December Heart

by Merry Farmer

  “I held my ground because I was too foolish not to plan a strategic retreat,” he argued.

  She shook her head. “You stayed here with me, in spite of William, because Starcross Castle is as much a part of you as your beautiful, white hair.”

  She raised a hand to thread her fingers through it. Peter was reminded of how it felt to have her tug his hair when they were in the throes of passion. His body responded instantly, and he tightened his hold on her.

  “The only home I know is wherever I’m with you,” he said, his voice filled with longing. “And I am willing to fight for this home with everything I have within me.”

  Before she could protest, he slanted his mouth over hers in a kiss. It felt as though an eternity had passed since their last kiss, and every fiber of his being rejoiced. She gave into him with a sigh, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him back with equal passion. How could he have let the everyday cares of the world intrude on the magic that existed between the two of them? His weary, old, December heart had found its home in her. For the first time in his long life, he knew what true, deep love felt like.

  “You know,” he said, his voice deep and rumbling as he broke their kiss and rested his forehead against hers. “With everyone dashing about the garden playing hide-and-seek, we could slip upstairs and make up for the time we’ve lost.”

  “What an intriguing idea, my lord,” Mariah hummed in return. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed sharing your bed.”

  “You could show me,” he suggested in a tone so sultry he was certain she would laugh at him.

  “I could.” She moved a hand to his chest, sliding it slowly downward.

  Peter couldn’t help but kiss her again, reveling in the taste of her, the way her body fit so well against his. He had half a mind to take her right there in the garden, if he could just—

  “There you are.” Domenica flounced around the corner, out of breath. As soon as she saw Peter and Mariah’s passionate embrace, she gasped, “Oh. I’m so sorry.” She started to leave, but bit her lip and turned back with a wince. “It’s just that you might like to know that no one has been able to find Victoria.”

  “No one?” Mariah pulled back, not quite leaving his embrace. Her cheeks were pink, which made Peter’s blood pump harder.

  “No one,” Domenica repeated. “And William is missing too.” She hesitated, then added, “So are his friends.”

  Peter let out a frustrated growl, taking Mariah’s hands and starting for the path. “I knew this silly game was an excuse for William to get up to no good.”

  “We’d better find Victoria before she gets into more trouble than she can handle,” Mariah agreed.

  They raced off with Domenica to solve yet another problem. The way things were going, William’s efforts to keep Peter and Mariah apart might end up being more effective than he anticipated.

  Chapter 18

  Mariah was ready to murder her sister. Or at least lock her in the tower of the medieval part of Starcross Castle. It took the better part of an hour to find Victoria. An hour that she could have spent in Peter’s arms. Because, at last, she felt as though she and Peter had found the solid ground they needed to build their marriage on. Her heart had nearly broken when she’d put two and two together while listening to his sad tale. But not only had she suddenly understood what Anne’s motivation to pursue a child at all costs could be, she remembered the afternoon she and Peter had first met, their conversation by the river. She remembered all the reasons she had chosen to marry him when he had given her the chance to back out.

  She loved him. There was no telling when it had happened, but seeing the suffering in his eyes had made her problems seem trivial. And feeling the way he responded to the simplest show of affection filled her with a power that no one, not even William, could vanquish. She would give Peter the happiness he deserved.

  Just as soon as she wrung her sister’s neck.

  “We’ve looked all over the gardens, my lord,” Nick reported as the house party guests gathered in the French garden at the back of the house. “Miss Victoria isn’t anywhere to be found.”

  “Do you think she’s trying to fool us all by hiding in the house?” Captain Tennant asked, staring up at the windows of Starcross Castle.

  “For two hours?” Peter asked, frowning.

  “Victoria could get into a lot of trouble in two hours,” Mariah sighed, rubbing her stomach.

  She had just decided to march into the house, intent on turning every room inside out, when Malcolm strode out through the French doors, holding a struggling Davy by the collar.

  “Get off me, let go!” Davy protested, but Malcolm held him tight.

