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  He didn’t mind that the woman made a bold request to find out his identity. She’d saved him the trouble of dropping his name and title into the conversation. “Lord Stockwick, madam.”

  “I see,” she said, then her eyes narrowed. “Stockwick, did you say?”

  “Indeed. I see you are familiar with the family name.”

  “I was, once, but I’ve been away a long time. I remember an older man—with gray whiskers—held the title then.”

  “Ah, you must be thinking of my father, whom I am happy to say I don’t at all resemble. There’s no gray in my whiskers, as you see. Were you very well acquainted with him?”

  “Only in passing. I recall a daughter, though I am afraid it has been many years since I’ve thought of her. I cannot remember her name.”

  “Margaret. Or perhaps you knew her as Meg.”

  “Oh, yes. That’s it. Meg. We spent some time together right here. Well, upstairs in the nursery.”

  “Then we are likely already acquainted, too.”

  “I don’t recall meeting someone like you,” she began, her frown growing as she peered at him. “Unless…”

  “Hector,” he supplied, and then smiled as she appeared to recognize his name.

  But her eyes had narrowed upon him. “Oh, it’s you.”

  Silver Bells

  Distinguished Rogues, book 17

  Heather Boyd

  www.Heather-Boyd.com

  Contents

  Blurb

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Need more Steamy Regency Romance?

  About Heather

  Widowed a year, Ruby Roper must flee her Scotland home when she discovers her father-in-law plans to marry her off—and keep her only son. Running to her uncle finds her in an equally undesirable situation, surrounded by silent servants and mounting secrets. Very soon, it seems perhaps The Vynes isn’t the safe haven Ruby had hoped. After all, the last time she set foot on the estate, she’d lost something dear. This time, she could lose something a great deal more precious…unless she’s willing to put her trust in a man she’s not seen in years.

  Distinguished Rogues Series

  * * *

  Book 1: Chills

  Book 2: Broken

  Book 3: Charity

  Book 4: An Accidental Affair

  Book 5: Keepsake

  Book 6: An Improper Proposal

  Book 7: Reason to Wed

  Book 8: The Trouble with Love

  Book 9: Married by Moonlight

  Book 10: Lord of Sin

  Book 11: The Duke’s Heart

  Book 12: Romancing the Earl

  Book 13: One Enchanted Christmas

  Book 14: Desire by Design

  Book 15: His Perfect Bride

  Book 16: Pleasures of the Night

  SILVER BELLS

  Copyright © 2020 by Heather Boyd

  Editing by Kelli Collins

  * * *

  This story was first published in the Mistletoe and Mayhem Anthology.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced nor used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used facetiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  Ruby Roper shivered at the sudden chill of the kitchen and wished she were outside in the real cold of a snowy field. “What do you mean, I’m leaving?”

  Her father-in-law sniffed. “Fergus Masters requires a wife and likes the look of you, despite everything.”

  Despite Ruby being English is what he meant. Mr. Roper, a Scotsman with an unrelenting dislike for anyone born English, had never approved his son’s choice of bride. He now made no bones about how worthless she was to the family since his son was no longer alive to defend her existence.

  Ruby was considered a burden. The fact that she had loved their son from the moment they’d met until he’d suddenly passed away a year ago counted for nothing in Mr. Roper’s eyes. Nor did the dowry she’d brought to the marriage. That money had disappeared into the family coffers, never to be seen again.

  Now, a year after she’d buried Liam Roper, his father would be rid of her. “I don’t know the man well enough to consider such an alliance.”

  “Well, ya canna stay here,” he said, rising to tower over Ruby at his dinner table. “It’s him, or you’ll find your way in the world. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

  Ruby swallowed. “To meet us?”

  “To fetch you, girlie. I’ll have none of your fancy talk of long courtships. You wrapped our Liam around your finger. Keeping him away from his duty to the family for too long.” Mr. Roper jabbed a finger in her direction. “You’ll tie the knot without a fuss, as every other Scottish lass does, and be grateful I thought of you at all.”

  She shivered at the future her father-in-law had in store for her. But it made her decision to leave next week, return home to the family she’d become estranged from, all the more urgent. She didn’t have a week to escape with her son. “You can’t possibly want to send Pip away from the only home he’s ever known.”

  Mr. Roper shook his head. “The boy stays with us. He belongs here.”

  Ruby stood. “No, I won’t be parted from Pip.”

  Roper raised his hand above her face, ready to strike her. “You’ll do as ya told, lass.”

  She trembled, waiting for the blow…but it never came. Her mother-in-law had taken hold of her husband’s elbow and stopped him.

  “Not in my kitchen,” Eliza Roper cried out.

  Mr. Roper threw off his wife’s grip and turned away. He went to his grandson and ordered Pip up on his feet. Ruby’s son was only four, with hardly any idea what was going on. He faced his grandfather with a smile. “Can we go to the stables and see my papa’s horse?”

