Elaine’s face flushes and she glares at me but I’m too busy gaping at the transformation that has overtaken the casual Irishman that always has that tinge of laughter at the corner of his face. His accent is smoother, a hint of British in it, with an arrogance that I’ve only seen in him the first time I had met him. His back is straight and I see a person I would never have cared for and I realize that this is the Duke of WestHallor before me.
I don’t like the arrogant Duke and prefer my mischievous Irishman, who drives me crazy rather than this man. But I also trust Finn so I keep my mouth shut, lifting my gaze to meet that of Elaine’s. My attitude is calm and I can see that she is struggling to hold on to her mask of elegance.
Then she says, stiffly, “I don’t have to be polite to someone like her.”
“Oh?”
I can’t see Finn’s profile but his tone is cool.
“So the fiancee of the Duke of WestHallor is beneath your notice? I never knew you had your head stuck up so high in the clouds.”
His calm declaration has Elaine’s skin paling, and she whispers, shaken, “What are you saying, Finn? You know you and I are—?”
Finn waves his hand at her, cutting her off. “And I told you that I don’t intend to carry through with that. That was something our families decided when I was just a kid. I had no say in it. I thought we were very clear on that.”
Elaine’s face is completely red and she presses her lips together in a thin line. Pausing, she studies him and then a smug confidence enters her eyes as she lowers her tone so that only Finn and I can hear, “Don’t be ridiculous, Finn. Your family needs the financial backing that only my family can provide. Without it, your grandmother will be a laughing stock in society. You really think this little slut can provide your family with any of the support that I can? I was tolerant before and I thought that you just needed to get your wild side out of the way by all the women you kept bringing to your bed. But this has gone on far enough. I won’t stand for this.”
I step to the side where I can see Finn’s profile and I see the cold amusement on his face.
“So, let me see if I understand you?” he asks. “You’re saying that you let me date women? So it was all with your permission? How benevolent of you.”
Elaine narrows her eyes at him. “Think of your grandmother, Finn. I talked to her yesterday. She agrees with me. She wants you to escort me to your family ball. Our families will announce our engagement then.”
“Oh, they will, will they?” Finn is watching her in a way that reminds me again of predator watching its prey. That wolf is preparing to pounce.
Elaine seems to be under the impression that she is starting to gain some ground.
I don’t know how stupid the woman is to think she’s winning this but she gives Finn a triumphant look, “Your little company can’t sustain the title of Dukedom, so although your attempt was cute, it’s pointless.” Now that she thinks she has Finn cornered, she’s starting to show her true colors.
Does she really think that Finn would still marry her after this?
From the look on her face, she does.
When Finn doesn’t say anything, she seems to be under the impression that he knows he’s lost and she continues, “I own forty eight percent of the shares. I’ve seen the profits, Finn. They’re good but it’s still coffee shop chain. Not exactly something to be proud of. Don’t be a fool like your father, chasing after trash—”
Her words aren’t even out when my hand comes in contact with her cheek in a resounding slap, my whole body alive with fury. The anger isn’t mine. It’s Finn’s. It’s for him. He can’t – He won’t hit a woman but I have no reservations.
Elaine’s eyes are wide in her face, shock written all over it as she stares at me as if I’m some sort of monster.
Looks like the little princess hasn’t ever been hit in her life.
“Call me trash all you want.” I snarl. “Call his mother that one more time and I’ll thrash you into the ground!”
Finn’s hand comes to loosely circle my wrist and he yanks me into his chest, my back against it, and I can feel his heart racing. Whether in anger or at the fact that I just slapped Elaine, I don’t know. But my blood is boiling because I know how much Finn treasures the memory of his parents and to hear his mother being insulted is more than I can bear. I have a feeling from what he’s mentioned about his grandmother that she too, never took kindly to his mother and was vocal about it. I can’t do anything about her but I will take this bitch down!
“H-How dare you?” Elaine stammers amidst all the gasps in the diner. “How dare you touch me? Do you know who I am?!”
I struggle in Finn’s hold. “Let go of me, Finn! I’m not done with her yet!”
Finn’s short laugh is helpless as he holds me tighter, preventing me from escaping. “I think you have, Darlin’. People like her don’t even deserve your anger.”
“She needs a damn beating to bring her down from her high horse.” All my struggles are in vain because he’s stronger than me.
“Be a good girl,” he whispers in my ear, his voice husky. “And let me handle this.”
I go limp in his hold when I realize I can’t win against him and I snap my teeth at Elaine.
She flinches.
Finn’s breath is hot against my neck and I can’t help but shiver. I can feel him looking at the woman who has just insulted his mother and me, numerous times.
“Clara can do anything she damn well pleases,” Finn seethes at her. “If you try to make a scene out of this, I can do a lot worse to your family. You are truly a stupid woman, Elaine, if you think I’ve only had my eggs in one basket. You think I don’t know how your family has been trying to oppress mine for the past few decades? You’ve only been privy to one of my businesses.” He reaches in his pocket and takes out an envelope, tossing it at her feet. “Pick it up. The details might be of interest to you.”
