Page 92 of Ten Lords for the Holidays

A COUNTERFEIT CHRISTMAS SUMMONS - AVA STONE *

The Duke of Danby has the power to summon his family to him at Christmas, and I find I am a bit jealous of him in that regard. I'll be on the opposite coast from my family this holiday season and I will miss them desperately. So for my family - Mom, Dad, Jill, Ryan, Nick, Grandma, Matt, Camden, Luke & of course Brandt - this Christmas story is for you.

~ Ava

CHAPTER1

Danby Castle, Yorkshire

December 1812

Lady Emma Whittonstudied an old correspondence penned by her eldest brother. It was always so difficult to duplicate his E’s just right. Blast the letter E for being the most frequently used letter in the English language. How was she to ever convince Lord Heathfield her summons was from Drew if she couldn’t master her brother’s squatty E’s?

Practice would have to make perfect. After all, when might she get another opportunity such as this? Emma dipped her quill in her inkpot and wrote E after E, not certain if she was getting better or worse for her efforts. For heaven’s sake! Drew really should have much better penmanship. It would make forging a summons from him so much easier if his scrawl was somewhat legible.

“What are you doing?” came an all-too-familiar voice from behind her.

Emma jumped, nearly breaking her quill and overturning her inkpot in the process. “Heavens!” she gasped, looking over her shoulder to find her twin, Isabel, standing just a foot away. “Izzy! You took five years off my life.”

Isabel grinned unrepentantly. “Five whole years of make-believe wedded bliss to Heathfield? I suppose I should be sorry.”

Emma scowled at her sister. “Oh, hush.” Then she handed Isabel the foolscap she had been so diligently working on. “Do you think any of these resemble Drew’s hand at all?”

Isabel glanced over the list of E’s, and she shook her head. “You’re worrying too much. He’s aman, Em. Do you think he’ll notice if Drew’s scrawl looks off? Just don’t sprinkle it with rosewater and he’ll never know the difference.” Then her brown eyes lit with amusement. “Better yet, roll the letter around in the stables before you send it. At least it will smell like Drew that way.”

Emma couldn’t help but laugh. “I hardly think our brother would appreciate that.”

Unconcerned, Isabel shrugged and handed the foolscap back to Emma. “I do wish you would wait to lure the estimable Heathfield here some other time, however. The castle will already be overrun by those people.”

Emma laughed again. No matter that they were twins, she and Isabel were as different as night and day. “You mean ourcousins?”

“Cousins are people.”

“True,” Emma conceded. “But it is precisely because those people will be here that my ruse will work. I can’t very well beg Heathfield to come visitme, now can I?”

“But Drew can.” Isabel smirked.

“But Drew can,” Emma agreed. And how fortunate she was that Grandpapa had summoned her brother home along with everyone else.

“I suppose it’s too bad for you that Drew hasn’t done so, then. It would save you time and effort in trying to duplicate his hand.”

Very true, but one could never count on one’s brother where matters of the heart were concerned. Besides, Emma would rather die than confess to Drew that she was desperately, madly in love with one of his oldest friends, and that she always had been. But at the ripe old age of nineteen, she was tired of waiting for Alden Barrett, Viscount Heathfield, to notice her. No, after spending two fruitless Seasons, it was most definitely time to take matters into her own hands as far as her destiny was concerned.

“Just make certain you address it to ‘Heath’. Anything more formal will catch Lord Heathfield’s notice faster than whether or not Drew’s penmanship is off.”

* * *

Alden Barrett, Viscount Heathfield, sank into the overstuffed leather chair behind his desk and frowned at the letter in his hand. He read it, and then he reread it, as something was most definitely strange with the note.

My dearest Heath,

I hope this letter finds you well. As I write this, I am on my way to Danby Castle. Grandpapa has summoned me home, as well as each and every one of my cousins. I fear I shall end up in Bedlam simply to recover from this holiday and the hordes that will swarm around and inside the castle.

As I know you will be alone this Christmas, pray rescue me from the insanity that is my family. I beg you to travel to the wilds of Yorkshire to keep me company.

Yours Always,

Hardwick

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