Timeless Christmas Romance: Historical Romance Holiday Collection

by Laurel O'Donnell

  “You are mad!” Henry proclaimed, entering the stables. He shook the snow from his large shoulders. “We will not get two villages from here before we freeze to death! And that is if we can tell where the road is!” He dropped the bags at Gabriel’s feet. “I have to disagree with you this time, my friend. We should stay.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Can’t or don’t want to?” Gabe shook his head and Henry continued, “It’s not like you to run from a fight. What are you afraid of?”

  “He’s my brother. And as much as I hate him, he is all I have.”

  “Is he? There’s a girl in there whose heart you have broken.”

  Gabe looked at him, shocked.

  “I know. I have eyes. She is as miserable as you.”

  Gabe shook his head. “What have I to offer her?”

  “You think you have anything less to offer her than Michael has?”

  Gabriel scowled, staring at the angel in his hands.

  Henry took a deep breath and held up his hands. “Far be it from me to argue with you. But if I had a brother who made me half as miserable as Michael makes you, I would have knocked him on his arse long ago.” Henry headed for the stable door. “If you want to leave, go. But I’m going nowhere in this storm.”

  Gabriel watched his friend leave the stables, a gust of wind churning into the stables as he opened the door. Speckles of sparkling snowflakes entered until the door was slammed shut. He looked down at the tapestry again. She had done what others said she couldn’t do. Rode the horse, embroidered the tapestry. An angel. His angel.

  Henry was right. He never turned his back on a fight. Never. Not at inns, not at tournament. Every worthwhile prize was worth fighting for, whether it was his pride, his friends or coin. And now, with the most important prize ready to be claimed by another how could he turn his back and walk away? How could he not fight? He tucked the tapestry into his jupon and straightened his shoulders.

  He was in for the hardest fight of his life.

  Her father roared with laughter. Duke Clarendon, an elderly man with white hair and kind eyes, sat beside him at the head table, smiling at the fable he had just told.

  Eve didn’t even grin. She stared down at her untouched trencher. Around her the sounds of celebration echoed through the Great Hall. Singing, laughter, loud conversation. Her father sat on one side of her and Michael the other. She felt trapped. Like the caged bear in the center of the room that Michael had insisted on for entertainment. Poor animal. She lifted her gaze to the small cage in the middle of the aisle in time to see his trainer poke it with a stick. It howled a deep a roar. Poor miserable beast. No one was poking her, and she knew how it felt.

  Her father and Michael spoke over her head, as if she weren’t there. She wished she wasn’t. She dropped her gaze to her lap and the blue velvet sleeve covering her hand. She couldn’t stop thinking of Gabe. Of the gentle way he touched her hand. Of the way he smiled. Of the way he kissed her. With each thought came a tidal wave of anguish, each larger than the other. She was drowning. She could barely breathe. She had been so sure it was him; so sure he was as happy with her as he made her feel. How could she have been so wrong?

  It was a heartbeat longer when she realized her father was clenching his fists on the table top. And Michael had risen to his feet. She lifted her head.

  At first, she thought she was dreaming. Gabriel was moving up the center aisle with purpose. In his wake, silence stretched. He walked by the caged bear. Even the animal was silent.

  Confused, refusing to hope, Eve watched him with a scowl.

  He stopped before the table to address her father. “You betrothed Lady Eve to Michael because he saved her life.” His voice rang throughout the silent Great Hall like a bell. “But you were wrong. He didn’t save her life. I did. I want what is rightfully mine. I want Lady Eve’s hand in marriage.”

  Chapter Six

  Behind Gabe, the room erupted in surprised murmuring and hushed talking.

  Eve’s lovely mouth dropped open.

  Gabe kept his focus on Eve’s father. He didn’t look at his brother, nor at Eve, because he knew he had to keep his wits about him for this battle. He was hoping Michael would admit the truth, but since he had covered it up for so long, Gabe wasn’t certain he would do the honorable thing. He wasn’t certain of anything anymore, except for his love of Eve. And he did. He loved her and couldn’t bear to see her unhappy.