  Peter rolled his eyes before settling into a look of righteous fury and striding across the garden to meet them. “What’s going on here?” he demanded.

  Mariah rushed to his side as Malcolm said, “Schoolboy pranks multiplied to the point where they become dangerous.” He held up a large envelope.

  Peter took the envelope and opened it, flinching at the powdery contents. “What’s this?”

  He started to sniff it, but Malcolm threw out a hand to stop him. “It’s a mixture of ground rose hip, stinging nettles, and velvet beans.” When both the deVeres and the Tennants stared at him in confusion, Malcolm went on with, “Commonly known as itching powder.”

  “Itching powder?” Mariah blinked and shook her head.

  “Like I said, a schoolboy prank,” Malcolm went on. “But not at this potency, and not when sprinkled through bed linens.”

  “Whose bed linens?” Peter asked, scowling at Davy.

  “Yours, of course,” Malcolm said. “And Mariah’s.”

  Mariah’s eyes went wide, and she glared at Davy. “You? You’re William’s accomplice?”

  “I didn’t,” Davy sputtered. “I never.”

  She didn’t believe him. Innocent men didn’t squirm and look at their master with terror in their eyes.

  “Take him to Snyder,” Peter said in a low voice. “Have his room searched. And ask Mrs. Harmon if Davy had access to Mariah’s tainted soup.”

  “Of course he did,” Mariah said. “He served it. He serves all our food.”

  “There’s one mystery solved,” Domenica murmured from a few steps behind Mariah.

  “Get rid of him,” Peter repeated.

  Malcolm nodded, dragging the protesting footman off.

  “It’s a good thing Malcolm caught the bastard,” Captain Tennant said, thumping Peter’s shoulder. “Aren’t you allergic to nettles?”

  “Very,” Peter growled. “And William knows it.”

  “I know what?” William bounded onto the scene with a bright smile and red cheeks, as though he’d run up from the village.

  Mariah was ready to give him the slap he deserved, but Peter held up a hand to stop her. He wore his look of stony fury, but did little more than narrow his eyes.

  “Your mole has been caught,” he said. “Itching powder?” He took a step toward William, shaking his head as though William were twelve. “What kind of juvenile prank are you planning next? Will you dip Mariah’s pigtails in ink to try to upset her into leaving?”

  “Actually,” Mariah admitted, stepping forward. “He may have already tried that. Or something similar. It seems as though half my dresses were—” She cleared her throat, suddenly embarrassed about what Ginny had showed her the day before. “—urinated on. The stains may not come out.”

  Peter’s jaw clenched. “Explain yourself.”

  William wasn’t moved at all. He shrugged. “Sounds like someone with an infantile mind has been tweaking your nose, Uncle.”

  “I believe I know exactly who that mind belongs to,” Peter seethed.

  “Davy, apparently,” William went on, breaking into a lop-sided grin. “He fits the bill, after all. Barely twenty, overworked, resentful after you promoted Llewellyn to the position of mine foreman instead of him.”

  “Davy never expressed any interest in working at
the mines,” Peter said.

  “Or perhaps you never cared to listen to him.” William clicked his tongue and shook his head. “I think it’s a clear-cut case of lower-class jealousy, don’t you think?”

  “It’s jealousy, all right,” Captain Tennant said, crossing his arms.

  “I’ve always known what you were capable of.” Peter shook his head. “But I never realized how low you would stoop.”

  “Me?” William pretended to be affronted. “What do I have to do with any of this?”

  “There’s no point in pretending innocence anymore.” Mariah stepped forward. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so furious. “Whatever ploys you have to trick Peter into kicking you out, whatever plans you have to keep the two of us apart or to drive me away so that Peter never has an heir, they’re all for naught.”

  “You think so?” William crossed his arms, looking down his nose at her.

  “I know so. All we have to do is wait.”

  “Auntie dear, perhaps your mummy failed to mention these things to you, but you’ll have to do a great deal more before the stork will flutter down to your doorstep.”

