Free House of Trent 01.5 - His for Christmas by Jennifer Haymore

carriage.
    When he turned onto the drive of Cheltham House, Evan could see the grand house, a tall and imposing rectangle of red brick. Golden light spilled from nearly every window, and festive boughs of holly decorated the awning over the grand front entrance and twisted around the pillars framing the door.
    As soon as Evan stopped the sleigh behind the earl’s carriage, people began pouring from the front door. Amelia’s mother moved at the front of the crowd, hurrying toward the carriage. When the door opened and Amelia stepped out, the countess took her daughter into her arms. Evan’s mother broke off from the group and approached him, his aunt on her heels, as he stepped out of the sleigh and handed the reins to a groom.
    His mother stopped before him just as he turned to face her. She looked up at him and her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, Evan,” she murmured. “I’ve missed you, son.”
    He embraced his mother, glad that despite the glassiness in her eyes, she looked well. Glad that, in spite of everything, they could be together this Christmas. When he let her go and made to step back from her, she clutched him tightly. “I’m not sure you’re welcome here,” she murmured into his ear. “There has been gossip…”
    “I know, Mama,” he said, patting her shoulder. “It’ll be all right.” It would be. He’d make it so.
    “Oh, Evan, I’m not sure—”
    “Hush,” he told her softly. At the carriage, people were talking in excited voices. Looking over his mother’s shoulder, he saw Amelia’s mother narrowing her eyes at him, and it was clear exactly what kind of man she thought he was.
    He sighed, and his own mother released him, gazing at him with deep concern in her brown eyes. He gave her a game smile, then realized that she was shivering. She’d rushed outside without a coat, as had the others, most of whom were already heading back into the warm glow of the house.
    “Let’s go inside,” he told her.
    “Yes,” she said, and as Aunt Mary approached to greet him, she added under her breath, “but only because it’s too late to go anywhere else.”
    He greeted his aunt, his mother’s never-married older sister, a shy, reserved woman. Without meeting his eyes, she murmured, “Welcome back, Evan,” and pecked him on the cheek before falling into step beside him.
    Holding his mother’s and aunt’s arms firmly in his own, he led the two older ladies into the lion’s den.

Chapter Six
    T hanks to Evan, Amelia’s wish had come true—she would have Christmas Eve dinner with her family tonight, and she would spend Christmas with them tomorrow. Her mother had been holding dinner in hopes of hearing news of Amelia’s whereabouts from her father. When the earl returned with Amelia in the carriage, her mother had rushed outside and had gathered Amelia to her, exclaiming, “Oh, dearest. We have been so worried. First afraid that you were lost in that wretched storm, and then to hear that you’d been abducted by that awful Mr. Cameron…”
    “Abducted? What? Wait—” Amelia had pulled away from her mother, who’d gone stiff as her gaze snagged on the sleigh and its occupant. Amelia took her mother’s arm firmly, but the older woman’s narrowed eyes didn’t slide away from Evan.
    “Mama! You’ve been completely misinformed,” she said in a low voice, aware of the mass of people that was quickly surrounding them. “Papa is prepared to welcome Mr. Cameron into the house, and so must you.”
    The distance traveled in the carriage with her father had been uncomfortable, to say the least. The earl had wanted to know the exact nature of her relationship with Evan, and Amelia had been at a loss as to how to describe it. How is a lady expected to inform her father that, as of last night, she has acquired her first lover?
    Awkward, all round.
    But she did it. She’d told her father, the man whose mere visage at one time in her life made her quake in her boots, that she had strong