Mistletoe and Mayhem - Cheryl Bolen Page 0,43

each other again.”

She glanced up at him, wondering how much time they would have together. Her uncle wanted her to marry, and she didn’t believe that he’d meant her to charm Lord Stockwick. But this might be her last chance to make peace with Hector over her lost silver bell. After she married, she may never come across him again. “I’d like that.”

“Will you play with me?” Pip asked suddenly.

Ruby spun around from the scene outside—but it was to Lord Stockwick to whom her son had posed the question.

Stockwick went to the boy and peered down at what he was holding out. “What have you got there?”

“A horse. I found two of them.”

“He’s a fine-looking steed, isn’t he?” Hector remarked, seemingly quite happy to indulge her son in conversation. To Ruby’s surprise, he picked up the second horse and waved it about as if playing. Pip joined in, following Hector’s movements but neighing, too.

Hector passed the second horse back to Pip then ruffled the boy’s hair. “You’ll take good care of them, won’t you?”

“I will,” the boy promised as he went back to his own game, galloping the toy about the room as if it were real.

She watched him for a few moments, her fingers at the base of her throat. Pip was so sweet and innocent and Hector so unexpectedly kind. She couldn’t imagine life without Pip, and Ruby would do anything to give him the life he deserved. She hoped the man her uncle wanted Ruby to marry might play with Pip like this too.

“Gads, it’s freezing up here.” Hector left Pip and drew closer, rubbing his arms briskly. He was a very well-dressed gent, quite tall and slender, prosperous and at ease with himself around her. He smelled very nice too. She started blushing when he suddenly caught her eye and winked. “What’s on your mind, Ruby Roper?”

That made her blush even hotter. She glanced at her son to hide his effect on her sensibilities. She ought not reveal her real thoughts to him. “I was wondering if anyone would notice if I borrowed a few things from the nursery to keep Pip amused until he can meet my cousins,” she said, rather than the truth.

“I doubt anyone would care,” he said, then shivered. “Find what you need, and I’ll help carry it all downstairs. Do it quickly before we catch our death.”

Grateful for the distraction of the task and for his offer of assistance, Ruby rushed around gathering up slate and chalk, and a box of toys, and handed them off to Hector. Then she ushered Pip back downstairs into the warm parlor.

Stockwick delivered everything she’d gathered to Pip—and then pulled something brown out of his pocket.

She frowned at his hand. “Is that…”

“Mistletoe. Last year’s pickings, I’m afraid. But still if one pretends it does the trick and offers an excuse for what I’m about to do next.”

He held it up over her head—and then swooped in to deliver her first kiss since her husband had passed away.

For a moment, Ruby was quite shocked and didn’t know what to do, but soon instinct took over, and she kissed him back.

They kissed for quite a while and then he drew back slowly. “That had to be better and longer than the first time I kissed you.”

She frowned. “You’ve never kissed me.”

“When we were children, I certainly did,” he promised. “Right upstairs, outside the nursery we just visited. You were the first for me.”

“I…” Ruby froze, startled that he even remembered that brief indiscretion. She’d been too young then to understand what he was about until much later. “So you did.”

Hector smiled, his cheeks dimpling. “I was young then, and not very good at it most likely. The kiss we just shared was nice.”

It certainly had been. Ruby could still feel the effect over her emotions, and her body, too. But she drew back from him. She shouldn’t encourage him to imagine she’d fall into his arms every time there was mistletoe about. Her uncle expected her to behave, and her son was in the room.

Ruby turned toward Pip quickly, but he appeared to have noticed nothing that had gone on between her and Lord Stockwick. He wouldn’t understand.

Lord Stockwick moved close behind but stopped short of touching her. She nearly shivered with the need to be held and kissed again. His nearness made her remember how close a couple could be. The press of a naked male body against her skin. The stroke of a hand along