Mistletoe Wishes: A Regency Christmas Collection

She studied him as if still trying to pierce through to all his secrets. Renewed fear sliced through him, sharp as a knife. Could he fail even now, when they’d both declared their love and surely only a happy ending awaited?

His grip firmed on her waist. “Maggie, please say you’ll have me. You’ll break both of our hearts if you don’t. I swear I’ll be a good husband. You’ll never regret marrying me. I love you. You love me. We’re better together than we ever were apart. Don’t condemn me to eternal torment because you’ve got some bee in your bonnet about being a servant. I don’t give a rat’s arse about that. Hell, I work for my living. I’ve got nothing but admiration for how you faced up to your difficult circumstances and made the best of them. That’s the girl I want to marry. Someone who will be a true partner. Not some pampered princess who sits around on a cushion all day, waiting to be adored.” His voice broke with emotion. “Maggie, please say yes. I’m not a man for romantic words, but you must know how much I need you.”

Her stare didn’t waver. He had no idea what thoughts lay behind those clear blue eyes.

“Please?” he said unsteadily.

“I think…I think you really do love me,” she said in a tone of discovery.

He couldn’t resist anymore. He kissed her hard, but broke away before the kiss deepened into passion. “Of course I bloody do. Haven’t you been paying attention?”

“Indeed I have.” To his surprise, humor lightened her expression. “And you’re wrong, you know.”

He groaned. “What else must I do to convince you? I’ll do anything.”

To his surprise, she caressed the back of his neck. “Oh, I’m convinced, Joss.”

“Then what is i

t?” He was too close to the edge to take her statement for granted.

“I can’t agree with your claim that you have no gift for words. Nobody could fault this most recent effort.”

He was so close to despair that he didn’t trust what he thought he heard. Although the girl in his hold looked more like the ardent creature who had yielded with such sweetness than she had since his proposal. “But did it work? Will you marry me?”

She rose on her toes and kissed him on the lips with the same ruthless possessiveness he’d shown her. “Oh, yes.”

He stared down at her, as disbelief faded into boundless joy. “Soon?”

“Yes.”

“And you love me?”

“Yes.” As emotion thickened her voice, she trembled in his arms. “More than I ever imagined it was possible to love anyone.”

He stared into her eyes and accepted it at last. This Christmas brought him a gift more precious than he deserved. He vowed to cherish that gift until the day he died.

“Well, that’s good, then,” he said, and this time, their kiss was long and passionate and said everything in their hearts.

When he raised his head, Maggie’s eyes were so brilliant, he was dazzled. With a ringing laugh, he swung her up into his arms and strode toward the door.

“Joss!” she said, in what he was sure was meant to be a protest, but instead sounded like another declaration of love.

“It’s time for all good girls to be in bed, my darling.”

“And what about all good boys?”

He kissed her quickly and lowered his voice to a growl. “Oh, my love, once I get you back into bed, I intend to be very good indeed.”

Epilogue

Thorncroft Hall, Yorkshire, 24th December 1826

Maggie Hale loved Christmas Eve almost as much as she loved Christmas Day, which in recent years had become a rambunctious, laughter-filled celebration of family love.

She paused at the top of the carved oak staircase and surveyed the bustling hall below, decorated with greenery and candles, and hung with mistletoe brought from the Hale family home in Sussex. In one corner, Joss’s brothers and sisters crowded around the piano singing carols. In another, the more senior members of the party, including Dr. Black, sat beside the fire, sharing reminiscences of Christmases past. In the center of the room, the older children, nieces and nephews and cousins, played snapdragon and other Christmas games. Their excited laughter rose to the rafters. The youngest children had been sent to bed an hour ago.

Joss’s tall, handsome father, an older, more grizzled version of Maggie’s husband, had joined the snapdragon game with a gusto that put his grandchildren to shame. She watched her old friend Jane come in, bearing a tray of cakes. Jane remained at Thorncroft Hall, but these days, her daughter and son-in-law augmented the household staff. With the addition of Jane’s four grandchildren as well, Thorncroft was no longer the lonely, echoing barn of a place it had been when only Jane and Maggie rattled around inside it.