A Merrily Matched Christmas

by Virginia Nelson

“Don’t you deal with a lot of body fluids in your line of work?

  “Only a little blood.”

  “How does your friend feel about her choices?”

  Katie smiled. “She wants me to get married. Nicole doesn’t care if I keep working or produce my own munchkin army and stay home. She thinks I need someone to take care of me. I don’t.” Katie bit the head off a red Santa marshmallow. “Nicole loves her life some days and hates it others. One day she’s thrilled to be home with her kids and the next day she’s driving me to Galveston, because the two hours in the car is the most ‘me time’ she’s gotten in years.”

  “I’m sure monitoring other people’s vitals is ‘me-time.’”

  “That’s what she says.”

  Chapter 13

  Eledon went to check the window again. Still moving with the waves. Not much else could be done. If the boat collected too much rainwater, they might need to start scooping it off. He’d like to dock, but they were too far from land right now.

  “Eledon?”

  He liked how her American accent curled around his name.

  He looked to her.

  “What are we going to do?”

  “The only thing we can do. Ride out the storm.”

  “We’re going to stay on the ocean while rain pours into the boat? And if the lightning hits us—not that there is much else for it to hit…”

  “If I move against the waves, we could capsize. We’re too far from land to take the risk. There isn’t much else we can do.” He paused. “But Katie?”

  “Yes?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  She laughed. “As much as I can trust a man I’ve known for two days.”

  He turned to the window.

  “I trust you.”

  “You’ll be safe. I promise. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  Chapter 14

  Amber waves of light lit the sky. Eledon grabbed Katie’s arm and jumped back. His momentum pulled her along.

  The ship jerked back and forth. He lost his balance and fell, pulling Katie to the hardwood floor. Together, they slid across the deck. He positioned Katie on top of him so he would bear the brunt of the impact.

  Eledon’s spine and head banged against the back of the boat. Katie hyperventilated.

  “Shh, shh.” Eledon stroked her arms. “You’re okay.”

  Katie took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

  “No, I’m fine, sweetheart.”

  “I—I smell smoke.”

  “Me too.” He shifted Katie and stood.

  She reached for his hand.

  “Just stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

  “I’m the co-captain, remember?”

  He sighed. “I need to make sure the boat isn’t on fire and put it out if it is. Check the dinghy. Make sure it’s ready to go if we need it.”

  Her jaw clenched. She squeezed her eyes shut.

  “We won’t need it, co-captain, just a precaution. I’ll be right back.”

  He hated leaving her alone but he had no idea what he would find. She was safer fastened inside her life jacket with a dinghy on the deck than she would be following him if the boat was on fire.

  He stopped in the kitchenette across from his captain’s quarters. Not abnormally warm. That was a good sign. He picked up the fire extinguisher and grabbed a gallon Ziploc bag from the shelf on the wall.

  When he stepped into the hall between the two rooms, water spilled over the toes of his shoes. It’s just the rain.

  The open door of his quarters didn’t reveal the raging fire he’d worried about. Instead, he stood ankle deep in water. The port window had been blown out. The wall beneath it melted. His boat was a sponge for the volatile ocean.

  “Something’s wrong,” Katie said.

  He turned to face her. “You were supposed to stay with the dingy.” So you could get out of this shit if you needed to. His words were sharper than he meant them.

  “I couldn’t. That’s what I came to tell you. Something is very wrong.”

  “What else?” What besides a flooding boat in the middle of an ocean could possibly be wrong?

  “The deck isn’t level anymore. Everything’s tilting. I can’t explain it.”

  The water rose higher up his legs. He didn’t need an explanation. “We have to get to the dinghy now.” He sloshed the water to her, placed his hand on the small of her back and gently nudged her forword. He never moved his hand as they maneuvered ankle deep water to the dinghy.

  Rain poured down on them. The deck leaned at a tilted angle, and the way it swayed from side to side with every gust of wind did nothing to slow the ocean water spilling into it. He let out a breath. He needed to keep Katie calm and get her on the dingy. He could decide what to do next once she was safe. “I’m going to hold the rescue boat steady and help you over. Once you’re in the boat, I’ll jump on. Okay?”

  “Who is going to help you?”

  He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I’ll be right beside you in a moment. I promise.”

  She placed her hand in his then pulled away. “My Kindle.”

  Shit. That’s what he’d picked up the bag for to begin with. “I’ll get the Kindle.”

  Before she could argue, he lifted her up and hoisted her over the railing into the dinghy.

  He ran to the captain’s office to secure her Kindle in the Ziploc bag.

  Chapter 15

  The storm picked up again. Cold rain pelted Katie. The side of the boat closest to her raised higher from the water wall. Eledon was still on that ship. Why did he have to be a hero? Something flew from the boat and struck her right between the eyes.

  Her eyelids hung heavy. Cold rain splattered across her body, but on her face the water was different. Warm. Slowly oozing.

  Frick. Something from the boat had hit her face and she was in the middle of the ocean with the gambler she’d come to adore. Eledon might be a good man, but a doctor he was not.

