When She Was Naughty (A Christmas Short Story) by Tessa Dare

Author:Tessa Dare
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: tessa dare, christmas romance, short stories, regency romance, historical romance
Publisher: Tessa Dare
Published: 2020-12-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Justin woke to the sound of Christmas bells pounding against his skull. He rolled over in bed, buried his face in the pillow, and groaned.

Last night.

He had a hundred regrets about last night, and only seventeen or so were whisky-related.

He dragged himself to a sitting position and rang for his valet. Today, he could not afford to stay abed. He had a great deal of damage to undo, and the first steps were a headache powder, a bath, and a shave, in that order.

After that...Well, it was Christmas. He should probably go to church and do some repenting. Couldn’t hurt.

And once it was well enough into the day to ensure they’d be awake and ready for callers, he must go to the Garland residence. Only the Christ child in the manger knew how that would unfold. Once he confessed the truth of last night, he might find himself staring down a pistol or four. She did have several brothers.

But the prospect of a bullet-riddled torso was of no moment. His concern must be for Chloe.

Last night, everything had happened so fast. In the moment, he hadn’t known how to correct her mother’s bizarre assumptions. But he could not allow anyone to besmirch her reputation or character on his account. Not even her own family. Most especially not her own family. He knew how dear she held them.

He stumbled over to the washstand, where he splashed cold water over his face and gave his teeth a vigorous scrubbing with tooth powder. By the time Smithson arrived bearing his headache powder and a glass of fizzy water, Justin was feeling slightly human again.

He downed the headache remedy in two swallows and returned the glass to the valet. “Ask the cook to send up two soft boiled eggs and dry toast, if you would.”

“Yes, my lord. Since I’m off to the kitchen, what would you have her do with the goose?”

“The goose? What goose?”

“A young lady called this morning. She was bearing a Christmas goose. A gift from her family, I understand.”

A young lady, appearing out of nowhere on Christmas morning? He could only think of one person it might be. Chloe.

“When did this happen?” he demanded.

“Not long ago. A quarter hour, perhaps.”

He cursed. “Why am I only hearing of it now?”

“I’m certain the butler meant to tell you as soon as you’d risen for the day.”

“He should have roused me, damn it.” He stormed to his dressing room and began yanking garments from the shelves. A shirt. Trousers. Socks.

Smithson set the tray aside and hastened to his aid. “Allow me to assist you, my lord.”

“What I need from you are answers. What did she look like? Fair hair, blue eyes? Tempting figure, lips meant for kissing?”

Smithson turned red as a beet. “I... I’m sure I couldn’t speak to most of that. But I believe she had fair hair, yes.”

“Did she give her name?” Justin stripped off his nightshirt and yanked a clean shirt over his head.

The valet began assembling a cravat, vest, and coat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.