Her brother nodded. “To think, before Will became the duke, no one had been born here for half a century. And now–where do you want that mistletoe, Will? I said, put her down–she may be giving you another heir, but he won’t be joining us for this Christmas party, and our guest soon will be!”
Charlotte and William stated their preferences, which were, of course, completely different. John moved over to join the debate, leaving Prudence alone to manage her frantically beating heart.
This was it, the last piece of the decorations for Christmas. It had always been that way, even before her brother had ascended to the title, and they had just been gentlemen and ladies in a small town.
Mistletoe. The last decoration to go up, but it had far more importance to her. The last few years, she had stolen a kiss from one man, every Christmas, and every time she had been certain he would declare his love for her and make her an offer of marriage.
An offer that never came.
“No, I am going to put my foot down and put it right here, at the foot of the stairs,” said William firmly. “Come, Chalmesbury.”
Prudence hooked her legs over the arm of the chair to watch the butler stand on a chair and carefully tie the mistletoe above the first step with a piece of golden ribbon.
“And about time, too,” Charlotte said with a smile, sinking into a chair opposite Prudence. “You know it is almost six o’clock? Our guest will be here any moment, and the snow has been coming down all day.”
“It always snows at Pendle Hall,” John shrugged. “He’ll find a way through. Any more mistletoe you want up, Will?”
Prudence’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh, yes, we must have more.”
Her cheeks pinked as the family turned around to stare.
“God, Pru, I had forgotten you were still there,” said John easily, making her blush deepen. “What do you want mistletoe for, anyway? Got suitors lined up around the house just waiting for a kiss?”
“Goodness, I hope not,” teased William. “I am still in shock after Honora’s marriage–I’m not sure I would survive my other sister’s wedding!”
The hall echoed with laughter, and Prudence prayed the flagstones would split apart and swallow her. It was never easy, being the youngest of four. But when your sister goes missing for three years, your brothers become the definition of protective. Honora had been found, eventually, but Prudence was still guarded like a precious jewel.
“Th-There is no one lined outside,” she said to defend herself but was interrupted by Charlotte.
“Leave the girl alone, and help me with this wreath,” she said, lifting the heaviest wreath Prudence had ever seen. “I must go and see Mrs. Chalmesbury soon, and see little William.”
The two gentlemen stepped over to rescue her, and Prudence was left alone with her own thoughts.
Leave the girl alone. She was no longer a girl, though none of her family seemed able to see that. Why, she had turned eighteen almost two months ago, and she was of age.
Besides, she did not need a line of gentlemen encircling Pendle Hall. There was only one man she wanted to meet under the mistletoe. This time, it would be different.
“Who is this Reverend Michaels?” Charlotte’s voice cut into Prudence’s mind.
“Old Alex? You remember, he came last year in that gaggle of gentleman William invited. He was the son of our vicar, back when we were peasants.”
William pushed him and laughed. “We were hardly peasants! We grew up with Alex, Charlotte, he is the same age as John here or roundabouts. Had a deep affection for Pru, didn’t he, John?”
Prudence’s gaze snapped to her brother as he nodded. “Scrumping, riding, running about like wild people. The two of them were untamable.”
She could not help but smile. Wonderful days. Childlike, innocent, but it was not long before she had started to consider Alexander as…well. Hers.
“And then this blighter inherited a dukedom, and poor old Michaels had to find a profession,” John continued, looking around the decorated hall in appreciation. “Became a vicar, poor sod.”
Charlotte’s voice rose in censure, but Prudence was no longer listening. She was lost in thoughts of Alexander.
Handsome, charming, his only fault was a lack of declarations of love for herself. He had been remarkably close, she was sure, last year. They had lingered together in the evening with everyone else in bed, and he had leaned forward and kissed her…
“–foolish, Alexander!”
Prudence was brought back into the room by the repetition of his name. William was laughing, and Charlotte seemed to be scolding John.
“Most unkind!”
“Can I help it if it is true?” John protested. “He will be here soon, so perhaps it is best if I get it all out of my system.”
He grinned at Prudence, clearly expecting her to join in with his merriment, and she forced a smile. Her heart was doing that uncomfortable thumping thing again. To think, Alexander will be here within the hour.
This year would be different. This year, Alexander would not look at her and see a child. She would find him under the mistletoe, and he would kiss her like a woman. Not on the cheek, but on the mouth.
“After all, he is only coming here for Christmas to save his own purse!” John chuckled.
A pang crept into Prudence’s heart. The same old jokes at Alexander’s expense.
William seemed to agree with her. “Now, that is getting rather old, John.”
“But ’tis true! You know how strange he gets with money, you cannot deny it, and he has become a greater miser every Christmas,” protested John.
Prudence glanced at Charlotte seated opposite her, but she was stroking her belly and cooing to the moving child who would be arriving before too long. She would not be arbitrating the debate between the brothers.
“I would not call him a miser,” said William with a reluctant grin. “He would not want to waste the words!”
The two brothers laughed, but they were interrupted by a heated defense from their youngest sister.