  “What is this?” Lord Chandos demanded. He looked at Michael.

  “I found her and carried her and Eden back to the castle,” Gabe clarified. “Michael snatched them away from me.”

  “Is this true?” Lord Chandos asked Michael.

  A moment passed and then another. “No,” Michael finally said. “I found the girls huddled together, freezing.”

  Eve stood, her mouth agape, staring at Michael.

  “Your fingers were not numb from the cold!” Gabriel accused. “You had no snow on your boots. How could you have found them?”

  “I did have snow on me. I was soaked through from searching for them.”

  “Liar!” Gabriel charged.

  “You just want the castle and lands. You’ve always wanted what I’ve had.”

  Disbelief erupted inside Gabe. How could his brother accuse him of that? He wanted nothing that Michael had! Until now. Lands and castles meant nothing to him.

  “Stop it!” Lord Chandos rose to his feet. “It is Yuletide. The one that is lying must tell the truth. Now.”

  “I believe Sir Gabriel!”

  Gabe turned to see Henry standing at a table with a raised mug. He nodded his gratitude to him.

  “I believe Sir Michael!” a voice chimed. Sides split the room as knights cried their allegiances.

  “Ask Eve,” Gabe said, stepping up to the table. He locked eyes with her. “Ask her who she remembers.”

  Eve opened her mouth to reply, but her father cut her off.

  “She was a child. She doesn’t remember.”

  “She does remember!” Gabe exclaimed.

  “She can’t remember!” Michael stated. “Her memory is flawed.”

  Eve shook her head and then raced from the Great Hall.

  “Eve!” Gabe called.

  Behind him, the Great Hall was in chaos. Voices rose, men pushed others. The hiss of someone drawing a sword sounded, fighting broke out.

  “Guards!” Lord Chandos called, pointing into the Great Hall at the disorder.

  Gabe rushed around the table to follow Eve, but Michael stepped into his path.

  “How can you do this to me?” Michael demanded, his face twisted with fierce rage.

  “I allowed you to live this lie for far too long. Eve belongs with me.”

  “I did this for you!” Michael growled. “I certainly could have done much better than a deformed lady. I was willing to marry her, so you wouldn’t have to!”

  “For me?” Gabe demanded. “You’ve done nothing for me. It’s all been for you. You couldn’t stand the fact that I had found the girls before you. You wanted to be the hero. You took that away. You literally took them from my arms!”

  “That’s not true. I took them because you were exhausted. You couldn’t take another step and the girls needed attention.”

  “Then why didn’t you tell everyone it was me? Why did you let them betroth you to Eve?”

  Michael shook his head. “It had gotten out of hand by then. I was embarrassed. They thought it was me and I couldn’t let them down.”

  “You let me down. Make it right, Michael. Tell Lord Chandos the truth.”

  Michael’s eyes shifted to Lord Chandos. He was arguing with one of the other Lords. His face was red.

  Michael shook his head. “What would I do then?” He looked down. “No. It’s too late now. It was what father would have wanted.”

  “Because you lied! It would all have been different if you told the truth!”

  Michael scowled. “It’s too late now.”

  Gabe grab
bed his shirt, shaking him. “It doesn’t have to be! Be the hero now! Tell the truth!”

  Michael shook his head. “I can’t.”

  Disgusted, Gabe shoved him away and stepped around him, intent on following Eve. He had to explain to her, explain how foolish he had been, what a mistake he had made. He had to tell her he loved her. He rushed up the stone stairway and down the long cold corridor. He raced to Eve’s door and knocked. The seconds moved by and he knocked again. “Eve!”

  Finally, the door opened, and a thin, dark-haired maid stood in the doorway.

  “Lady Eve. Where is she?” Gabe demanded.

  “She is not here. I haven’t seen her since she left for the feast.”

  Not here. Tremors of anxiety snaked across the nape of his neck. Where would she go? Over the maid’s shoulder, he saw the shuttered window. Tingles danced up his spine and he hurried past her to the window. He threw open the shutters. The snow was coming down heavily, bathing the landscape in a pure blanket of white. Beyond the castle, in the clearing, he saw a dark line in the snow. His heart froze.

