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CHRISTMAS KISSES - NICOLE ZOLTACK *

To those who believe in the power and might of love at Christmastime.

CHAPTER1

1st October,1812

Lady Anna Wycliff accepted the letter from the butler and unsealed the wax. With reluctance, she smoothed open the paper and sighed.

A chair scraped against the floor as her dear friend Emily Pembroke stood and walked around the table. “Is that the invitation?”

Anna read the letter quickly and tapped her fingers against the table. “To Hollystone Hall for the Duchess of Haverford’s house party and charity ball on New Year’s Eve? Yes. I suppose you are going since you helped plan it?”

“Of course! I do believe it will be a wonderful time, and for such a good cause too.” Emily smiled. “I was sorry you were not able to help with the planning. We have both been so busy. It feels like we’ve hardly seen each other for weeks. Even now, this must be a short visit as my mother is feeling poorly. I just came to see if you had your invitation. Do say you will come.”

Anna grimaced and dropped the letter onto the table. “I regret I will not be able to make it.”

“Why not?” Emily rested her hand on the back of Anna’s chair. “You enjoy charity work.”

“Precisely why. I have already promised the Home for the Motherless Children that I would read stories to the orphans on New Year’s Eve. I promised them a new story for that specific date, and I cannot on good faith abandon them. And I had hoped you might accompany me that day. No matter. The children and I will have a grand time.”

“Could you not change the date?” Emily asked.

“I do not know how quickly I would be able to finish the story, Emily. No, I must stick to that date.”

“Well, that is a shame. But, Anna, even if you are otherwise occupied for that day, the house party is for two weeks! Surely you can pull yourself away for a few days.”

Anna fiddled with a strand of hair that had come free from a pin. “I just do not think I will make an appearance, unfortunately,” she said softly.

“I do wish you would change your mind.” Emily sighed. “I must go home. I promised mother I would not be long.”

“Give her my best.” Anna walked Emily to the front door. After seeing her friend off, Anna started toward the staircase when her mother called her from down the hall.

“Anna. Has Emily left already?”

“Yes. Her mother is ill.”

“Poor Jean. I am rather sorry to hear that. But what’s this about an invitation?” Anna’s mother smiled. For Anna, it was almost like looking in the mirror. With matching dark hair in curls near their ears and brown eyes, she and her mother even shared the same smile with small, pink, thin lips.

Anna motioned for her mother to follow and retrieved the letter from the table.

Her mother read it with interest. “Now, your insistence that you cannot attend… has this anything to do with a certain duke?”

Anna placed her hands on her cheeks to try to cover her blushing. “Certainly not. As I told Emily—”

“You know as well as I that the orphanage would be more than willing to accommodate you on any date that you wish. Nary a doubt they would allow you the chance to go to the charity ball.” Her mother looped their arms and directed Anna to the parlor.

Anna sat beside her on the settee. “I thought you did not care for the Duke of Barnet.”

Her mother pursed her lips. “You do know my thoughts on the man. He is nothing but a skirt chaser. I do not understand how you could possibly fancy him. His reputation is atrocious and—”

“You do not understand,” Anna said. She took a calming breath. Her mother had a habit of being a tad overbearing. “With me, Benjamin is different. He is kind and charming and—”

“If that is the case, why do you plan on hiding away? You must suspect he will go to the event?”

Anna knew well the duke would go, but perhaps it was for the best she could not attend. “To honor you,” she said quietly, her hands on her lap. “To obey you. You do not wish for me to be with him—you have made that quite clear—so I must endeavor to forget him. Unless you might be willing to reconsider your opinion on him?”

“Most certainly not.” Her mother sat up even straighter if that were possible. “Dear girl, you must think more clearly, with your head grounded. You have a kind heart, but that giving spirit will only be devoured by a man like him.”