Convenient Christmas Brides: The Captain's Christmas Journey ; The Viscount's Yuletide Betrothal ; One Night Under the Mistletoe

by Carla Kelly

  ‘I will leave you to your reading,’ he said, executing a shallow bow before turning towards the door.

  ‘What shall I tell your friend, should she arrive looking for you?’ she called out after him in an overly sweet tone.

  Monty paused, and pressed his lips together. She was enjoying baiting him. He turned back around and caught the challenging arch of her brow.

  ‘Tell her you refused to leave, so I did.’

  That superior expression of hers fell and she crossed her arms. It was apparent she was holding herself back from saying something else. He was not looking forward to seeing Juliet at his brother Gabriel’s home in Kent in a little over a fortnight. Spending this Christmas with her was going to be torture.

  When he reached the door, he turned the handle and gave it a furious tug. The door wouldn’t move.

  Once more he turned the handle and pulled. Still, the door wouldn’t budge. Monty was so intent on getting out that he didn’t hear Juliet’s footsteps behind him.

  ‘You said you were leaving.’

  ‘I’m trying. The door is stuck.’

  ‘Stuck? What do you mean it’s stuck?’

  ‘Stuck means it won’t open.’

  She nudged him aside with her shoulder. ‘Let me try.’ As if her tall but delicate frame would somehow be able to move the large piece of oak he hadn’t been able to, she pulled on the handle with what appeared to be all her might.

  It still wouldn’t open.

  ‘Did you lock us in?’ she asked as if he were a child.

  ‘No, I didn’t lock us in. There was no key in the lock and, since the handle is turning, it must be the door hinge that is stuck.

  She closed her eyes and rubbed her brow. ‘What do we do now? We are too high up to climb out of one of the windows.’

  ‘I can make the jump,’ he replied with confidence.

  ‘Well, I doubt I can and if I could, how would I explain the state of my gown after landing in the snow? There is just enough of it on the ground to dampen the hem.’ She gestured to her white gown with embroidered holly running along the bottom.

  ‘I’ll go. At least we will not be found together.’

  ‘It is just like you to leave me,’ she said, crossing her arms again. ‘How am I to get out?’

  ‘Does anyone know you’re here?’

  ‘Lizzy said she’d get me when Aunt Clara was ready to leave.’

  ‘Then your problem is solved. Just sit tight until your sister comes looking for you.’

  ‘I doubt she will be able to get that door open.’ Her expression fell as she looked towards the blasted piece of oak.

  ‘But I’m certain she will be able to find someone in the household who will,’ he replied, trying to offer her some comfort.

  He was trapped all alone with Lady Juliet Sommersby. All of his senses were attuned to her and that hum that ran through his body when she was close to him was still there, even after all these years. This wasn’t good. He needed to get away. Stalking across the room to the window seat that she had just vacated, he pushed up on the window sash. It didn’t move and appeared to be frozen shut. He rapped gently with the side of his fist to break the ice but it did no good.

  Juliet had gone to the other window and apparently that one was frozen as well. He came to her side and tried his luck with the sash. When it wouldn’t move, Monty let out an exasperated breath. ‘It’s no use. We’re stuck in here...together.’

  * * *

  For one week, four years ago, Juliet had looked forward to the few times she had been able to sneak away to spend time alone with Lord Montague Pearce. Now, she was considering breaking a window to escape being confined with him.

  ‘We could—’

  ‘The panes are too small, Juliet. Even if we managed to break the glass without calling attention to the room, I’d never fit through. It’s not an option.’

  ‘How did you know what I was thinking?’

  ‘Are you going to deny that you were considering breaking a windowpane? I could see the intention in your eyes.’

  This wasn’t happening. Juliet hadn’t wanted to attend the Ashcrofts’ Winter Ball for fear of running into Monty, but she wasn’t left with much of a choice when Aunt Clara insisted. Lady Ashcroft was one of her aunt’s oldest friends and staying home at her aunt’s town house would be considered an insult. But after two hours of sitting with the chaperons, walking the ballroom with her sister Lizzy and dancing with three unobjectionable gentlemen, she had not seen Monty and assumed the evening would continue to be surprisingly enjoyable. Until the moment she turned from the punch table and saw him walk into the dining room in fine spirits, dressed in well-cut black attire that hugged his athletic frame.

