the tablecloth.

  “Would you like a piece of cake before you go?”

  “What I mean is, I’m finished with Beaumont Spur. I’m moving on to a place the railroad hasn’t corrupted.”

  “Levi! You can’t. You’ve lived here since—oh, since forever!”

  He sighed, nodded. “Since before you were a glimmer in your parents’ smiles. I brought my bride here because it was a good, peaceful place to settle. Sure isn’t that anymore. I’m not the only one talking about leaving.”

  Yes, she knew that. A whole group of families were considering the move together.

  But Levi Silver? It couldn’t be!

  In spite of what it had become over the past few years, Juliette loved her town. It broke her heart to see it falling to ruin. Even children were dashing about during school hours without proper discipline because the schoolteacher had quit suddenly in October and the new one had not yet arrived.

  What this town needed was a reliable sheriff and a strict schoolmaster.

  A hotel without fleas wouldn’t hurt, either. It was her firm opinion that a gracious inn would attract a better sort of clientele than the saloons did. The town might then thrive, and new families would move here to replace the ones who were leaving.

  Baby Lena curled her fat little fist around the ribbon tied in Juliette’s braid. She drew it to her mouth and sucked on the yellow satin.

  “Here comes Mr. Bones back again. From here it looks like he’s grinning. He’s got a leather bag tucked under his arm. He must have caught the robber, then.”

  “Looks like your money is safe until the next time, Juliette.” Levi stood up, then dug about in his pants pocket. Withdrawing some coins, he stacked them neatly on the table. “If I were you I’d keep my cash under the bed or in the mercantile safe, like I do.”

  Stashing money under her big lonely bed was the least safe place she could think of. Strangers were not the only ones hoping to snatch unsecured funds.

  Crossing the room, Levi joined her at the window and peered out. He cupped the curve of Lena’s dark, curly-haired head in his bony hand, his fingers gnarled with age and years of hard work.

  “A widow like you.” He shook his head then kissed Lena’s chubby fingers. Turning, he walked toward the door, slid the bolt free. “With the responsibilities you’ve taken on—you shouldn’t be here. Go someplace safe and find a good man to marry.”

  “I’ve had a good man.”

  Steven Lindor had been reliable in every way a husband could be. What was left of his body was buried in the cemetery outside of town, alongside Thomas Warren Lindor’s equally broken body.

  “I still say he and his brother never should have taken a job with the railroad.”

  Looking back, no one would deny that. But at the time, Steven and Thomas had both been newlyweds and could not turn down the generous pay the railroad offered.

  Even the fact that both men had babies on the way had not kept them from going. No—she believed it had actually propelled their decisions.

  Her husband and her brother-in-law had perished.

  But she had not.

  Yes, she had wept, pounded her fist against her pillow and railed against fate. But in the end she had given birth to a beautiful baby girl.

  In the instant she’d heard her newborn’s cry, hope for the future bloomed in a way Juliette could never have imagined.

  “Take care walking home, Levi. The boardwalk will be slippery.”

  “Been walking these streets more than half my life, missy, don’t reckon I’ll lose my balance now. See you at dinnertime.”

  Juliette watched him go then closed the door, relieved to see that he did test each step as he proceeded down the boardwalk.

  In the distance, the train whistle blew. She heard the rumble of the big engine as it pushed the train back toward Smith’s Ridge.

  If only—oh, never mind.

  Wishing that the railroad had picked some other town in which to set down its spur was as useful as wishing there was something she could do to restore Beaumont to the hometown she loved. The place where neighbors smiled at one another when they passed on the boardwalk, where one laid down one’s head at night in blissful slumber without the racket of saloons to disturb the peace of the evening.

  A flash of yellow caught her eye. A hatbox with a fluffy yellow bow sat on one of the tables.

  Oh, no! A customer—Miss Quinn her name was—must have left it behind. The woman had been distracted with joy over boarding the train and going home to marry the handsome man she was engaged to.

  There was nothing to do but store the hatbox away in the event that Miss Quinn returned for it one day.

  Reaching for it, Juliette saw an envelope tucked between the box lid and the bow. Curiously, Juliette’s name was written on the delicate parchment.

  Before she had a chance to wonder about it, she heard a baby’s strident cry coming from the sma
ll room behind the kitchen.

  “Sounds like your brother is hungry, Miss Lena.”

  “If you can’t keep that boy content, you shouldn’t be running a business. Family comes first for a woman.” Her father-in-law’s grumble reached the dining room from the kitchen.

  Thankfully there were no customers present to hear his lament.

  Truly, did the man not understand that she would rather be at home tending her husband and their child?

  Circumstances had sent her life another way. She could smile at the future or weep over the past.

  She chose to smile.

  * * *

  Juliette sat down at a table in the back of the dining room and draped a shawl over her left shoulder. Tenderly she tucked the end under Joe’s small padded bottom.

  There was rarely a time when she put him to her breast that she did not think of Lillian. For all that she smiled while she cooed to Joe and tickled his fat little belly, she felt a tug of sadness that it was Juliette feeding him and not his mother.

  “Your mama was beautiful, Joe—just like you are. And she loved you so very much.”

  Truly, no one could have looked forward to a child’s birth with more joy than Steven’s brother and his wife had.

  Juliette knew this because they had shared a wedding day and a home. Lillian had only been one month along in her pregnancy with Joe when Juliette conceived Lena.

  Their large home had nearly vibrated with happiness over anticipation of the babies’ arrival. But there was worry, as well. Her husband and her brother-in-law were determined that their children would be born to the best of everything money could buy. The trouble was, at that point in their young lives, they’d been far from able to provide a pair of silver spoons.

  So the men had left their pregnant wives behind and gone away to California...to make a living working for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

  During the wee hours of a January morning in the mountains at Tehachapi, the rear cars of the train they’d been on had detached, rolled back down the grade, crashed and burned. Life as Juliette knew it had perished along with Steven and Thomas.