by Alexa Aston
“You’ll make a wonderful mother, Felicity. Kind and patient and inspiring.” He sighed when she turned her head away and said nothing. “You will. I–”
He was about to say something more when interrupted by the tinkle of the bell above the bookshop door. It must have shut and opened again, for it continued to ring. First, light footsteps skittered across the shop. Then it sounded as though an entire army was marching in. “I’ll go see what’s happening. Don’t you dare climb out of bed.”
She sorely wanted to, but her body would not cooperate. Her left arm was broken and her right ankle was still swollen from its sprain. It made walking impossible for the moment. “Angus! Is it the laudanum addling my senses, or is that the aroma of roast goose wafting through the kitchen?”
Angus was staring at the goings on in her bookshop, too busy grinning at her visitors to respond.
Felicity bolted upright upon recognizing the cheerful voices…but it couldn’t be. “Poppy, what are you doing here? Your guests will be arriving at any moment! Oh, I was supposed to return The Book of Love to you this evening. It’s right there, on my bureau. I’m so sorry.”
Poppy glided into her bedchamber, her dark woolen cloak swirling about her booted ankles as she came to Felicity’s side and plunked herself down at the edge of the bed. Her smile was as incandescent as the fire glowing in the hearth. “I’m not here because of the book, but I hope you had the chance to read it.”
“I did. Several times over.”
Olivia and Penelope traipsed in soon after, their noses and cheeks pink from the cold. Pip, who was Penelope’s impish cousin, was with them. Despite his penchant for mischief, he was a sweet boy, and Felicity liked him very much.
Olivia took off her bonnet and set aside her muff before taking the chair near her bed. Penelope shrugged out of her cloak and sat on the other side of her bed.
Pip hopped over her three friends and knelt beside Felicity, resting his arms on the mattress, his big eyes peering over it as he looked at her with a big grin on his face.
Poppy took her hand, her touch warm and gentle. “We’ve reshuffled.”
Felicity blinked. “What do you mean?”
Olivia’s smile was also angelic as she spoke up. “It was to be a small Christmas gathering anyway. And our husbands could do with a night away from us. So the aunts, Lavinia and Matilda, will serve as hostesses at Sherbourne while we dine here with you.”
Felicity gasped. “You can’t!”
“We can and just did,” Penelope said with a nod. “You won’t be rid of us so easily. Olivia’s staff is setting out our meal on the long table in your bookshop. You needn’t fret, we have it all in hand. Can you walk? You look terribly banged up.”
“She is,” Angus said from the doorway. “I’ll carry her in. She isn’t steady on her feet yet. She’ll just topple if she tries to walk.”
Felicity’s eyes were bright and gleaming. “Why would you do this? Leave all your important guests to come to me?”
Penelope arched an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you do the same for any of us?”
“Yes, of course. But I’m no one of importance.” She looked up at Angus as he approached her bedside.
His eyes were glinting with affection as he approached and bent on one knee beside her. “Seems your friends hold a different opinion.”
Olivia withdrew a little packet from her cloak. “We’ve brought you some gifts. We’d planned on exchanging them tomorrow, but I think Beast, Nathaniel, and Thad will howl if we abandon them on Christmas day as well.” She handed Felicity the packet. “Here, open it now if you like.”
She took it with a whispered ‘thank you’ and unwrapped it. “They’re beautiful,” she said, holding up a set of embroidered, lace handkerchiefs.
Penelope dipped into her cloak and withdrew her own packet. “This is from me and Lavinia. We were in Oxford and came across the loveliest perfume shop. This scent is frankincense, it’s a little pine and lemon and fragrant wood. And this one is myrrh.”
Smiling, Felicity opened the decorative bottle and inhaled lightly. “This one reminds me of black licorice. My favorite!”
Poppy reached into her muff and withdrew her own packet. “This is from me and Nathaniel.”
Felicity opened it and gasped. “A locket! Oh, Poppy, it’s beautiful.” It was too much, a gold locket in the shape of a heart. She held it up to show the vicar who had just come into the room and was now staring at them all with a look of utter confusion on his face.