“Alexander does not have anywhere else to go for Christmas, as you well know!” Prudence could hardly believe she was speaking, but if she were serious about acting the woman this year and not the child, now was the time to start. “You know his sister and parents all passed away in the last few years, and Christmas is a time for family. Is he not the closest thing we have to our old lives?”
The hall echoed with her voice as her brothers stared.
Eventually, John said, “You know, sometimes I forget you are paying attention.”
Prudence was almost shaking. She had grown up idolizing her brothers, devoted to them, certain that everything they said or did was correct. Now she was not so sure. She had left behind childish things, but it was still difficult to disagree with William and John so openly.
“Why, you’re almost a woman, Pru,” William said slowly.
She said quietly, “I would say I am already. At least, I am almost Honora’s age when she married.”
William smiled. “Well, then perhaps our friend, the Reverend Michaels, will marry you.”
Prudence’s entire soul froze. Surely, they could not guess? Why would they know–none of them had ever spotted her under the mistletoe with Alexander, and she had not confided her feelings to anyone.
Perhaps…perhaps he had? Could it be possible Alexander had already spoken with William about their marriage?
“Do…do you think so?” she managed to say.
John nodded as he leaned on her chair. “Of course he will. Old Michaels will be happy to marry you to anyone, as long as you pay him the reverend fee.”
Prudence’s shoulders slumped. It was hard to ignore Alexander’s focus on wealth these last few years.
When she had been sixteen, she had barely noticed it, dazzled as she was by his smile. He had just taken orders then, and she had thought no one looked so handsome.
Last year, when she was seventeen, she had found it slightly grating, h
is frequent mentions of beneficence he had received from his parishioners. She had ignored it, her affection for him looking beyond that particular quirk.
They had even corresponded this year. Her stomach lurched as she remembered how carefully she had examined every single word of his handwriting, countless versions written in her own fine hand before she had been confident enough to send any of her letters.
His replies had not been so carefully considered if the ink splats and the frequent mentions of privation and savings were any judge.
She swallowed and tried to ignore William’s pointed suggestion that she had a gentleman in mind who the Reverend Michaels could marry her to.
When Alexander arrived, which would be any moment now, she would finally have her moment. It was always the mistletoe with them, but a chaste kiss, far more like brother and sister than husband and wife.
Not this year. Though her thoughts were scandalous, Prudence could no longer ignore the desire she felt. At some point during his Christmastide visit, she would find Alexander under the mistletoe and kiss him.
A Christmas love’s true kiss.
“By God, is that him?”
William’s question made her jerk to attention, looking up at the front door from behind which voices emanated.
“I think it is, you know,” John whispered conspiratorially. “Listen.”
The three siblings and Charlotte hushed to silence, and a voice came through the door as a servant struggled with the frozen catch.
“Yes, it was much easier than I believed to barter down the man who drove the carriage from Bromley,” said the voice. “And of course, I repeated the argument when I arrived at Ashford and saved myself another four shillings.”
The door opened. There stood a frozen looking footman and a tall man wrapped in a greatcoat, top hat, and a thin, threadbare scarf.
“Reverend Michaels,” said William warmly, stepping forward to greet his guest.
“Ah, Your Grace,” Reverend Michaels said, bowing low.
Roaring started in Prudence’s ears the moment Alexander appeared. He was just as handsome as before, though a little more tired looking than she remembered.
A year. A whole twelvemonth since she had last clapped eyes on him, and still her heart twisted in devotion as it had then–perhaps more so.
How was it possible he had gained in good looks in that time? As Chalmesbury stepped forward and helped the vicar off with his greatcoat, Prudence could not help but stare. Alexander was as tall as she had remembered. There were a few wrinkles around his eyes, but they did not age him. Rather, they gave him a maturity he had lacked before. A maturity that twisted something deep within her.
If only she had thought about this in advance. Prudence looked down at her day gown, chosen because she did not mind getting the holly, ivy, and mistletoe all over it. They almost always dressed for dinner, and the one day she did not…
“I had better stand, then,” whispered Charlotte with a smile at Prudence, struggling to rise with her heavy stomach weighing her down.
John leaned in with an arm, which she took gratefully. Smoothing down her gown, she stepped forward to greet her guest.
Prudence had instinctively started to rise, but she sank back down. She was no longer the mistress of the house, as she had been for two years. It had been more a formality for when important guests had visited. William had always jested he needed a woman of the house, and she was the best he had.
Not anymore. She looked wistfully at William and Charlotte as they greeted Alexander warmly. She could never have imagined William wed–her brother married to anyone was quite a thought.
“’Tis strange, is it not, seeing them together.”
John had spoken quietly. He had slid into Charlotte’s vacated seat and was watching them with a wry smile on his face.
She nodded. “I never thought William would marry, not really. It had always been us four against the world.”
He smiled. “What would you say if I said I was getting married, Pru?”
A smile crept across her face. “You cannot tease me that easily, John. I know you better than that. Why, I do not think anyone will trick you into matrimony. You are far more likely to end up a bachelor.”