  Images of when he was a boy flashed in his mind. Pristine snow and tracks. The tracks now were different. Larger. Deeper. They were the tracks of an animal. A horse, he realized and forced himself to be calm and rational, but some part of him was still calling to him to hurry.

  Would she go out? In this blizzard? Why would she…?

  Could he risk her being out there, alone?

  He raced out of the room, hurrying down the hallway and took the stairs two at a time. He burst into the Great Hall just as Lord Chandos held his hands up for silence. He turned to the small child standing beside him.

  The boy brushed some of his wet hair aside. “Lady Eve said fer me ta tell ya that there was only one way ta be sure. Only one way ta get ta the truth.” He looked up at Lord Chandos. “She said she would be where she was found. She would be waiting.”

  Horrified and distressed, Lord Chandos fell heavily into his chair.

  Gabe’s heart lurched in his throat. God’s Blood! She was out in the snow and the blizzard. In the cold! The same cold that had taken Eden. Gabe whirled toward the door.

  Michael caught his arm. “Tell me where she is.”

  Gabe yanked his arm free. “The truth can’t stay hidden forever.” He didn’t miss a step as he raced toward the inner ward. “Tell them the truth!”

  “I’m going to find her first,” Michael growled.

  “Eden!” Eve called, dismounting from the palfrey. Her slippered feet landed in the icy cold snow. It gripped her bare legs like hands. The horse whinnied, tossing its head.

  The wind whipped her face and she lifted her arms to shield her face from the small pellets of snow hitting her cheeks. “Eden!”

  Eden appeared before her, but not as the little girl who usually appeared. She was covered in snow and her lips were blue. I want to go home.

  Eve swallowed, and tears rose in her eyes. Eden was the frozen child Eve remembered the last time she had seen her alive. Eden’s words were the same ones that rang in her guilty mind; the last ones she had uttered all those years ago.

  Your angel is gone.

  Eve’s chest constricted in agony. There was no angel. There had never been an angel. Her father had said it was a snow storm over the pond. That must have been what it was. Eve dropped to her knees before Eden. “I’m sorry, Eden,” she wept. “It was all my fault.”

  I’m cold.

  “Take me with you. Don’t leave me here alone.”

  Your angel will come for you.

  Eve sobbed, “There is no angel.” Great tremors of remorse shook her body.

  Let’s wait by that tree.

  “No!” Eve called. That was the tree that Eden had fallen asleep under and never woken. “Let’s go back to the castle!”

  Eden started toward the tree.

  “Eden!” Eve rose and tried to run after her, but the snow was deep and cold, and she tripped, falling to her hands and knees. “No, Eden!”

  Eden turned back to her. I’m cold.

  Eve realized she was trembling from the cold, too. Her teeth chattered. She looked down at her hands buried in the snow. She sat back, lifting her hands from the icy pockets of snow and realized that her right hand was whole. She gasped and looked at Eden.

  You can come if you want to.

  Eve was so cold she could not move. She lay down in the snow and it cushioned her body like a wintry blanket. All she wanted to do was sleep. And dream. Dream of… Gabriel. Holding her. Loving her. Kissing her. She closed her eyes.

  “Eve!”

  Eve opened her eyes. Blue eyes greeted her. The blue eyes of her angel. She couldn’t look away. “You came.”

  “Of course I came.”

  She was floating then, the white falling from the sky in tiny drops. “Eden,” she whispered.

  She was pulled against a strong, warm chest. And for the first time, she saw the dark hair peppered with white snowflakes that touched his shoulders. It was her angel. “Gabriel,” she whispered.

  He looked down at her, concern in his eyes. “You’ll be alright,” he promised more to himself than to her.

  She sighed and snuggled against his warmth.

  Chapter Seven

  Gabriel rode hard, promising himself, promising her in hushed whispers, that everything would be alright. He entered beneath the castle portcullis and into the outer ward, holding her tight against him, willing his warmth into her to save her. She couldn’t leave him. Not when he had just found her. She just couldn’t. But he remembered another child he couldn’t save. He dismounted in the inner ward, whisking Eve inside the castle. As he moved into the hallway, Michael stood, waiting. Tingles of trepidation shot across the nape of Gabriel’s neck. Just like when he was a boy.

