Three Kisses Before Christmas

Chapter 1

Wolfstan Robert Ward , Earl of Wicke and Selborne, flipped the invitation to Willoughby Castle, a summons, really, back to front between his fingers in absent thought.

Langley was in the market for a wife.

The news did not surprise him, as Mason Flowerdy, the Honorable Viscount Lonsdale and his childhood friend, had informed him two minutes prior. Wolfstan understood his cousin’s sudden interest in marriage. Langley adored children. Had never made a secret of his adoration. Even at eight-and-twenty, Langley could not stroll past a baby without stopping and cooing over the infant for a quarter of an hour. By no means did Wolfstan hate babies, but what the devil did his cousin find so alluring? They smelled like vomit and piddle. They slobbered. They cried. A lot.

Wolfstan shuddered.

But that was beside the point.

Women would be lining up for Langley, Wolfstan was sure. Two years his junior, Langley had always been a favorite amongst the ladies, unlike Wolfstan, who kept mostly to himself. His interest lay with one woman only. Which was why the news of Langley’s interest in procuring a wife did not spark a flicker of joy within Wolfstan. In fact, the news brought with it only a string of curses and a distressingly wretched mood.

All because of Rebecca Flowerdy.

Ah, Rebecca Flowerdy.

The woman he loved.

To the point of bloody distraction.

Damn that fateful summer day at Westbridge Park fifteen years ago, the day Wolfstan’s life had unwittingly changed forever. The day he and Langley had visited Mason and happened upon Rebecca, nine-years-old at the time, in a field of flowers and tall grass, being bullied by Jim Parsons, the son of a resident farmer.

Wolfstan rubbed his temples.

He would never forget her eyes, tears brimming in their innocent depth as she stared up at him. A feeling of warmth had spread across his chest, and Wolfstan had vowed, from that day forward, he would always protect Rebecca Flowerdy. He had felt like a bloody hero in her eyes.

That feeling of warmth never left. With each passing year, the meaning of that affection grew and spread through his system like the roots of an ancient oak tree. So rooted was he at the heart, he could not possibly hope to move from the ground on which Rebecca Flowerdy walked.

Each time she cast a smile his way, laughed at something ridiculously mundane, shot him a look of pure humor, she took a piece of his soul. Every single time. He felt bloody bare. Naked. Picked dry. Beyond a doubt, Rebecca’s smile rattled the ground beneath his well-polished boots.

There was only one problem.

Rebecca Flowerdy was smitten with another man.

Langley.

His cousin.

A bloody mess.

Wicke? Have you lost your hearing?

Wolfstan looked up at Lonsdale, bearer of wretched news and brother to the woman he loved. No, he had not lost his hearing. He had lost something much more valuable. His moment.

Does Rebecca know? Wolfstan asked, redirecting whatever topic Lonsdale had brought up.

About Langley? I’m not sure. Caro informed me. She might have passed on the news to Rebecca. They left for Westbridge Park three days ago.

That was news to Wolfstan. Normally, the family traveled together. Your wife left without you?

I escorted them and returned. The doctor ordered Caro to rest for the duration of her pregnancy. I still have matters to finalize in London before I retire.

Wolfstan nodded. You must be anxious to join them, then.

I am, Lonsdale answered. Which brings me to my visit. When are you joining the festivities at Willoughby Castle?

I’m not.

Lonsdale frowned. You join every year.

This year is different, Wolfstan told Lonsdale.

Because every year he regretted it more than the last. The only reason he attended was because of the proximity to Westbridge Park. And every year he would listen to Rebecca dreamily sigh at the mention of Langley’s name, an infatuation that had followed her for Christ only knows how many years.

Wolfstan had reached his limit of those sighs.

Which was why he had decided to forgo merrymaking this year altogether. Distance seemed pivotal to get a grip on himself. If there was any grip to be had, he mused bitterly. Yet the cruel irony still amazed him. The moment he decides to pass over the winter frolics, Langley decides to take a wife?

He must be cursed with rotten luck.