Elaine is still cupping her up cheek and she stares at the envelope at her feet, not moving, Finn’s words having struck her with blinding shock.
“Pick it up,” Finn orders and there’s a tinge of sharp authority in his tone.
His voice makes the woman slowly lean down and pick it up. She takes out the folded paper inside and as her eyes move over the contents within, her face pales even more, her hands trembling. “What is this?”
I can feel Finn smiling. “I have controlling share in all the companies that your family owns. My investments are more than double of those that you have. While these are my achievements alone, I can and will put them behind my family. I can crush your entire empire overnight. I am not my grandmother’s puppet anymore. I haven’t been so for many years.” He stands up and releases me, stepping closer to Elaine. “My advice would be to leave this town and start watching your step. And tell your family, I’ll be watching them. One misstep, and I will withdraw every investment into your companies and their stocks will crash overnight.”
“Y-you wouldn’t do that!” Elaine’s eyes are filling up with tears.
I feel no sympathy for her, seeing how she’d been threatening Finn so blatantly before.
Finn lifts a brow at her. “I will. Now, if I were you, I’d offer my fiance an apology for insulting her, attempting to threaten her and trying to spread rumors about her.”
Elaine’s hands are curled into fists and there is not an ounce of blood in her face. She looks quite pitiful. Utterly humiliated and browbeaten, she turns to me, and her voice is shaking, as she whispers, a mixture of hatred and fear in her eyes, “I apologize.”
I don’t say anything. I just tilt my head in acknowledgement.
She casts a terrified look at Finn before turning on her heels and rushing out.
As the door closes behind her, the silence within the diner is deafening, everyone is staring at Finn with a new respect.
“Well…” I clear my throat.
Finn turns to face me.
I say, “That was quite something.”
He grins and his cold expression melts. I have my Irishman back, “It’s not over yet.”
I blink, “What do you—”
Suddenly, he’s kneeling on the ground.
My gaze drops to him and I’m stuck with an ominous feeling, “Hey, no. Get up.”
He smirks. “Well, since you’ve been running around calling yourself my fiance, I thought we should just make it official.”
I back into the counter, trapped by this devious man, warning him, “Finn, I mean it —“
A ring box is in his hands as he raises it up. “Clara Winter, Agra, love of my life…” There’s a wicked glint in his eyes and I know he’s enjoying my discomfort. “Heart of my heart, Keeper of my soul, light of my—”
“Fine! I’ll marry you!” I wail out. “Just stop!”
He grins and the ring is on my finger before I know it and I’m being lifted up in the air as he laughs and people are cheering.
My arms wrap around his neck and I lower my head to kiss him. “Manipulative bastard,” I whisper, my eyes twinkling.
He smirks. “And yet, you agreed to marry me.”
My heart is racing as he swallows my next jibe in a fierce kiss.
That Christmas, Finn doesn’t go back to the cold dreary estate and instead, spends it with me and my family. I watch him laugh with my aunts after easily integrating himself into my family. All I can do is watch him and feel hopelessly in love with the man who forced his way into my life, stolen my heart, and swept me off my feet. All, while tying me to himself so quickly and efficiently without giving me room to protest.
I don’t know if I’m his Christmas miracle or if he’s mine, but all I know is that he’s the best thing that’s ever walked into my life and I intend to keep him.
Epilogue
Finn
Five years later….
I enter the house and slam the door shut behind me, calling out, “The lights are working!”
“Daddy!” A four-year old boy in a green onesie with pictures of reindeers on it, runs towards me.
I scoop him up in my arms. “Where’s your mom?” I ask.
“At Gram’s place. She said she had to pick up the presents.”
I waggle my brows. “Want to go see your grandmas?”
Eric McCarthy, the next in line to be the Duke of WestHallor, burrows his face in my neck. “Gram Vee said that she’s baking gingerbread cookies.”
I nod my head eagerly. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go pick up your mother and your sister. Selina must be missing you.”
I bundle up my son in his jacket and we make our way down the beautifully lit street. I wave at the neighbors who’re putting finishing touches on their Christmas decorations and turn down offers for eggnog.
It’s been five years since I walked into the bar that fateful night and met the fierce, stubborn woman that I would end up being my wife. And I haven’t regretted a single moment of these past five years. Clara is hot headed and fiercely protective of me and her family. When I first met her, she was a prickly little thing with sharp claws that could make a man bleed,. But the more she swiped me with them, the more I wanted to tame her, to own her. Her claws have sheathed over the years and yet, when I really want to provoke her, she takes them out to give me a warning swipe.
My dangerous little kitten.
I never thought I’d find the love of my life hidden away in a small town like this or that she would make me fall head over heels in love with her.
After losing my parents, I was taken away from my home town to live under the guardianship of a woman who despised my mother. A woman who didn’t want to see me because I was a reminder of what she’d lost. Life had made me hard and cold. I’d been living a meaningless existence with only one goal and that was to rebuild the family fortune. One meeting with Clara had me revealing parts of myself that I had buried for years.
Her wary presence drew out my playful nature, willing me to see what she was hiding underneath her hard armor. I found that she was the kind of woman who had ambition and a sharply protective nature. And I wanted her. When watched her interacting with people, the way she smiled at them, I wanted that for myself.