  There wasn’t going to be an epilogue to this intense story. Might as well make her peace with it. She laid back in the boat and closed her eyes.

  Warmth surrounded her. The house smelled of cinnamon and chocolate. Eliam gently squeezed her fingers and smiled. His face was round, smoother. Almost like Eledon’s. He mumbled a string of words she couldn’t understand. His voice hitched and then in a rough whisper he said, “I love you.”

  She studied his face carefully. She’d wished for this moment since the first time she’d read Elizabeth’s Heart ten years ago. But fantasies change and this one had to be right. His thick brows, his perfect face, heart-stopping smile. “Say it again,” she said.

  “I love you.” He said each word with purpose, every emotion raw and open, nothing hidden in a whisper.

  She got her fantasy right. She knew what she wanted. “I love you too, Eledon.”

  A pressure touched her lips. Peppermint and sea salt overwhelmed her senses.

  She opened her eyes. Eledon sat on the bed next to her. He held her face between his hands and kissed her tenderly.

  He moved back. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m sorry. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up.”

  “Where are we?”

  “An inn in North Mexico. Some fishermen rescued us. We’ll get you home soon. We couldn’t transport you in that condition.”

  “How long was I out?”

  “Only twelve hours. Merry Christmas.”

  “Merry Christmas. You kissed me again.”

  “You liked it again.”

  She wanted to argue, but he stretched out beside her, pulling her into his arms.

  “Mm,” she moaned so close to sleep again.

  “Wait,” he whispered. “Before you pass out, I want you to see your Christmas gift.”

  She giggled, a sound that contrasted the scene of a half-conscious woman with a bandaged forehead. “How did you come up with a Christmas gift in the middle of a shipwreck?”

 
“You’d be surprised what I can do when I’m determined.”

  Too tired to look for his gift, Katie just let her body relax into him. That was gift enough. “Fine. Where is it?”

  He lifted her left hand and held it out, so she could see the glistening blue rock expanding from the diamond crusted gold band on her hand.

  Katie gasped. “What—”

  “You’re marrying me.”

  “Most guys ask.”

  “Eliam didn’t.”

  “You’re not Eliam.”

  “No, but I’m here, and he’s not.” He dropped a kiss on the crown of her head. “Rest sweetheart.”

  She hadn’t agreed to marry him yet. She’d have to be insane. They’d just met, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the ring. “I’ve never seen a blue engagement ring before.”

  “Blue diamond like your eyes.”

  Her heart leaped. “How did you find it?”

  “I googled the ring I wanted and sent a local to find it for a nice fee. I wanted to be here when you woke up.”

  Wow. He couldn’t be better if he were Eliam.

  Emotion threatened to erupt from her body, and she couldn’t express in words what rolled through her. So, she did the next best thing. She traced Eledon’s lip with her tongue until his lips parted in a sigh, and she kissed him with such raw emotion it was hard to tell who trembled. Her or him, or were they both trembling.

  Eledon pulled away. “Sweetheart, if you kiss me like that again, we’ll have to elope.”

  Chapter 16

  She wondered where her sisters were. She was about to send the servants to search for them when the house keeper came.

  “Lady Elizabeth, Mr. Monaj is here to see you.”

  Elizabeth nodded. Eliam would help find her sisters. She had no doubt. “Of course.”

  A second later, her love sauntered into the room. She’d never seen him wearing a cravat before.

  “A moment alone, please,” he said to the housekeeper who looked to Elizabeth for approval. At her mistress’s nod, the woman curtseyed and left the room.

  Elizabeth flung herself into Eliam’s chest.

  He closed his arms around her.

  “I don’t like you in a cravat,” she said.

  “Me neither.” He pulled the cravat off, exposing dark caramel skin that made her breath catch in her throat.

  But she wasn’t prepared for what happened next. He shoved the cravat into her mouth and swung her into his arms like a bride on her wedding day. Elizabeth attempted to rip the cravat away and slap him, but her arms were confined under his.

  He carried her out of the house into the London sunset and carefully set her into a lavender carriage. She’d never seen anything like it before. The inside was plush velvet, the color of a blossoming pink rose in the spring. Once inside the carriage with her, he pulled her onto his lap.

  “When a gypsy is ready to take a woman as his wife, he kidnaps and claims her. Nothing will ever matter as much as when you disobeyed me, met me on the doorstep of a burning house, and demanded to be my wife. I’m not giving you a chance to change your mind, but I do want this to be right. Your sisters helped me obtain a marriage license. We will have an English Gypsy wedding.”

  She attempted to pull the cravat out of her mouth again and this time he let her. “You’ll want to travel. You’ll hate me, because I can’t leave my sisters.”

  “I’ve found a piece of land outside the city. We can settle nicely. I’ve arranged large dowries for each of your sisters, a companion for Sarah, and a governess for Lauralye.”

  “But will you be happy?” Her words were at the edge of tears. He was offering everything she wanted, but she needed him to want this life too.

  He combed his fingers through her hair. “I love you. I love your sisters like family. I want to see you large with my child, singing our son to sleep, standing in my kitchen.” He pressed his lips to her eyebrow. “I want to see you in my bed and having your morning tea. Without that I could never be happy.”