Rebecca had never spared him a second glance, at least not one with stars in her eyes. Wolfstan was all too aware of how firmly planted in Langley’s shadow he stood. Rebecca must be walking on bloody clouds.

Wolfstan was not at all sure his heart could take the thrashing of his cousin and Rebecca falling into each other’s arms. If watching her moon over Langley had been disheartening, bearing witness to her soft blushes and dreamy eyes as she fawned over his cousin. That Wolfstan could not do. Refused to do.

Rebecca was not one to fawn.

True.

And Langley might choose not to court her, but his cousin would be a fool to let Rebecca slip through his fingers. Langley was no fool. Who the hell could resist all that luscious copper hair waiting to flow through a man’s fingers like a waterfall of silk. Bloody Hell. Wolfstan balled his hands into fists at the mere thought.

You are the deuced fool.

Yes.

Yes, he was.

He dragged both hands through his hair. Not as vibrant as hers. Bland really. A color he shared with the bark of a tree. He preferred sunsets to earth.

Cannot see how this year is different. Lonsdale’s sharp eyes honed even more. Are you troubled by circumstance?

Absolutely not, Wolfstan lied. He had never told his friend he hungered after his sister. And yet hunger was properly inadequate. What he felt ran much deeper. It simmered in his soul. Ever present. Never offering any peace. Her scent intoxicated him. Her lips beckoned. The melody of her voice enticed the beat of his heart. He collected the notes of her laughter like a pirate hunted for jewels at sea.

A hopeless moonstruck fool.

Lonsdale smiled. The sort of half-smile that spoke more than any words and gave Wolfstan gooseflesh. Perhaps the time has come for you to take a wife as well.

If you only knew, old chap.

Wolfstan would have married Rebecca in a heartbeat had she fallen in love with him and not Langley. Age, to him, was of little consequence since he had surely been cursed with the sentiment of romance. Fated to love a woman in love with another man.

Not interested in matrimony? Lonsdale queried.

Undecided.

Lonsdale nodded thoughtfully. I married young and I’ve been happily married for five years.

Five-and-twenty is not all that young and you might sing another melody in another five years.

I will forever sing this one.

Hopeless. The both of them. Plagued by fantasies and starry-eyed dreams. Beyond saving. Lonsdale, at least, had won the woman he loved, so in a sense, while in some ways the same, they were polar opposites.

Rebecca will miss you if you stay in London.

Wolfstan inwardly scoffed at that. Miss him? Rebecca? He doubted she would even notice his absence, let alone his presence. Not entirely inspiring for a man such as him—a man conflicted by unrequited love. Sometimes Rebecca made him wonder if he hadn’t fallen into delirium. He wanted to snap out of the spell she had cast over him. Sooner rather than later. His moods, lately, had become fouler, every day worse than the day before. Even the sight of his cousin, blissfully unaware of his feelings, was enough to set off his ire. Poor fellow.

Have you picked names for the infant yet? Wolfstan decided to steer the subject to a less maddening topic.

Caro said she will know once she locks eyes with our son.

Son? What a mightily arrogant assumption.

Lonsdale grinned. Son, he said with conviction.

Wolfstan’s lips quirked. He fought the urge to cross and uncross his legs. Failed. Dammit. His brain simply refused to be thwarted by distraction, pounding on one track, and one track only. Will Langley court Rebecca? Will Rebecca’s dreams finally come to fruition? Will his forever be stomped into dust?

Since you are forgoing festivities this year, I suppose I shall ask Langley to ride out to Westbridge Park and call on the women.

Wolfstan’s head whipped to Lonsdale.

Damn it all to hell.

MASON IS GOING TO HAVE a fit of the vapors when he learns you have not been resting as you ought to. Rebecca Flowerdy assisted her sister-in-law, Caroline onto the bed with her arm wrapped protectively around her waist.

I tend the flowers with my hands, not my belly, came Caroline’s tart reply.

As you are not reclining vertically when you do so, I cannot see how that is relevant.

You haven’t said anything about the rumor that Langley is in the market for a wife.

Because Rebecca’s heart still hadn’t quite settled into