  Michael reached for her.

  Gabriel pulled Eve from his touch with a snarl. “I’m no longer a boy and I am not exhausted. You will not take her this time.”

  Lord Chandos and Henry led a group into the corridor. Lord Chandos’s eyes widened in surprise.

  “I found her this time. Just like I found her before.” He looked down at her peaceful face. “She belongs to me.”

  Lord Chandos looked at Michael.

  Michael’s mouth opened, and his gaze moved from Lord Chandos to Gabriel and back again. There was no explanation he could give that would explain this. This was his only chance to tell the truth and he knew it. With a small sigh, he bowed his head, relenting, and nodded. “It was Gabe. He found the girls, not I.”

  Gabriel brushed past the two men, taking the stairs two at a time. “Send the physician and her lady’s maid to Eve’s room.”

  He kicked open the wooden door to her room where a warm fire was dancing in the hearth. He laid her down in her bed and covered her with all the blankets he could find on her bed. He rubbed her hands briskly to bring feeling into them again. It was a moment later that he realized he was rubbing her wounded hand. It mattered not to him. To him, her hand was a sign of survival and strength.

  He kissed her forehead and murmured, “Please, Eve. Please stay with me.”

  Eden laughed and raced around the clearing, dodging this way and that. “You can’t catch me!”

  Eve chased her through the grass, beneath the warm sunshine. She giggled as she almost caught Eden, but the small girl whirled just out of her reach.

  Eden paused beneath the tree and looked up at its leafy branches.

  Eve ducked beneath the branches, smiling at her sister.

  “You can stay, if you want to,” Eden said.

  “Eve,” a voice called from somewhere, from all around.

  Eve looked at the sky for the source of the voice, but it seemed to come from everywhere.

  “I won’t be mad if you don’t want to,” Eden admitted. “I’ll wait until you are ready.”

  “I won’t see you again.”

  Eden shook her head, her tiny curls swinging about her shoulders. You don’t need me any longer.
r />   “Eve,” the voice called again.

  Eve looked at Eden. She had wanted to be with her sister for so long, but something in the voice was drawing her away from Eden. She reached for her sister, stretching out her hand.

  “Open your eyes and I will tell you a most amazing story.”

  Eve gasped and opened her eyes.

  Gabriel looked at her with anguish and worry and desperation.

  “Gabe,” she breathed.

  His arms went around her tightly. He kissed her forehead, her cheeks.

  She hugged him fiercely. “I knew you would find me.” Her voice came out as a croak.

  Gabe turned and took a mug from the table. He held it to her lips and she drank deeply of the soothing ale.

  “That was a very dangerous thing you did to prove your point.” Her father stood at the bedside, his hands behind his back, a scowl on his brow.

  “No one would listen to me. No one asked me what I remembered. I always told you I saw blue eyes.”

  “You knew it was me?” Gabe asked.

  “I knew from the first time I saw you.” She ran a tender hand along his cheek. “I knew you were the angel I was searching for.”

  “No,” Gabriel shook his head firmly. “You are the angel. You are my angel.”

  Eve’s eyebrows rose in surprise. She turned her gaze to her father who nodded.

  “I told you that you belonged to the man who saved your life. I don’t know how you are going to pay back two lifetimes, but you belong to Sir Gabriel now. You will marry him.”

  Her heart beat madly with happiness. She glanced at Gabriel and saw the smile twitching his lips. “And Michael?”

  Gabriel shrugged. “Michael said he might try his luck at tournaments.”

  “You’re not angry?”

  “I can’t blame Michael. It was my fault, too. I should have told the truth. I should have fought for you. But I didn’t know how to at the time.” He grinned. “I guess all those tournaments did teach me something.” He looked at her, taking her hands into his. “The most valuable prize is worth the biggest fight.”

  She cocked her head to the side. “Then there is only one thing left.”