  The muscles clenched in her chest as she watched him pause by the doorway to greet another gentleman with that infectious smile of his. It was one of the things she remembered that attracted her to him when they were first introduced. The man possessed the kind of smile that lit up his entire face, making his hazel eyes sparkle and anyone near him want to smile as well. But after the way he had betrayed her, she no longer had use for that smile and the man who it belonged to.

  It was bad enough she would be forced to be in his presence soon in Kent when their families converged together at Christmas. Did she really need to see him during her short stay in London as well?

  When a perfect and petite young woman approached him with flirtatious smiles, Juliet had had enough. She was not about to stand there and watch him flirt with a diamond-encrusted debutante. The moment he left the dining room with the woman on his arm and headed towards the ballroom, she made her escape to the Ashcrofts’ library where she had every intention of hiding away for the remainder of the evening, reading—until this wretch had to ruin everything.

  Juliet tugged on the door handle again. Still the door didn’t move. ‘Oh, it’s no use. We’ll just have to wait for my sister to find us.’

  In the moonlight streaming from the window behind her, she could see the colour drain from Monty’s face.

  ‘She will not be finding us,’ he replied, stepping away from her as if she had the plague. ‘She will be finding you.’

  ‘And where exactly do you think you will be?’

  ‘Hiding. No one is finding us alone together.’

  She scanned the room and made a sweeping gesture with her hand. ‘There is nowhere to hide. There are no curtains to stand behind, only wooden shutters. You’re too big to hide behind any of the chairs. And someone will see you if you place yourself under the table.’

  ‘I’ll think of something. If you can get everyone in and out as quickly as possible, they might not even notice me.’

  ‘That is a rather confident assumption I am not willing to make. This is a disaster.’

  ‘I agree,’ he said, with a deliberate nod.

  Did he have to agree so readily? There once was a time he would have begged her to stay with him for just five more minutes. ‘Very well,’ she replied, glaring at him. ‘I’ll station myself here to listen for Lizzy. You think of somewhere you can go in the room so you will not be seen.’

  ‘We could close the shutters. It will make the room dark.’

  ‘And how would I explain reading in such a room?’

  His brows wrinkled and he rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I hadn’t got to that part of the plan yet.’ The agitation he was feeling was evident in his tone.

  The room was cool since there was no fire to warm the hearth. The coolness had felt good after being in the overly warm rooms with their fires and the crush of the crowd. Now there was a foreboding chill that ran through her body and she rubbed her sleeves to generate some heat. Monty took to pacing the floor, like one of the lions she had seen in the Tower’s menagerie.

  How long would Aunt Clara want to stay? When they were home in Bath, her aunt would often st
ay at balls and assemblies until close to two in the morning. It wasn’t possible it was anywhere near two right now. She leaned her back against the door. Monty continued to pace twenty feet from her, outlined in the moonlight. He wasn’t as lanky as he had been when they first met. His shoulders were broader now, his chest tapered down to a narrow waist and his features had matured into those of a man.

  Juliet softly banged the back of her head against the door, punishing herself for finding anything to admire about the man.

  The brass handle of the door moved, startling her so much that she jumped away from it. She stared wide-eyed at Monty, who was staring back at her. Quickly he moved to stand beside the hinges of the door and pushed himself against the wall. When the handle jiggled again, he put his finger to his lips.

  ‘It might be Lizzy,’ she mouthed silently to him. She was just about to call out to her sister when a soft female voice came through the door.

  ‘Lord Montague, are you in there?’

  His eyebrows rose as he silently stared at the door.

  ‘Lord Montague are you in there? Open the door. It’s me. I thought the library was the third door, but then I remembered it’s this one.’

