A Regency Christmas III: Five New Stories (Anthology) by Mary Balogh; Sandra Heath; Mary Jo Putney; Melinda McRae; Edith Layton

Author:Mary Balogh; Sandra Heath; Mary Jo Putney; Melinda McRae; Edith Layton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Historical romance, Romance: Regency, Anthologies (multiple authors), American, Christmas stories, Fiction, Romance, Romance: Historical, Romance - General, Romance & Sagas, General, Short stories, Christmas, Regency
ISBN: 9780451170866
Publisher: Penguin Group (Canada)
Published: 1991-10-30T07:00:00+00:00

“PERCH,” the Duke of Fleet said, taking the pristine, pressed newspaper from the tray his butler offered, “would you be aware of those shops that sell Christmas gifts for infants?”

Perch’s eyebrows shot up into his hair. “Gifts for infants, your grace?”

Fleet gave him a hard stare. “Nothing wrong with your hearing this morning is there, Perch?”

“No, your grace.”

“Do you know the answer to the question?”

“No, your grace.”

“But you could find out.”

“Of course, your grace.” Perch bowed. “Would you wish me to purchase something appropriate, your grace?”

“No,” Fleet said absentmindedly, scanning the headlines, “I will do the purchasing myself. I merely need the direction.”

“Of course, your grace,” Perch said. “I shall see to it at once.”

Fleet nodded, tucked the paper under his arm and headed toward the library. He wondered what Miss Clara Davencourt was doing this morning. He would not call in Collett Square to find out. After the fiasco of the previous night it was best to leave matters to cool. Looking back, in the frozen light of day, he wondered what on earth had possessed him. Before he had gone to the ball he had made a perfectly reasonable resolution to avoid Clara’s company, which he had broken as soon as he had seen her. It was incomprehensible. He must have been drunk. He must have been bewitched. He must have been both bewitched and drunk at the same time. It must not happen again.

Even so, he knew that his behavior had been shabby. He should send her some flowers to apologize. Except that she would probably cut off the tops and return the stems to him. He smiled a little at the thought.

Two portraits flanked the entrance to the library. They were of the previous Duke of Fleet and his Duchess. Sebastian rarely noticed them, for they were as much part of the fixtures and fittings of the house as a chair or a lamp. Now, however, he stopped and regarded the painted faces. His father looked noble, wrapped in scarlet and ermine and adorned with the ducal strawberry leaves. His mother had a gentler face beneath her coronet. Wise and kind, she had put the warmth into his childhood.

The huge ruby betrothal ring of the Fleets gleamed on her finger, alongside the simple wedding band. They were both in the vaults of his bank and there they would stay; it felt symbolic, somehow.

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