“Blessed saints,” he said hoarsely, continuing to stare, now with his mouth agape.
Felicity smiled at him. “Vicar, isn’t it wonderful? I think this shall be my best Christmas ever.” She held up the locket, smiling as it shone brilliantly when caught in the glow of firelight. She showed him the other gifts, then opened up the locket. Tears welled in her eyes, for painted inside were miniature portraits of the three ladies.
“Blessed saints,” the vicar repeated in a breathless whisper, still staring at them so oddly, Felicity was beginning to worry that he’d bumped his head and was now dazed.
Angus frowned. “Adam, what’s wrong? You’re pale as the snow and your hands are trembling. You’re starting to worry all of us. Say something.”
He shook his head. “Do you not see what I see?”
They all glanced at each other before turning back to him, still at a loss. Angus cleared his throat. “Apparently, we don’t. Care to explain?”
“The Nativity. You,” he said to Angus, “and Felicity. Yes, she’s in bed because of a broken arm…but you’re by her side. And the child, Pip, is… And the three Magi.” He smiled at Poppy, Penelope, and Olivia. “The three wise women in this instance. Bearing gifts. Bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Oh, Lord.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Truly. Oh, Lord.”
Angus rose to go to his friend, but Adam waved him away with a tearful smile. “Your place is beside Felicity. Happy Christmas, my friend. I need to take a long walk and think. You need to think as well, but not too long. She’s a jewel. Don’t let her get away.”
“I won’t, Adam. I’ll take care of it tonight. Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
“Yes.” He turned to look at Felicity, nodding a silent farewell to her. “Yes, my friend. Better than all right.”
Felicity cast Angus the sweetest, loving smile. “What are you going to take care of tonight?”
Chapter Seven
“I’d appreciate it if you all stopped gawking at me,” Angus said, approaching Felicity and ignoring her gasp and that of their audience as he slowly bent on one knee and reached into his breast pocket.
He’d wanted a moment of privacy, but doubted it would happen tonight.
Everyone in Wellesford would learn the news within five minutes anyway, so he decided to plunge in now. “Felicity…love.”
She put a hand to her throat. The pulse at the base of her neck appeared to be beating wildly. “Oh, my.”
She did not seem to be breathing.
His breaths were erratic, too. He’d retrieved a small, glistening object from his jacket pocket and now held it in his fingers. “I meant to wait until we had a moment alone.” He groaned lightly when the bell above the shop door tinkled again. “But it seems you will have guests passing through here all night long. So, let me say this fast.” He took hold of her hand. “Miss Billings, I love you more than the moon and stars. I always have and always will. Nothing will ever change that. I’ve come to you on bended knee…” He paused to clear his throat. “Will you marry me?”
Poppy, Penelope and Olivia jumped out of their seats and cheered. “Of course, she will!” Olivia declared. “We’d all marry you if we weren’t taken already.”
Heavy footfalls pounded across the kitchen floor toward Felicity’s bedchamber. “What was that you just said?” Olivia’s husband muttered, filling the doorway and crossing his massive arms over his chest. His grin revealed he hadn’t taken his wife’s comment the wrong way.
; “Dr. Carmichael is going to marry Miss Billings,” Pip said excitedly.
The vicar had also stepped back in and now allowed the latest arrivals to pass. Behind Olivia’s husband who was aptly named Beast for the size and strength of him, not to mention the black eyepatch he sported over the eye he’d lost in battle, was the Earl of Welles, Poppy’s husband, and grinning beside him was Penelope’s husband, Thaddius MacLauren.
“Beast, who’s minding the party if the three of you are down here?” Olivia asked, suddenly alarmed.
“We’ve left Lavinia and Matilda in charge. We won’t stay away long, just wanted to make certain things weren’t out of hand down here. It seems everything is fine, more than fine. Forgive us, Doctor, if we interrupted something important.”
“We’ve all interrupted, but I don’t think Felicity minds,” Penelope said, walking over to her husband who had his arms outstretched for her.