  Juliet silently mimicked the woman who continued to turn the handle, while Monty glared at her.

  ‘I don’t understand why you’ve locked it,’ she continued. ‘I’m not in there yet. Can you hear me?’ The woman rapped softly against the door.

  ‘She is going to cause a commotion if she keeps this up. You need to do something,’ Juliet whispered in a clipped tone.

  While they were deliberating what to do, the handle started to move again.

  ‘I said can you hear me?’ the soft voice called through the door.

  ‘Say something,’ Juliet whispered back sharply, ‘before her voice gets any louder than it already is.’

  They went to switch places.

  ‘Miss Fellsworth. Is that you?’ It was Lizzy’s voice now coming through the door.

  Juliet looked at Monty as her heart beat faster in panic. His eyes were shifting as if he were in the process of working out how they should proceed.

  ‘Your Grace,’ the woman replied. ‘I was just...just...’

  ‘Is there a problem with the door?’

  ‘Yes, I was... I was...’

  ‘Let me try. My sister is inside reading.’ The handle moved and it was no surprise when the door did not. ‘Juliet, can you hear me?’

  ‘Say something,’ Monty whispered to Juliet. ‘It’s better if you respond. Miss Fellsworth will think I never found the library.’

  ‘Lizzy, is that you?’ Juliet asked, trying to sound surprised.

  ‘Open the door, Juliet. Why did you lock it?’

  ‘I didn’t. The door is stuck. Can you turn the handle and push hard?’

  ‘I can try.’ The handle turned, but the door remained closed. Even though her sister was also tall, she was slim and didn’t have much force to push against the door. ‘I will go and find one of the footmen and see if they can help.’

  ‘Very well. I’ll be here. All alone. Not going anywhere.’

  Juliet pushed her ear against the door and listened. There was no sound of her sister’s retreating footsteps or that of Miss Fellsworth.

  ‘Can you hear anything?’ Monty whispered.

  ‘Not a thing, but this door is so thick that I’m not surprised I can’t hear noises unless they are from people close to it. What are you going to do when she comes back with a footman?’

  ‘I’ll stay here behind the door. Don’t open it all the way. Just slip out. I’ll wait a while before I leave to give you time to get everyone out of the corridor.’

  ‘What if he wishes to remain to fix it?’

  ‘You’re a smart woman. Think of something to discourage him.’

  Being called smart by the likes of Lord Montague Pearce should not make her feel good. It shouldn’t make her feel anything at all. For four years she had worked on not feeling anything towards him. And yet, those four little words made her shoulders go back instinctively. How she wished Lizzy would hurry.

  Juliet turned away from Monty and put her ear against the door. She felt him come up behind her and a tingling sensation ran down her spine. How could he still affect her this way after all this time?

  The sound of her sister’s muffled voice pulled her attention away from Monty.

  ‘It appears to be stuck,’ she heard Lizzy say. ‘Is there something you can do to open it?’

  ‘I can try, Your Grace,’ came a deep-throated response. ‘If you’re near the door, step away. I’m going to try to get you out,’ the same voice called out.

  Juliet stepped to one side as Monty moved and leaned his back against the wall beside the door. Hopefully they would get it open and she would be able to leave without anyone noticing he was there.

  The handle turned, followed by a loud ‘thud’. The large heavy door swung open with such force it smacked into Monty, eliciting a muffled ‘oof’. Unfortunately, his exclamation was loud enough for the footman, Lizzy, Miss Fellsworth and another woman she did not recognise to look behind the door and see that Juliet had been alone in a room with Lord Montague Pearce.

  She was ruined.

  Chapter Two

  Juliet sat in her sister Charlotte’s London drawing room, trying to gain back some control of her life. When she had walked into the room a short while ago and spotted Monty sitting there in his well-fitted bottle-green tailcoat and buckskin breeches, she almost turned around and walked out. She had avoided speaking with him yesterday when he called on her. Couldn’t she have just a few more days of pretending she didn’t have to face the consequences of Sunday night’s ball?

