Free A Regency Christmas Pact Collection by Ava Stone, Catherine Gayle, Jerrica Knight-Catania, Julie Johnstone, Jane Charles, Aileen Fish Page A

of you makes no sense at all.”
    “You don’t have to understand it.” Though at the moment, Berks wasn’t certain if he understood it himself.
    “No. I don’t have to do anything where you’re concerned, my lord. Since the moment we met, you have done nothing but insult me and then apologize for doing so. It is an ugly pattern. One I would like to put an end to. I may not be able to leave until this ridiculous storm of your Mr. Powell’s has ended , but I will be gone as soon as I am able. Until then, I respectfully ask for you to refrain from seeking me out, from speaking to me, or even looking in my general direction, if at all possible.”
    And with that, she turned back on her heel and started up the cantilevered steps without even the tiniest glance backwards.
     

A storm! How was Tessie to know there was going to be a real storm? And not just a little storm. Oh, no! Father Christmas, Mother Nature, or whoever was in truly charge of the weather, conspired to dump nearly two feet of snow on Warwickshire. And she’d been stuck at Wellesbourne Park for the last sennight. Blast Mr. Powell and his aching bones! And blast every flake of snow that was falling even now. At this rate, she’d be stuck in Warwickshire until next Christmas. There wasn’t a thing she could do to remedy her situation either, which was more than infuriating.
    For days, she’d had to pretend that everything was fine for Uncle Martin’s sake, spend her days laughing with Miranda and Pippa as though she hadn’t a care in the world, and crawl into bed each night more tired than the last and feeling more envious of her friends’ happy lives than she had been the day before. Thankfully, it was rather easy to avoid Lord Berkswell with the exception of dinner when everyone was present. But during the day, he kept mostly to himself in his study and seemed honor-bound to keep his distance from her.
    At least there was that.
    No more improper suggestions. No more insulting accusations. No more humiliating apologies. No more flipped bellies either.
    Not that Tessie missed that last bit. There was no reason for her belly to flip in response to the condescending Lord Berkswell. No reason at all.
    “It is your turn!” Miranda complained, breaking Tessie from her reverie.
    Tessie glanced back at the cards in her hand and sighed. “You are impatient. You do know that, do you not?”
    Miranda sniffed. “I think I very patiently waited five minutes for you to discard from your hand, Theresa Birkin.”
    “Ah, yes, you’re the very picture of patience.” Tessie giggled and dropped her cards to the table. “Can’t we do something else? I could never play another round of piquet in my life and be perfectly happy.”
    “Meaning you don’t wish to lose to me again?” Miranda quirked one brow at her.
    Miranda was very nearly unbeatable at anything related to cards, not that Tessie generally cared about losing. She was just tired of looking at cards and being cooped up inside Wellesbourne Park. “Wouldn’t a nice walk be just the thing?” she suggested.
    Her friend sat back in her chair in surprise. “In the middle of a snowstorm? Have you taken leave of your senses?”
    The blasted snow. “I suppose not.” Tessie sighed but then an old memory flashed in her mind. At one point, they’d had quite a bit of fun in the snow. “Do you remember the time Penny threw that snowball that hit Calista in the back of the head?”
    Miranda’s face lit up at their shared memory. Every Bartlett in residence had ended up on one side or another of their little wintry war. “You mean the beginning of the great snowball fight of 1809?”
    Tessie giggled. “By the end of it, Simeon and Lord Marston were shivering and nearly blue.”
    “Papa had the worst throwing arm,” Miranda laughed right along with her. And truly, the late Lord Marston did have the aim of blind man with a broken arm.
    “And Penny had the best. Of course.”

    The tinkering sound of