  It was Mariah’s turn to grin in triumph. She placed a hand on her stomach. “Yes. I know. And Mama was absolutely right when she said that older men make the best lovers.”

  It was crude and far more personal than she ever would have dreamed of being in any other circumstance, but her announcement hit its mark. William’s smug expression froze, then gradually soured until he was grimacing at Mariah. At her hand on her stomach.

  “No.” He shook his head. “It’s too soon. And you couldn’t have. I made sure of it.”

  “We married several days before returning to Starcross Castle,” Peter said, his voice grim, his smile victorious.

  “But this is preposterous,” William sputtered on. “An old relic like you? You couldn't possibly.”

  “What’s ridiculous is the assumption that a woman would only want a short-sighted young whelp like you,” Domenica said, planting her hands on her hips. “But then, I saw how blinded you are by your own self-importance the first time I met you.”

  William sneered at her, but stayed focused on Mariah. “You think you’re clever, do you?”

  “I don’t think I’m clever,” she answered. “But I am Peter’s wife, and soon I will be the mother of his child and heir. Where will that leave you?”

  “Look who I found on my way back from handing Davy over to Snyder?” Lord Malcolm stepped out into the tension of the garden stand-off once more, this time leading Victoria.

  “Look at this,” Victoria said with a nervous laugh. “I brought you all together in the same place like sardines after all.”

  Mariah took a step toward her sister, ready to give her a stern lecture. Until she noticed that Victoria’s hair was tousled, her skirt was badly wrinkled, and her bodice was buttoned wrong. She sent a furious look to William instead. “How could you?”

  “With pleasure,” William drawled. He turned his sickening grin to Peter. “Ready to throw me out yet?”

  Peter bared his teeth, balled a fist, and lunged at William, but Captain Tennant reached out to catch him before he could land any blows. Victoria screamed, and Mariah stood frozen between wanting to punch William herself and cry out for it all to stop.

  It was Lord Malcolm who reached William first. He grabbed the younger man’s arm and twisted it behind William’s back with so much force that William pitched forward, his face hitting the grass. Lord Malcolm planted a foot on the small of William’s back and bent to whisper, “Peter might not be able to throw you out without losing half his estate, but if you stay, there’s nothing to keep me from slicing you from throat to balls while you sleep.”

  William let out an unmanly whimper, but Lord Malcolm only pulled his arm tighter. Peter gestured to Captain Tennant to let him go, and as soon as he was free, he shook his arms out and straightened his jacket. “I refuse to banish you from Starcross Castle,” he said loud enough for everyone to hear. “And I refuse to allow you to lock your bedroom doors as well.” He glanced to Lord Malcolm.

  “Oh, he can lock his doors all he wants,” Lord Malcolm said. “I have ways of getting around that.”

  “I’ll go, I’ll go,” William wept.

  “I’ll have Snyder help you pack at once,” Peter said. His voice was as cold as stone, but his eyes flashed with victory.

  “One more thing,” Lord Malcolm said, letting William’s arm go, but continuing to stand on his back. “Where are your friends, Poole and Robinson?”

  “I don’t know,” William stammered. “Truly, I don’t know.” Malcolm must have pressed down with his foot, because William yelped in pain. “I’m telling the truth. I haven’t spoken to them since this morning.”

  “Are you sure he’s not lying?” Mariah asked.

  “I’m not lying. Ask Victoria. I’ve been with her since I left the parlor to search for her.”

  Dreading what she would see, Mariah turned to her sister. “Is he telling the truth?”

  Victoria looked guiltier than Mariah had ever seen her. “Yes, it’s true. We…we had an arrangement. I didn’t really hide. I went straight back into the house, to…to my bedroom. William met me there.” She lowered her head, her cheeks blazing.

  “Victoria, for shame.” Mariah marched up to her, wanting to take her by the arms and shake her senseless for ruining herself the way she had. “What would Mama and Papa say?”

