Midnight Christmas Waltz: A Sweet Regency Historical Romance (Chronicles of the Westbrook Brides) by Collette Cameron

Author:Collette Cameron [Cameron, Collette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Chronicles of the Westbrook Brides, Prequel
Publisher: Blue Rose Romance
Published: 2022-12-06T18:30:00+00:00

LEONIDAS

Hefferwickshire House grounds

19 December

Six days until Christmas

Half-frozen and unused to the bitter cold but having a devilishly good time pelting his cousins, Leonidas crouched behind a hedgerow, an arsenal of snow-molded miniature cannonballs near his booted feet.

Adolphus’s prediction about snow had come true.

After dinner last evening, snow began sifting from the sky, just in time to herald the arrival of Darius, his twin, Cassius, and their other adopted brother, Fletcher, within an hour of one another. By morning, snow shrouded Hefferwickshire and the surrounding landscape in a fairytale-like tableau.

It was almost enough to make one believe in Christmas magic. If one were prone to fanciful beliefs as Grandmama was.

While the older relatives enjoyed a roaring fire, toddies, impromptu charades, and musical entertainment in the drawing room and salon, the gaggle of screeching, laughing children, overseen by doting parents and fussing nurses sledded down the sloping, snow-covered greens, made snow angels, fashioned snowmen, or simply frolicked in the winter wonderland.

Hot chocolate, spiced cider, gingerbread, roasted chestnuts, and games awaited them in the nursery should they become too chilled. Substantially more potent warm beverages had been prepared for adults who abandoned the outdoor play in favor of thawed fingers, toes, and noses.

Leonidas, Althelia, their brothers, except Layton, who had yet to arrive—if he was going to at all—and several cousins engaged in a fierce snowball fight. It came as no surprise that Althelia had opted to join her brothers and male cousins rather than embroider, play the pianoforte, or do something equally vapid as discussing fashion with their female cousins.

That would not have been the case a few years ago.

Jaw set to prevent his teeth from chattering, Leonidas motioned with his fingers for Darius, Althelia, and Lucius to circle to the left, while Adolphus, Cassius, and Fletcher approached the folly from the right.

Unfamiliar with the grounds, and also likely eager to find shelter, their foolish cousins had taken refuge in the circular stone structure and became trapped.

Darius stuck a snowball down his twin’s nape, earning him a hard but good-natured shove onto his backside.

“Rotten blighter,” Cassius grumbled, but his grin belied any true offense as he picked snow from between his neck and scarf. “You know I’ll get even.”

Althelia giggled, and Leonidas chuckled into the scarf encircling the lower half of his face. This was great fun. Not something he’d like to suffer regularly; he did value his appendages after all.

By Zeus, he’d missed his boisterous family.

More than he’d realized in the four years he’d visited one extraordinary exotic place after another. In the past three years, he’d published four books about his travels. It seemed people enjoyed reading about his adventures from the comfort and safety of their homes. He had no intention of giving up his sojourns to foreign lands, but more frequent trips home were definitely in order.

A confirmed bachelor at eight and twenty, he’d never considered marriage.

What woman wanted to be constantly on the move anyhow? Not to mention the discomforts and dangers he endured pursuing his dream to see and experience fascinating sites from Amazonian jungles to Egyptian pyramids.

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