And I got it.
Being married has changed both of us. I’ve become more stable and found the close knitted kind of community life that I seem to thrive in and Clara has become softer and even lovelier.
I’m still a Duke. I hold that title, to pass it down to my son when he comes of age. But the relationship between me and my grandmother has truly mended with the birth of my two children. The prospect of two great grandchildren who adore her has her doting on them, incessantly and it’s not a strange occurrence to find her being a frequent visitor to Wicca Springs. We take the kids to the estate in the summers for a few weeks every year but the rest of the time, my grandmother keeps visiting us.
She prefers staying with Vee and Helen. She gets along great with the two of them and she’s been strangely accepting of my wary wife. She no longer holds the Christmas ball that has been a tradition of our family for generations, instead choosing to spend Christmas here with us. It can be a little awkward because she likes giving the children over the top gifts which have to be returned because they’re too much. Clara insists on raising them simply, without over the top grandeur and I agree with this.
Money and ambition, can all come later.
With Eric in my arms, I enter the house, and the smell of freshly baked goods reaches my nose. I release the boy who makes a beeline into the kitchen, shouting, “Gramma!”
I glimpse my two year old daughter curled up on the couch, dozing off and I decide to go check on her first before announcing my presence.
Selina has Clara’s brown eyes and my dark hair while Eric is the opposite mesh of both. She has the same birthmark on her wrist as Clara, Vee and Helen do. While my wife likes to scoff at it, I like to think that my baby girl has a little bit of magic in her.
I smile tenderly at the child sleeping so peacefully on the couch, knowing that the minute she wakes up, she’s going to transform into a little demon.
“Finn?”
Clara’s surprised voice reaches my ears and I straighten up to see her descending the stairs.
“What are you doing here?” she asks.
I stride over to her and grab her by the waist, pulling her to me. “I missed my wife.”
She raises a doubtful brow. “Really? So this has nothing to do with the fact that Aunt Vee is making gingerbread men?”
I put a hurt expression on my face. “Darlin’, how can you think that? I came for you.”
She slaps me on top of my head, lightly, a smirk on her lips. “Liar.” Then she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me on the tip of my nose. “Do you really have to go your office after New Year’s?”
My Clara can be so demanding with her affections and so adorable when she looks at me in that wistful way. I fall a little bit more in love with her every day. “It’s just for a day. And I’ll be back so quickly that you won’t even notice it.”
My words don’t assure her and she sighs. “I hate it when you go.”
I laugh, delighted. “And you say I’m a pain in the ass.”
She bites the lobe of my ear. “You are a pain in the ass.”
My eyes darken, and my voice is thick with desire. “Careful, Darlin’.”
She trembles in my hold.
The gaze that I meet is wanton and vulnerable and if we were home, I’d have whisked her into our room, stripped off her jeans and taken her there and then.
But we’re not home. The house is filled with three nosy women and two toddlers who love pointing out locked doors and demanding that they be opened.
The wicked look in Clara’s eyes makes me swallow and I’m about to warn her when she rubs her hand against the bulge in my pants. I grind my teeth as I warn, “You’re asking to be punished.”
She grins. “So?”
I have her against the wall in an instant, my mouth on
hers as I hold her hands hostage above her head, my hand rubbing against her pussy over the cloth of her jeans.
She moans in my mouth, letting out small helpless sounds, bucking against my hand which is torturing her.
Her cries make me even harder and for a second, I debate taking her in the upstairs bathroom when I hear the familiar sound of my son talking excitedly.
In a second, Clara is released and I force her to stand in front of me, so I that I can calm down and not traumatize my child.
Eric exits the kitchen, crumbs on his mouth and he stares at us.
We stare back at him.
The silence is awkward for us and curious for him.
Deciding to break it, he points at us and say loudly, “Mom, why is your face red?”
Clara doesn’t have much of a chance to say anything before my grandmother walks in, leaning heavily on her cane. It takes her under a minute to realize what we had been up to, and she gives us both a disapproving look. “There are children present.”
“Gram, gram.” Eric looks up at her, “Why is Mama red?”
It’s Aunt Vee who saves the day by scooping him up and dragging him back in. “Come help me ice the gingerbread men.”
I grin and look down at Clara just as she elbows me in the stomach, and makes her escape.
Only me and my grandmother are left in the room.
She sighs. “Can’t you two practice any self restraint?”
“She started it!”
My grandmother scoffs at this. “I don’t think so.”
For some reason, despite Clara not being of noble birth as my grandmother likes to put it, she’s oddly taken with my wife so everything is usually my fault in her eyes.
I just roll my eyes.
Then she asks, “Are you attending Elaine’s wedding in March?”
My demeanor grows cold. “No. And you don’t have to go either.”
“Cecelia personally came to invite me. She wants to mend—”
“They’re just scared of what I can do to them. Go if you want to but my family has nothing to do with them. Besides, Danny and Sharon are getting married in March and I’m the best man.”
Wintertime Love: A Christmas Billionaire Small Town Romance Page 18