Christopher's Christmas by Adella J Harris

Author:Adella J Harris [Harris, Adella J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: holiday romance, gay romance, m/m romance, historical romance, regency romance
Publisher: Adella J Harris
Published: 2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

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The mummers arrived the day before Christmas Eve. Kit went to the manor house and helped Mrs. Gibbons with the wassail bowl, fetching bottles from the cellar and stirring while she added spices and rinds to the pot. It gave him an excuse to be there and left his mind free to worry. He’d suggested to Chris that they meet again at the folly while the mummers performed, and Chris had seemed to find the idea pleasing, but while in Kit’s mind he had been very clear that he wasn’t joking and it was a serious invitation, he couldn’t remember how it had sounded when he’d said it aloud. Was it possible Chris had thought he was joking? Or might Chris have changed his mind now that he knew the area and the staff and could find more experienced, more congenial company? Kit told himself not to be disappointed and, above all, not to let Chris think he needed to repay him for any of the accounts he’d written up. That had been a joke, all the bits about owing him and collecting on debts. What if Chris had mistaken the serious offer for a joke, and the joke for serious? And how was he to put it to rights if he had?

Still, when the footmen came to get the punch and bring it out to the yard where the mummers would perform, Kit went to the box of half-used candles the staff took for their rooms and slipped a couple to replenish the supply at the folly into the bag he’d brought with sandwiches and a bottle of ale from the Fox’s Head then went outside to join the other servants waiting to see the performance.

The actor playing St. George was just getting into his introductory speech about the virtues of charity while members of the troupe moved among the crowd, mainly near the houseguests, with sacks for coins to be dropped into, when Kit spotted Chris standing at the back of the group of upper servants. Chris caught his eye and glanced back towards the trees. Kit nodded then inclined his head in the direction they would need to go to reach the folly. Chris gave a small nod and started to back away from the group. Kit waited until St. George was working himself up to the climax of his speech then hurried away to the trees.

Chris was waiting for him almost exactly where Kit had indicated, leaning casually against a tree. Kit couldn’t help but smile when he saw him. Even in his warm coat with a muffler wound round his neck, Chris seemed brighter than anything else around them. He peeled himself away from the tree as Kit came into view and smiled in the way that made Kit feel he was the only person Chris wanted to see. That flustered him, so he held up the sack to distract himself. “I brought some sandwiches.”

Chris seemed to relax when Kit said that, as if his casual pose had been an act and now he felt he could really answer.

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