  “Aye, lad. We’re done here,” Mr. Roper announced.

  When they left the room, Ruby nearly cried. Roper was a hard man who’d never had need to punish her child, but she feared what he would do to her little boy.

  Ruby swallowed hard. She’d run away this minute if she had the fare. Her original plan was to take the mail coach back to cross the border into England and make her way south as fast as she could. But she still had days of work to go on a piece of embroidery that she would sell to pay for the journey. Getting there without funds would be an impossible trip with a young child.

  Ruby had never had a fair chance to make a place for herself within Liam’s family. They’d never tried to accept her the way they did her four-year-old son, Pip. As the only male grandchild, he’d been beloved since birth. And for weeks now, her father-in-law had been attempting to keep them apart in subtle ways.

  But it seemed Mr. Roper was done being subtle. Fergus Masters lived many miles away, a relative of one of their neighbors who had visited recently. She could not imagine she would
ever be allowed to see her son again once she was moved away.

  The silence left in Mr. Roper’s wake was deafening, and Ruby finally looked at her mother-in-law when she sat opposite. Eliza Roper stared at her steadily, and then she shook her head. “You’ll be Fergus’ fourth wife. His last wife died along with the third daughter she bore him.”

  Ruby swallowed hard.

  She had never been sure how Eliza thought of her. She’d offered Ruby very little kindness over the years they’d shared the upkeep of this house. But Eliza had not been entirely without compassion over the past five years. She’d taken charge of Ruby’s lying in and delivered Pip safely into Ruby’s arms. However, Eliza always sided with her husband. She’d adored her son while he’d lived, but her grandson Pip had become the center of her world. When Ruby was married off, no doubt she would take over raising young Pip in his grandfather’s image.

  “You canna stay, lass,” Eliza informed her.

  “I loved your son. He wouldn’t want this for Pip or me.” Ruby stood and began clearing the table angrily. She could expect no help from Eliza. The woman was Mr. Roper’s puppet, too.

  Eliza sighed. “I know you did, and he loved you, but he’s dead now, and you’ve got to think of the future.”

  Ruby carried everything into the kitchens. Roper had funds to pay for a maid to do the work, but he was too tight-fisted to pay anyone properly. In the end, it was left to Eliza and Ruby to keep the house tidy. Ruby had taken on the lion’s share of the work to spare her mother-in-law from scrubbing her fingers raw in the hope of becoming friends.

  The work of filling the sinks took some time, and her mother-in-law watched her work without comment as she often did.

  Ruby finished and turned.

  Eliza was holding out Ruby’s secret bit of embroidery. The piece she meant to sell to escape Scotland.

  Ruby wet her lips. “Where did you get that?”

  “Ye canna keep secrets in my ’ouse,” Eliza warned. She turned it over. “It’s not finished.”

  “No.”

  Eliza suddenly tucked the piece into the bodice of her gown. “Mine now.”

  “No, please!” Ruby cried. “Give it back to me.”

  Ruby had hoarded that linen and thread since the day she’d left home. If Eliza took it, she’d have nothing of any real value left.

  “It’s not finished, and you won’t have time.” Eliza went to the kitchen hearth and crouched down. She moved a log of wood, and then turned back to Ruby. “You need to leave,” Eliza repeated. When she approached Ruby, she held a tiny pile of coins in her hand. “Go to your family.”

  “I will not leave my son behind.”

  “I expected nothing less.” Eliza grabbed Ruby’s hand, uncurled her fingers, and started counting out coins into Ruby’s palm until she had enough for the fare and food on the journey home to England for both her and Pip too.

  Ruby gaped, stunned. She had to stop her when it became too much. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You raise him right, teach him what he needs to know about his father and his family. Give him the education his father would want Pip to have. You send him back to me when he’s fully grown to take up his inheritance.”

  Pip was heir to their lands. Irreplaceable to the family. Mr. Roper would be furious with Eliza for helping Ruby get away. “What about you?”

  “My place is here with my husband. He knows I’d never help the silly English chit my son shackled himself to. She’s only ever been a burden. I’ve made my disapproval of you plain as day since my Liam brought you into my home.”

  Ruby held the woman’s stare and didn’t believe a word she said. Eliza wouldn’t be helping her leave, giving her money, if she hadn’t come to care about her welfare. Her eyes filled with tears. “All this time. You only pretended to dislike me all this time.”

  Eliza shrugged. “You’ve grown on me a little. You still babble too much, but you’re a good woman, faithful to my Liam in life and in death. He’d want me to help you get back to your people.”

  Impulsively, Ruby hugged the woman. Eliza was stiff as a board at first, and then she suddenly embraced Ruby tightly. “You go back where you belong, lass, and find yourself a good man to marry soon. Someone who will care about the boy.”

  “I’ll write.”

  Eliza pulled away. “Don’t. I canna read.”

