Kendra
LAKEFIELD’S MANYclocks had all struck midnight.
It was officially Christmas Day.
All the gifts had been opened.The children were snug in their rooms.The last of the mulled wine was long gone.
And Kendra had never been more ready for bed in her life.
Unfortunately, she and Trick returned to the cottage to find Margaret stripping the very bed she wanted to be in.
At first, Kendra just gaped, confused.She couldn’t imagine why this was happening—notnow, anyway.Why would her maid be changing the sheets in the wee hours on Christmas morning?Especially after they’d been changed as part of the room swap earlier this evening?
“What’s happening here?”Trick asked, echoing her thoughts.
“I’m so very sorry, your grace.”Margaret looked up, a touch of fear in her eyes.“I spilled a pitcher of water.I vow and swear, I’ve never been so clumsy—”
“On the bed?”Kendra interrupted in sheer incredulity.Indeed, she could see the washstand pitcher was out of place and empty, but, “On thebed?”
The maid looked close to tears.“I was carrying it by, and—”
“It’s all right, Margaret,” Trick cut in.“We’re all clumsy from time to time.Go get some fresh linen.Now, please.”
“Yes, your grace.”Leaving the wet linen in a heap on the floor, Margaret curtsied, then hurried out.
The moment the door shut, Kendra turned to Trick.“I cannotbelievethat something happened in this chamber, too!”
“Easy, lass.Bide a moment.”He kicked the wet heap into a corner.“Margaret will return shortly.”
“And then the bed will need to be made, and—”
“Shh.”Returning to her, he stopped her rant with a quick kiss.“Compared to all the time we’ve been waiting, the time to replace sheets will be nothing.”
It wouldn’t be nothing, but she let him kiss her again, more deeply.After a moment, she relaxed and felt a familiar warm glow begin spreading through her.Before long she was sighing and happily helping him out of his surcoat.
She kicked off her shoes and sat on the big chest at the foot of the bed to roll off her stockings.He sat beside her and did the same.
A faint moan came through the adjoining wall.
“Do you hear that?”Kendra huffed.“I know her decision made him very happy tonight, but I cannot believe they’re together for thesecondtime in a matter of hours, while we—”
“Hush,leannan.”He turned her to face him.“We’ll have our chance soon enough.And then they’ll be hearing us.”
“Oh, no, they won’t,” she promised, slightly horrified but also amused.When another sound came through the wall, they both laughed.His hands went to detach her stomacher.She leaned close to nuzzle his neck.“Hmm, best to wait.Margaret will be back any moment.”
“She’s seen you undressed.”
“Should we go any further, I’ll be more than undressed…”
A knock came at the door.“Your graces?”
“Told you so,” Kendra muttered as Trick strode over to open it.
Margaret came in, carrying what looked to be a few threadbare towels.“I’m so very sorry—” she started.
“Where are the linens?”Kendra all but shrieked, her newfound good humor shattered.
Margaret’s blue eyes looked huge, the tears that had threatened earlier welling.“The laundress has gone to bed for the night, and the extra sets of bedding were used yesterday to fix the cheese stench and then earlier today after the cats got into your room.There are so many people in the house, more people than ever before, and I woke the housekeeper, but she told me there’s simply no more clean bedding.No good towels, either, but I brought these old—”