Thad laughed heartily. “Doctor, I hope ye did a better job of it than I did with my wife. I don’t think anyone could have botched it worse. Thank goodness she loved me anyway.” He planted a tender kiss on Penelope’s cheek.
They all turned to Felicity in expectation of an answer.
Angus shooed them all out. “Start the feast. We’ll be along in a moment.”
They obliged willingly and in good cheer. But Poppy’s husband, Nathaniel, Earl of Welles, slapped him on the back. “I received a missive from London. Come to Sherbourne tomorrow…Appin. We need to talk.”
“That didn’t take long to get out.” Angus frowned.
“This sort of news never does.” The earl left to join his wife and friends in the bookshop, but Angus remained in the doorway watching Adam with some concern. The Nativity? Of all the nonsense. Yet, Adam—the vicar who’d lost his faith—seemed to have suddenly found it.
He raked a hand through his hair. Oddly, he was beginning to believe it, too. What they’d experienced this evening was something special.
Perhaps divine.
“What’s wrong?” Felicity asked.
“Nothing, love. Adam just learned something about himself. He’s a little overwhelmed by it.”
“He’s regained his faith. I saw it in his eyes as he looked upon us.”
Angus turned to face her. “He’s right, you know. You in bed. Me beside you. The visit from the three wise women bearing gifts. Pip, the devil-child. Well, he’s our angel child tonight.” He glanced out the window. “It’s starting to snow again. What do you think, Felicity? I love you. Will you have me?”
“Oh, Angus. You’re all I’ve ever wanted. If I weren’t so ridiculously helpless, I’d leap out of bed and smother you with kisses.” She closed her eyes and took a deep, trembling breath, then let it out slowly. “In all my life, I never thought I’d hear those words.”
“I love you?”
She kept her eyes closed and nodded. “I’ve never been loved before. I’m so afraid to say it back to you. But I feel it so deeply. You’ve been in my heart from the moment I first saw you. Angus…I…”
“All that matters to me is that you feel it. The words will come in time.”
“I do feel it.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t need more time. I’m terrified, but I do love you. Hopelessly and utterly.”
He took her hand and slipped the bride token on to her finger. “You are mine now, Felicity. As I shall always be yours.”
She opened her eyes.
The ring was no mere token. It was much finer than she’d expected, a brilliant, square-cut sapphire set in the center of a circle of small diamonds. “Angus?”
“There’s something else I must tell you.” He raked a hand through his hair as he shifted to sit on the bed beside her. “I should have mentioned it first, but I was afraid you’d refuse me if you knew the truth.”
She obviously had no idea what he was talking about. This is why he loved her as fiercely as he did. Any other woman, once learning the truth of his identity, would leap at the chance to accept him. But Felicity was not like all the others. He feared she would not have him if she knew he was rich and titled.
He glanced toward the door again, then shook his head and continued. “I have to leave Wellesford, but I’m not going without you.”
“Why must you leave? Angus, is something wrong? You know you can tell me anything.”
“There isn’t anything wrong. For the first time in my life, everything seems to be right. At least, I hope so.” It was his turn to take a deep breath. “The problem is, I’m a duke.”
She laughed.
“Seriously, I’m the Duke of Appin. My lands are north of Oban, bordering on Loch Linnhe. I never thought I would return, for I’d made my home here.” He paused to allow her to take in what he’d just told her. She began to fidget with the ring. “Don’t take it off, Felicity. I want you for my wife.”
“But why? How long have you been a duke? All along?”
“No, just recently. I learned about it a little over two weeks ago. A letter arrived along with this ring. It shouldn’t be mine, for I had a miserable excuse for a father and three detestable older brothers. They probably poisoned my father and then they started on each other. They were my father’s sons from his first wife. My sweet, delightful mother was his second wife, but she didn’t survive beyond my fifth birthday. I still have one surviving brother, but he’s what my father endearingly called a ‘filthy bastard’ as though it was ever Devlin’s fault that our father did not marry his mother. But he married mine, so with every legitimate heir gone but for me, it appears I’ve inherited it all.”
