Here’s a Christmas scene from Lord Gray’s List, which Fresh Fiction said is “sparkling with wit and humor.” Enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday with your loved ones!
Evangeline has been masquerading as a gentleman in order to run her newspaper. Here, she and Ben are walking home from the office.
***
The Sunday streets seemed even more deserted than usual. No doubt everyone was getting snug by the fire, readying themselves for their family festivities tomorrow. Evangeline had Christmas envelopes for her small staff, knowing that in these hard times money was preferable to a badly-knitted sock. Thanks to Ben, the envelopes were thicker than they might have been.
A donkey cart a quarter-filled with kissing boughs and branches of holly rumbled by them, then stopped. “Oi, gents! Some fresh greenery for your ladies?” the driver asked. From the looks of his limited wares, he’d had a successful day so far.
Ben looked at Evangeline and nodded. “We’ll take what we can carry. Deliver the rest to this address.” He pulled out a silver case and handed his card and an obscene number of notes to the man.
“Ben! Are you mad?”
“It’s Christmas, Evie, or near to. I reckon this fellow wants to go home before the snow flies, and I haven’t so much as a leaf on the mantel at home. My mama usually takes care of all that, but she’s been busy with Lady Applegate. I expect you’re in a similar fix. What harm can a bit of mistletoe do you? Here, stretch out your arms.” He heaped a mixture of branches onto her coat sleeves, then took twice as much for himself.
“Mistletoe is poisonous, is it not?”
“Hazardous, but not deadly, I believe. We’re not going to eat it, Evie, just kiss under it.”
“We are, are we?”
“Oh, yes. There are just seven days left to our bargain. We are going to decorate your parlor, and then your bedroom.”
“You can’t come into my bedroom!” Evie gasped.
“Oh? And why not? Afraid of your servants? They work for you, not the other way around. One mustn’t worry what the lower classes think.”
“Ben, I am one of the lower classes.”
“Nonsense. Your father comes from a perfectly respectable family. Isn’t he cousin to some marquess or other? And your mother was the daughter of a baronet.”
“He’s never laid eyes on the Marquess of Sandiford. And my mother was disowned when she married. The only reason my father still has Ramsey House is that it is entailed and he couldn’t gamble it away.”
“No matter,” Ben said airily. “Do you inherit it or is it all to go to some chinless nephew thrice removed?”
“It goes to the first-born Ramsey child regardless of gender.” Not that it would do her any good. The house was missing some strategic amenities, like the greater part of the west-wing roof.
“See? Then you are an heiress.”
She snorted and tripped over a curb that she couldn’t see because of the prickly bundle in her arms.
“Steady. We’ll make up some sort of excuse for your servants. Perhaps I’ve come to measure the windows for new drapes as a Christmas present.”
She could use some household refurbishment, but Ben was a very unlikely interior decorator. “I’ll have to live with them after you and I are finished,” she reminded him.
“Well, that puts us in a pickle, then. Where are we to go?” Ben sighed. “I suppose it will have to be tea in your parlor again, then.”
“That would be best,” she agreed. They had managed extraordinarily well on the floor doing that extraordinary thing. Seven more days of it, and she’d be dead of pleasure.
They trudged on, dropping the odd berry onto the frosty pavement. Patsy opened the door at once, something else that was extraordinary. The maid relieved them of their twigs and boughs and dumped them on the floor, where more berries scattered. Perhaps the greenery was not quite as fresh as the seller had promised.
“What do you want me to do with all this mess then?” she asked, looking at the mess she herself had made.
“Don’t worry, Patsy,” Ben said as he handed her his coat. “I’ll take care of it. Your mistress and I are going to decorate the parlor and don’t wish to be disturbed. It might take us a while to get everything just so. You’ll all have a lovely surprise when we’re done.”
Evangeline watched as the maid struggled to keep a straight face. Lord, the girl knew, probably had known from the first time Ben had taken her on his study floor.
“Certainly, my lord. Will you be wanting any refreshments to keep your strength up as you deck the halls?” Patsy winked right at him, removing any vestigial doubt Evangeline might have harbored about fooling her maid for one blasted instant.
“That would be delightful, Patsy. Some tea and whatever Cook has handy. I’m not fussy.” Ben gave her one of his never-fail smiles.
“Aye, you’ve got your mind on other things, I expect. Indulge me, my lord.” Patsy bent to retrieve a sprig of mistletoe and held it over her evil little head. “I haven’t been properly kissed in an age, not since Miss Evangeline rescued me from the streets, and then there weren’t really much proper about those kisses. Give a girl something to dream over, do.”
Ben’s mouth had dropped open, whether from Patsy’s bold flirtation or the realization that Evangeline had a prostitute for a maid. But then he laughed and gave her a kiss, not quite quick enough to suit Evangeline, but longer than Patsy expected or deserved.
Patsy looked stunned, as well she might. Evangeline sympathized entirely—Ben’s kisses were explosive.
“Tea, Patsy,” Evangeline reminded her, snapping fingers in front of the girl’s love-struck face.
“Yes, sir. I mean miss. I’ll be right up with it.” She scurried down to the kitchen and Evangeline gave Ben her dirtiest look.
“That was not sporting of you.”
“It was just an innocent kiss,” Ben shrugged. “Not her first, I take it.”
Evangeline grabbed some branches from the hall floor. “Not her first. The poor girl has been kissing since she was eleven. I hope she doesn’t murder me in my bed tonight to clear a path to you.”
“If you let me sleep over, I could protect you.”
Evangeline swatted him with holly. “Be serious.”
“I am. I’m told I don’t snore much.”
“I’m told I do. Get the rest of this, will you?”
***
This is a super-quick post to tell you about the great sale of November’s Lord Gray’s List! It’s been discounted for the nook, and I’m thrilled to say it’s on the Top 100 list for ALL B&N nook books. Lord Gray and his heroine Evie own a newspaper,the London List, and I’m sure they’d make that the headline! You can purchase the book for only $1.99. Click here.
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