  Victoria met her eyes with a peevish pout. “We didn’t do anything. William was a perfect gentleman. He read me poetry.” She sent a moony look to William, who crossed his arms in smug satisfaction.

  “Oh, Victoria.” Mariah pressed a hand to her eyes, wanting to weep over her sister’s stupidity.

  “Don’t ‘oh, Victoria’ me.” Victoria stomped. “William is handsome and dashing, and he has a beautiful townhouse in London and a fancy carriage and a great many friends. And nothing untoward happened.”

  Mariah’s eyes snapped wide. “What do you know about his London townhouse?”

  “Only that he promised to take me there once we’re married.” Victoria tilted her chin up in defiance.

  “My foolish dear,” Mariah groaned. “The house in question likely belongs to Peter. And I doubt very much that William ever intended to marry you.”

  “He did,” Victoria insisted. “He does. Otherwise I would never have let him kiss me.” She gasped, clapping a hand to her mouth.

  “I think we’ve had just about enough of this,” Peter said. “Malcolm, take William up to his room. If he chooses to stay there, then so be it. But I’ll send Snyder around to see if he’d like help with anything. Such as packing.” He turned away from William as though he never wanted to see him again. “Victoria, I am deeply sorry for allowing you to fall into this unfortunate position, and I promise you that whatever help you may need in the future, should your reputation suffer because of my nephew, I will give it.”

  “Reputation?” Victoria laughed, but there was a nervous quickness to the way she looked at everyone who was watching her. “Suffer? What do you mean? Nothing happened. No one will know anything. Unless you tell them.” She gasped. “You wouldn’t be so cruel as to make one little kiss a cause for public scandal, would you?”

  Mariah took her hand with a sigh. “No one is going to say anything, but still. Come into the house. I’ll have tea brought up, and you can tell me the full extent of the damage.”

  With a longing look at Peter, Mariah led Victoria toward the door to the morning parlor. Domenica whispered something to her husband, then hurried after them. “I thought you could use some support,” she told Mariah.

  After the excitement of the morning, the afternoon turned suddenly anticlimactic. Listening to Victoria confess to what she considered much ado about nothing was as far from the euphoria she’d felt with Peter’s arms around her in Anne’s garden.

  “I should have kept a closer eye on her,” Mariah confessed after supper
, after an exhausted evening of conversation with the guests, and after donning her nightgown and heading straight to Peter’s room once everyone went to bed for the evening. “With everything else going on, I simply lost track of what was most important.”

  Peter laughed as he shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it into his dressing room. “Now you know how I’ve felt every moment since bringing you home.”

  Mariah grinned and crossed the room to slide her arms around his waist. He closed her in a hug that infused her, body and soul, with warmth. It had been far too long since she’d held him, since she’d breathed in his scent and felt his heart beat next to hers.

  But before she could get too comfortable, she leaned back. “Did you ever find Poole and Robinson?”

  Peter huffed a wry laugh. “They were at the pub in Truro.”

  “Really?”

  “Oddly enough, yes. The way they tell it, as soon as they met up in the garden after searching for Victoria, they decided the game was ridiculous and opted for a pint instead.”

  Mariah frowned. “And you believe them?”

  Peter tightened his arms around her, resting his cheek against the side of her head. “I want to believe them. I want to believe that they really are just friends that William decided to invite to the house to spite me.”

  “But you don’t think that’s true?”

  He let out a breath, shifting so that he cupped her face with both hands. “Could we put off thinking about it until tomorrow? I have much nicer things I’d like to think about at the moment.”

  Poole and Robinson were instantly forgotten, and Mariah smiled. She lifted to her toes and kissed Peter lightly, then with more insistence. He brushed his thumbs over her cheeks and kissed her back with all the lingering tenderness of a man who was sipping chocolate for the first time. His lips caressed hers, and his tongue brushed along the seam of her mouth. She opened to him at once, drinking him in and sliding her tongue along his.