  ‘This is unfair,’ she protested to Charlotte, who was beside her on the sofa. ‘Nothing inappropriate occurred between Lord Montague and myself. It was all an accident. I’m sure Lizzy will attest to that.’

  Across from her, Charlotte’s husband, Lord Andrew Pearce, who was also Monty’s older brother, eyed Juliet over his teacup. ‘It doesn’t really matter what Lizzy would say. Other people saw you in that room together. They are the reason the two of you must marry.’

  Monty appeared to be attempting to wipe a severe headache from his brow as he sat beside his brother. ‘I’m surprised Gabriel wasn’t the one to have this discussion with us.’

  As the Duke of Winterbourne, one would think Monty’s oldest brother, Gabriel, would be the one to dictate decorum.

  ‘Since Andrew and I had to get married, we thought it best if we were the ones to discuss this with you,’ Charlotte said.

  ‘But the two of you actually did something to warrant that you wed,’ Juliet stated, her voice raising an octave for emphasis. ‘We’ve done nothing.’

  ‘Society doesn’t see it that way,’ Andrew offered.

  He was four years older than Monty and bore a striking resemblance to him, with his light brown hair, chiselled features and hazel eyes. Sitting beside each other, there was no denying the two men were brothers, although Juliet preferred Monty’s leaner, athletic frame to Andrew’s very tall and broad one. Not that she preferred Monty’s frame at all any more. He was an average man...more or less. Less, according to her head. More, according to the way the blasted man could still make her heart race when he smiled. Thankfully, he wouldn’t be smiling today. Neither one of them wanted to marry the other.

  Juliet turned to Charlotte. ‘You know I have no wish to marry. Perhaps if I speak with Aunt Clara she may agree to go away with me again. Perhaps this time we could travel to India.’

  Monty suddenly got up and stormed towards the hearth, giving them his back. From the stiffness in his shoulders as he faced the fire, it was evident he was regretting going into the Ashcrofts’ library two nights ago just as much as she was.

  As her thoughts shifted back to escaping to
India, she recalled the last time her aunt had saved her by taking her away. Juliet had been living with Lizzy and her husband, the Duke of Skeffington, since their parents, the Earl and Countess of Crawford, had died. When Monty broke her heart, Aunt Clara had taken her to Paris until the Season was over so she wouldn’t have to see him again. When they returned, her aunt invited Juliet to live with her in Bath, far away from London and the man standing fifteen feet from her. How could one man invoke so much change in her life?

  ‘Juliet, think rationally,’ Charlotte broke into her thoughts. ‘You and Aunt Clara were back in Paris only a few months ago. She has responsibilities in Bath. She cannot keep leaving her investments and her homes. Perhaps if you and Montague spent some time together, you’d discover that you suit each other very well.’ Charlotte glanced at her husband, who smiled at her with affection in his eyes.

  Juliet stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Just because Charlotte and Andrew eventually grew to love each other didn’t mean that was the road Juliet’s relationship with Monty would take. She had loved him once. That was enough for one lifetime. She wouldn’t be foolish enough to fall for him again.

  ‘How would we even explain this?’ she tried again, using another tactic. ‘I live in Bath and haven’t been in London long enough for Lord Montague to court me. Are we just to say we were caught in a compromising situation and had to marry? How is that any better than going our separate ways? Either way we face a scandal.’

  ‘We will say Montague had been courting you outside the eyes of the ton. That it was done in secret.’

  With those words, Monty turned his head and their eyes met. She knew he was silently questioning if she had told Charlotte about the secret assignations they had once shared. She gave him a slight shake of her head. There had been no reason to tell anyone about the time they had spent together that ended so horribly. To this day, the only people who knew what happened were Aunt Clara and Lizzy...unless Monty had told someone else. Her gaze shifted to Andrew, who was staring into his teacup as if he were searching for another reason why they should wed. Did he know about the past she shared with his brother? When she arched an enquiring brow at Monty, he gave an imperceptible shake of his head in return.