  Ruby blinked, shocked by that. She’d been living in this household for five years and had never once suspected Eliza was illiterate. But when she thought about it, it was always Mr. Roper or Liam who’d read any letters that came and shared the news.

  “Then I’ll send something instead. Once we’re settled in a good place, I’ll send a warm shawl to you.”

  Eliza nodded. “That would be grand,” she said.

  Ruby stood there a moment until Eliza scowled. “Well, what are you waiting for, lass? A carriage isn’t going ta come to our door to whisk you away like some fancy lady going to a ball.”

  “I have to wait for Pip to come back.”

  Eliza handed Ruby two apples and cut off some cheese, too. Then she snatched up her nearly threadbare shawl from the peg by the door. “I’ll go to my husband and send Pip back to you. I didn’t let him have his breakfast today, and the boy is bound to be hungry. He can eat on the journey.”

  She gaped at the woman who had everything arranged for her. “You planned for this.”

  Eliza nodded again. “Mr. Roper said he will go out to the fields, and I’ll go with him to help with the lambs. You go now to your chamber and collect what you can’t live without and carry upon your back. He’ll be after you for the boy by sunset, so you’ll have to run far and fast.”

  “I’ll not go to my father,” Ruby decided.

  Eliza held up her hand. “Don’t tell me what you plan. It’s best I don’t know so I don’t have to lie about that, too. As it is, he’ll likely beat me for not watching you as I should.”

  Ruby hugged Eliza again, afraid for the woman. “I can never thank you enough for your kindness.”

  “Did I ask you to? Typical Englishwoman. Always trying to fill all the peace of the world with your endless babble.”

  Ruby laughed, hugged Eliza one last time, and then fled for her chamber to collect the satchel already packed with her few remaining possessions from under her bed. When she got back to the kitchen, Pip was munching on the cheese left on the table and was eager to run off outside with her.

  Chapter 2

  Lord Hector Stockwick stuffed his book back into his satchel and looked ahead as far as he could see. Derbyshire wasn’t precisely his favorite place in the winter months, but he felt a sense of anticipation as he neared the end of his journey. He had promised to meet a friend here, though he should probably refer to Lord Clement as his brother-in-law, instead. Clement had married his sister Meg ten months ago, which meant a family reunion of sorts. Hector’s arrival was a surprise for Meg to make up for spending Christmas away from Cornwall for the second year in a row.

  Lord Clement and most of his family—mother, brother, and sisters—had been living in Cornwall for most of the past year. Meg loved it there, but Hector had not gone back since they’d moved in. Too many memories; not all of them bad, but some he preferred never to revisit again.

  He’d been rather shocked to learn that Meg had consented to spend another Christmas freezing her knees off in feet-deep snow in Derbyshire, at her husband’s family’s ancestral estate, The Vynes—and with Lord Vyne himself, her papa-in-law, who was not a terribly nice man. Hector trusted Lord Vyne about as far as he could throw him.

  The last Hector had heard, Lord Vyne had been in a snit over plans for his wife and unmarried children to visit Cornwall for an extended stay. Lady Vyne didn’t want to return, and her son and new daughter-in-law hadn’t been in any hurry to send her back to her angry husband.

  But now he suspected some sort of reconciliation had taken place. Why else would Meg willingly return to a place she’d disliked so much? Meg
had not hidden the fact that she’d been miserable traveling to Derbyshire last year. At least, in the beginning. Meg had fought Hector over going. She might have even hated him for dragging her from Cornwall, too. That had all changed, of course, when she’d fallen in love with Lord Clement.

  Damned if Hector had seen that coming. Also, damn inconvenient to lose a fellow bachelor to the parson’s noose. He couldn’t even complain or tease him since the man was his brother-in-law. His sister and Clement were devilishly happy, and that was that.

  Hector glanced up at the sky. It was still a few hours till total dark. The weather was holding, but he suspected it wouldn’t for much longer. Thankfully, he was almost at The Vynes. He would have his feet up and a drink in hand before a cheery blaze very soon.

  When the carriage topped this next rise, they began the descent into the bowl-shaped valley where the great house stood. “There it is,” he said to his companion.

  “Very good, sir,” his new valet replied, somewhat sourly.

  “Just wait, Parker,” Hector promised. “Christmas at The Vynes will be a jolly good time.”

  “Yes, my lord.” Parker wheezed, sending steam across the carriage. “Forgive me. It’s just so cold. I fear my face is frozen.”

  “Winter is always cold,” Hector said as he regarded the poor shivering fellow. He’d been in the army or something before coming into Hector’s employ. At the time of the man’s interview, Hector had thought him up to the rigors of his duties in London. But he’d spoken of warm climes and even a hint of danger when he’d been taken on. Perhaps he’d no experience of winter in recent years. “I could have trained up one of the other footmen, but you were adamant you could fill my last valet’s shoes.”