He arched an eyebrow and cast her a wry smile. “Duchess Felicity has a nice sound to it.”
“Oh, Angus. No, it doesn’t. It can’t!” She tugged on the ring to slip it off her finger.
“Don’t.” He stayed her hand. “Let me put it another way. I can’t do this without you. That bell above your door hasn’t stopped ringing and won’t stop until much later tonight when everyone in Wellesford returns to their beds. You will have a string of visitors coming through here to pay their respects to you. They’re coming by to tell you how much they adore and appreciate you.”
“I’m an orphan who never knew her parents.”
“You’re the only woman I will ever have as my duchess. I don’t need a spoiled, brainless peahen whose father is titled and rich as Croesus, who thinks she can throw a tantrum to get anything she wants.”
“My friends aren’t like that.” She glanced at the locket and smiled at the portrait of Poppy, Penelope, and Olivia.
“They’re unusual. So are you. Do you think anyone up there will doubt your worth? Look who your best friends are? Olivia, the Duchess of Hartford. Poppy, the Countess of Welles. Penelope, Lady Caithness and soon to be Countess of Hume. Not to mention the dowagers, Lavinia and Matilda.” He gave a mock shudder. “Even I am intimidated.”
He took her into his arms to kiss her lightly on the lips.
Her body felt soft and giving.
Her lips tasted sweet as honey.
“Dukes get what they want,” he said, “or so I’ve been told. I won’t force you, of course. But I will be persistent and not above begging. I know you love Dr. Angus Carmichael. It’s still me at the core. Can you love the new Duke of Appin? I promise, we are one and the same. More important, knowing what you and I mean to each other, will you deny us the happiness we both deserve? The happiness I stupidly almost threw away thinking I was protecting you.”
“Are you quite through speaking, Angus?”
He arched an eyebrow and grinned wryly. “That depends. Will you agree to marry me? I can be monumentally dense at times, but I’ll do my best to make you happy.”
She nibbled her lip as she nodded. “I think I must. Indeed, I know I must. We experienced a small miracle tonight, didn’t we? The vicar isn’t the only one who took our gathering as a sign of faith. So did I.”
“Me too, love.”
“We are meant to be together.” She smiled at him. “Or simply put,
I cannot be without you either. I don’t ever want to be without you. It would break my heart.”
“So that’s a yes, I take it?”
She nodded.
“Good. This special license has been burning a hole in my pocket. Adam will club me over the head when he learns I’ve been carrying it around for almost a month now, building up the courage to ask you.”
She tipped her head and gazed up at him in confusion. “But you said you only learned of becoming a duke two weeks ago?”
“One has nothing to do with the other.” He moved closer and kissed her with heat and longing, his kiss holding the promise of rich pleasures to come. “I’m going to find him now. He can brood over the perplexing questions of our place on this earth another time. He’s going to marry us this very night. I want the right to lie beside you, to take you in my arms and hold you close to my heart from this day forward.”
His expression softened as he gazed at her. “Will you marry me tonight, Felicity? I know it is asking a lot of you. But I don’t need to see you in a fine silk gown or have you stand beside me with your hair done up in fancy curls. What matters is that I have you beside me as we exchange vows. I want the right to call you my wife. It’s too long overdue. My fault, of course.”
“That’s quite an impassioned speech, coming from you. I don’t suppose we’ve done anything in the ordinary course. It will be a fine story to tell our children and grandchildren. I’ll don my finest woolen robe for the occasion and my warmest socks. I’m not sure I’ll be able to stand…or kneel before the altar, for that matter. I’ll need to lean on you.”
“That’s what I’m here for, love.” He kissed her again, his hands warm as they slipped around her waist and drew her to him so that she could feel the comforting heat of his body against hers. “We all carry the hope of love in our hearts. Some of us are fortunate enough to find it. I love you, Felicity.”
“Wait! We can’t get married just yet. There’s something we must do first.”