Was there something sad in his eyes–something akin to disappointment? Prudence did not have time to consider him carefully, for Alexander’s voice now rose enough to catch his words.
“–and by staying just a day longer with yourselves, I will avoid the exorbitant rates these charlatans attempt to charge for Christmas travelers. ’Tis an outrage! Anyway, the six shillings saved through that careful economy will…”
Prudence stood up. It was time to introduce Alexander, not to the child he once knew under the mistletoe, but the woman he would be fortunate to find under the mistletoe.
Clearing her throat as she stepped across the hallway, Prudence knew exactly what she was going to say. She had rehearsed it most thoroughly before her looking glass that very morning, but as she reached Alexander talking so animatedly to William and Charlotte, she was overcome.
He was so handsome, so charming, the boy and then the man she had idolized for so long. And now, he was here.
“Alex!” she said with a smile, stepping forward and pulling him into an embrace.
Prudence’s eyes closed with joy as she felt his strong arms around her, his heady scent filling her lungs. Being this close to him was all she wanted for the rest of her life.
“P-Pru–Prudence!” Alexander’s splutters were quickly followed by a gentle shove that separated them.
She looked up into his eyes and smiled, but it faded almost immediately.
“My word,” he said gruffly. “Hullo, Lady Prudence.”
A tinge of embarrassment crept around her heart, but she could not regret her instincts. She wanted to be close to him, and she was determined to have him.
“Good evening, Alexander,” she said aloud with a twinkle in her eyes. “How wonderful to have you here for Christmas.”
Chapter Two
Alexander took a step away from the woman who purported to be little Pru Lennox.
She could not be. The Pru he remembered, the girl he had known for years, was a slight little thing, scrawny almost. A slip of a thing. A child.
Alexander stared at the woman who stood behind the Duke of Mercia and his wife. It could not be her.
This woman was elegant, womanly…sensual.
He shook himself. These were not the thoughts appropriate for a man of the cloth! To feel such …well, attraction. Attraction to Pru? It was nonsense.
“–snow poured down heavier than we thought,” Charlotte was saying. “But we thought you would still be able to make it through, and we are glad you have. Of course, in a few hours…”
Alexander nodded mutely, grateful Charlotte was carrying the conversation. His own mind was still reeling from the sensation of Pru’s arms around him, the way she had crushed her body against his own…
He swallowed. This was madness. He was here for Christmas with old friends, people he had known since they were all young. It was ridiculous to think of Pru Lennox–Lady Prudence, as she was now–with anything other than brotherly affection.
His gaze slipped to her, and his stomach lurched. The last time he had seen Pru, she had been but seventeen, still a wide-eyed innocent.
This woman was surely no longer that naïve. There was too much of her, which made his body cry out for another embrace, no matter how shocking that was.
Alexander cleared his throat as William picked up the conversation. “Yes, ’tis strange actually. There is always snow at Pendle Hall at Christmas. Apparently, the locals have a tradition…”
He could not drag his gaze from her, and worse, she had spotted it. Without saying a word or drawing attention from the others in the hall, Lady Prudence–was smiling.
That smile. It was intoxicating. Alexander rarely allowed himself a drink of any liquor, but the last time he had accepted a large glass of b
randy from a parishioner, his head had spun, and his heart fluttered wildly.
This was worse.
How was it possible that any woman could have this effect on him? He knew he caught the eye of some of the ladies in his congregation. He was not blind to his own charms but always kept a respectable distance from the young debutantes of the Season. He had nothing to offer them.
Damnit! Pru’s smile was widening. Everything in him wanted to shift toward her, close the gap between them. It was only a foot, a mere twelve inches. If he side-stepped…
No.! He had managed to remain single, purposefully so, for years. He was not going to allow his head to be turned by a chit of a thing now. Even if that chit was Pru.
He forced his face into solemnity, wrenching away his gaze and paying more heed to the duke’s words.
“–but I think little of it,” he finished with a smile. “Come, your Reverence–”
“Oh, no,” Alexander said awkwardly. It was bad enough his childhood friends should be elevated to such high titles. The last thing he wanted was for his own mediocre title to be thrown about. “Michaels will be absolutely adequate.”
There was a snort, but not from the three around him. Alexander’s gaze lifted above William’s shoulder and saw his brother, John, lounging in a seat by the fire.
John always was a jester, but now it was usually at other peoples’ expense.
“Michaels,” Alexander repeated, more strongly this time. “We must preserve the ranks of distinction, mustn’t we, Your Grace?”
Was that a look of mirth from the duke’s face? A look of surprise from Charlotte? Disappointment from Pru?
“Yes, well, Michaels,” William said graciously. “I hope you brought enough luggage for your visit, I only saw one trunk brought in by Chalmesbury.”
Alexander forced himself to attend. He was a guest here, and it was time he acted like it. “Yes, just the one. I am careful with my choice of packing, and was able to keep it to just the one trunk.”
“Much cheaper to travel with,” came John’s voice from the chair by the fire.
“Indeed, yes,” Alexander nodded. “Much more convenient.”
O Night Divine: A Holiday Collection of Spirited Christmas Tales Page 62