Mistletoe and Mayhem - Cheryl Bolen Page 0,62

you think you are going, young man?”

Pip froze, his hand inches from the door latch. “I just wanted to look.”

“I told you we had to stay here and wait for the carriage to be brought round. It’s much too cold to leave the door open.”

She gazed at the numerous trunks spread around them in The Vynes’ hall and winced that none of them were hers. But their first stop would be the nearest town on the way to Cornwall, where Hector had promised they’d spend the night and go shopping for what Ruby and Pip needed most.

After what Hector had told her of his conversation with Lord Vyne, she couldn’t wait to escape her uncle’s home. Of all the treacherous, backhanded schemes to help her. Only her family could break her heart and expect her to be grateful.

Only Hector and his valet, Parker, were to be trusted with her son’s protection from this moment on.

An odd creak sounded behind her, and she turned slightly.

“So you are leaving without a word of farewell, just like all the rest,” Lord Vyne accused.

Ruby considered ignoring her uncle, but she had been brought up to show respect for elders, even if they were evil. “It seemed appropriate.”

She turned fully, finding her uncle being rolled into the room by a servant in a wheeled chair. He looked to have aged a decade in just one night.

“If you’re going, I suppose you’ll be needing this.” He deposited a silver bell onto one of Hector’s traveling trunks nearest him.

Ruby frowned as she recognized it.

Her uncle had stolen her silver bell!

Vyne nodded. “You don’t belong here, and neither does that anymore.”

He had his man roll him away.

Ruby rushed forward and snatched up her precious heirloom. The bell was just as she remembered, engraved with her initials upon the inside. She held it tight to her chest, her eyes misting with tears just as Hector returned. “I’ve said goodbye to Blackwood for us all. He’s finally been repaid and is eager to leave today, too.”

Ruby looked around them at the emptiness of The Vynes and sighed. “This will be a lonely place to spend Christmas.”

“He brought it all entirely upon himself.” He squinted at her hand. “What have you there?”

Ruby lifted her bell and gave it a little shake.

“Ah, I see Vyne saw the wisdom of returning your possession.”

“When did you realize he had taken it?”

“The same time I realized he was behind the attempt to abduct Pip. If he could stoop so low, there was nothing he wouldn’t have tried to get away with before.”

“He gave it back because of you. Thank you.”

Hector’s eyes softened. “We should be going. I suspect if I don’t marry you quickly enough, I fear I might miss my chance to be Pip’s new papa.”

“Never fear. You are just the man for the job,” she swore.

He was a good man, wonderful with Pip, and she couldn’t have chosen better if she’d tried. She raised her little bell high and shook it again. The much-missed twinkle of sound made her so happy. “Come along, Lord Stockwick, we have a Christmas adventure to embark on, and I mean to start it today.”

She took Pip’s hand and led him out of The Vynes to the carriage. Hector followed, directing servants to load the trunks securely. When he joined them inside the comfortable interior, Pip jumped quickly onto his lap and started peppering the poor man with questions.

Never once on that first day together did Ruby feel Hector regretted the impending loss of his bachelorhood. And after he’d spoiled Ruby with a pretty new gown and cloak, and Pip with toys and even more warm clothing, they took lodgings at a cozy inn, where they spent the night reading the scandalous entries in his journal, highly censored to protect the innocent ears of her young son.

For the first time in a good long while, Ruby was at last happy and safe and felt loved again. Liam, she felt sure, was looking down on them from above, holding mistletoe over their heads.

The End

About Heather Boyd

USA Today Bestselling Author Heather Boyd believes every character she creates deserves their own happily-ever-after—no matter how much trouble she puts them through. With that goal in mind, she writes steamy romances that skirt the boundaries of propriety to keep readers enthralled until the wee hours of the morning. Heather has published over 40 regency romance novels and shorter works full of daring seductions and distinguished rogues. She lives north of Sydney, Australia, with