Chapter One
“You shot it down? What were you thinking, you daft man?”
Helena jumped. The ear-piercing screech disrupted the tranquility of the library.
She sighed and murmured, “Oh, dear.”
Looking up from her place at the small writing desk, she met her husband’s gaze.
Sebastian grinned and closed the book he’d been reading. “It sounds like Edith is displeased with Fergus again.”
“Yes, it does.”
Returning his smile, Helena replaced the quill before scrubbing her ink-stained fingers with an old handkerchief. A response to her sister Cora’s letter would have to wait. She couldn’t write a word with her lady’s companion and land steward bellowing in the next room.
“How long do you think it will be before they storm off to separate parts of the house?” she asked.
“It could be a while.” Sebastian’s dark brown eyes glittered with amusement. “Edith is scolding him good this time, poor sap.”
“Your expression of sympathy lacks conviction, my love. I think you enjoy Fergus’s suffering.”
Sebastian shrugged, still smiling. “Perhaps a little. After all, he caused me to suffer a time or two during my courtship of you.”
Helena feigned a disapproving frown, but it dissolved into a chuckle.
Setting his book aside, her husband rose from his seat beside the crackling fire to approach her, hands outstretched.
She eagerly abandoned her task for the thrill of his touch and melted with pleasure when he wrapped her arms around her. He brushed her hair from her eyes and placed a lingering kiss to her forehead.
She never would have believed she could be happy wintering at her first husband’s estate. Before his death, her older husband had controlled every aspect of her life, isolating her from her family.
Aldmist Fell had felt like a prison, but now it was a home—one she shared with the love of her life, her youngest sister Gracie, a most gracious mother-in-law, and servants she loved as family.
Even Edith was earning Helena’s admiration with her unwavering devotion to Gracie. Though she acted more like Gracie’s nurse than Helena’s companion, Helena found she didn’t mind.
Sebastian drew her closer, his warmth surrounding her. “I’ll go to Fergus’s rescue if you wish,” he whispered into her ear, gently capturing her earlobe between his teeth.
Her heart launched into a wobbly gallop. After five months of marriage, Helena loved Sebastian Thorne even more than on the day they exchanged vows. His patience and good humor when dealing with her colorful family—whether they were actually blood relatives or close friends she loved like kin—never ceased to amaze her.
“Fergus can defend himself,” she whispered. “I would prefer you kiss me.”
Her husband needed no further encouragement to claim her mouth, causing her to forget about the squabble in the foyer for a moment.
A sharp scream startled Helena and Sebastian apart. Tense silence fell over the other room. Apparently, Edith had gotten Fergus’s attention.
“You could have easily missed,” Edith said in a quieter tone. “What if you had hit a bystander?”
“How else was I supposed to retrieve it?” Fergus’s booming voice echoed in the vast foyer.
And the yelling began again.
Her hopes that the two would lay aside their differences for Christmas, especially with two more of her sisters arriving any day, were fading. Fergus and Edith had seemed out for each other’s blood ever since their travel party arrived in Scotland. Helena felt at a loss for how to handle either one.
“What manner of idiot discharges a firearm with no regard for anyone else?” Edith said.
“I canna climb a tree, so what did you expect me to do?”
“I expected you to leave Gracie out of your foolishness, you blasted oaf.”