  She couldn’t hold the tears back any longer.

  “Have I upset you?”

  She sobbed and buried herself into his chest. When the tears were gone, she asked, “Why do you love me so much?”

  “Because you were made for me.”

  There was no disputing that. As if the carriage, or the universe, or both agreed, the carriage stopped in front of a small stone chapel.

  “You found a church that would marry a gypsy?”

  He shrugged. “A little bit of money solves everything.”

  She walked into the church on his arm and said a silent prayer of gratitude. Of joy for having a man she could never deserve.

  Katie made it out of her room briefly. A maid at the inn helped her go to the local bookstore. Most of the books were in Spanish, but she did find a couple of English romance novels she hadn’t read. And she bought a paperback of Elizabeth’s Heart. She considered the book a collector’s item. It was to her at least.

  When she returned to her room, Eledon sat on the chair across from her bed wearing a tux. A white dress laid across her bed.

  “Eledon? What are you doing?”

  “Marrying my Lady Elizabeth.”

  She laughed. “I’m not Lady Elizabeth. I’m a doctor.”

  He reclined in the chair. “About that. You seem disturbed by all of the things you’ve seen in the hospital. It might be better if you started a small practice and had more time to hang out with Nicole.”

  “One reason I will never marry you.”

  “Because I want you to be happy and the girl who pranced on my boat wasn’t?”

  “Because you tell me what to do.”

  He nodded. “Stay an anesthesiologist if it makes you happy. I’ll be home from my commute by 6:30 every night, and I’ll want my wife around. I’ve avoided marriage this long because I didn’t want an ‘in-name-only’ arrangement.”

  She blinked and tried to wrap her mind around his words. “You have a job?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. But I’ve set up six interviews with prestigious companies in the Houston area for next week. I’ve spoken with my attorney—uh solicitor—and I never legally relinquished the rights to my family’s estate. It’s going up for sale and I can purchase a large house in the best subdivision of any suburb. I can also promise a few pairs of red-soled shoes each year. Though the number would likely go down with each new child.”

  Katie put up her hand. “Whoa. We’re procreating already?”

  “That is the best part of marriage.”

  “You’ve known me for less than a week.”

  “And I have eternity to get to know you better.”

  “This is the kind of insane plan a card player devises.”

  “No, ma’am. This is the kind of plan a man who meets the woman made for him and almost loses her in a freak accident comes up with. And I don’t plan to go home alone.”

  “What if I turn you down?”

  “Then I’ll secure a house and job in Houston and court you until you accept.”

  “What if I keep turning you down?”

  “I’ll spend so long in a burning building you’ll think I’m dead. When I come out, you’ll demand I marry you.”

  Katie laughed. “You read the book.”

  “It mattered to you.”

  She shook her head. “But I can’t imagine a guy who floats from place to place wants to spend his life tied to an upper-middle-class suburb.”

  “Guys who float around don’t care where they spend life. But who they spend it with matters, and I need you.”

  “You’ll hate me for taking your freedom.”

  “I’ll love you for building the life I want. The family I want.”

  “You’re serious? You want me? To start a family with me?”

  He didn’t answer, only held her gaze.

  The enormity of the moment brought tears to her eyes.

  He took her in his arms and wiped her face with gentle fingers. “Did I s
ay something wrong?”

  “No, it’s just—I don’t deserve you.”

  “That’s probably true.”

  She wiped tears away from her eyes as she laughed then punched him. “I love you.”

  “I love you too. I bought a dress. Put it on. I won’t let you change your mind.”

  Half an hour later, Katie walked out of the inn with her arm hooked in Eledon’s. He helped her into a horse drawn carriage and sat beside her. She raised an eyebrow.

  “Just following the book,” he said.

  They arrived at a stone chapel.

  “Do you have a license?” she asked.

  “Of course. Can’t take any chances of you getting home and changing your mind.”

  Because it was Christmas, Katie never had to worry about her husband forgetting their anniversary. It was an abnormally warm year on the Mexican coast and a beautiful day for a wedding. The newlyweds picked up street tacos on the way home, because they would spend Christmas dinner in bed.

  Epilogue

  7 Years Later

  Cinnamon and sugar filled the air. Eledon chuckled. His wife loved Christmas, and he adored his wife.

  He found Katie standing at the sink. “Hey.”

  She gave him an I-will-devour-you smile placed a plate in the dishwasher and held her finger up in the one minute sign.

  He raised an eyebrow. He’d been gone all day. Why did something else have her attention? An incessant beeping started and Katie’s three-inch heels clicked across the tile as she crossed to turn the oven off. She grabbed a pot holder and bent. He enjoyed the view. She pulled out a sheet of Christmas cookies and set them on the counter before closing the oven door. Then his wife turned to face him, and there was that I-will-devour-you smile again. Ha. Now he had her attention.

  He held his arms out. She clicked-clicked back across the kitchen to step into his hold. “How was your day?”

  He pulled her closer to him. “Better now.” He pressed his lips to the crown of her head. “Those shoes can’t be comfortable for cooking.”