HALF AN HOUR after the charades game began, Colin and his siblings were interrupted by the head butler announcing the unexpected delivery of a crate. They all hurried to the stone hall to see what it might be.
The crate was enormous, standing taller than Colin himself, and his name was scrawled across the front. There was no indication of where or whom it had come from.
“Do you suppose it’s a wedding gift?” he asked, coming up to stand beside it.
“Open it and see,” Jason suggested.
The buoyancy in his voice had Colin turning to him sharply. “It’s from you, then?”
“I didn’t say that. Just open it.”
“It must be furniture. A nice thought, Jason, but much too generous—and besides, I have no place to put anything yet.”
Jason laughed. “Look, it’s not from me. Just open it.”
Colin considered. “Very well, but Amy should be here. Perhaps she’s feeling better now. I’ll just go and check.”
“Let her sleep,” Kendra said. “She felt beastly. Checking might wake her, and you mustn’t do that.”
“I’m not sure what to do, then.” Colin twisted his signet ring on his finger. “I expect this can wait until morning.”
“It’s addressed to you, not Amy,” Kendra said. “She can see it in the morning. Open it, please—or I’ll do it for you. I want to see what’s inside.”
“Well…”
“I’ll fetch some tools,” Ford offered, rushing off before Colin could protest.
Not that he really wanted to—he was at least as curious as Kendra.
A minute later, Ford was back, and together they pried off the front of the crate—only to find another box enclosed inside. They pulled the remaining three sides of the crate apart, but there was still no clue to the contents. The new box was unmarked.
“It must be fragile,” Colin remarked uncertainly. “Let’s be more careful opening this one.”
The second box revealed nothing more than a slightly smaller version of itself hidden inside.
He threw his siblings a sidelong glance and silently set to opening it. When a fourth featureless box was revealed, he grinned at the profusion of lumber littering the hall. “What on earth is going on here?”
“I’m sure we don’t know,” Kendra protested.
“We were just minding our own business, playing charades,” Ford offered.
“Just open it,” Jason said.
Colin shrugged, trying to hide a smile. He loved a joke played on himself almost as much as being the perpetrator of one. “I think I’ll wait until morning, after all,” he said blandly, turning to leave.
Kendra lunged at him, tugging on his shirt. “Colin Chase, you open that box right now. I’m—I’m dying of curiosity.”
He turned back and fixed her with an innocent look. “Well, then, I suppose I must. I wouldn’t want you to die on account of me.”
They laughed as he pulled the box apart, and he was not at all surprised to find a fifth box inside. This one had a sign on it, though, spelling out the words CONTAINS THE EARL OF GREYSTONE in neat block letters.
“It should say ‘Contents for the Earl of Greystone,’” he pointed out. “Somebody doesn’t know how to spell.”
His siblings shrugged.
“It cannot contain the Earl of Greystone,” he insisted, staring at their blank faces. “I’m the Earl of Greystone, and I’m quite obviously not in that box. I’m not certain I would even fit,” he added as an afterthought.
A cough came from within the box.
Colin swung around. “What the deuce…”
The top was hinged. He threw it open. Amy slowly rose, completely captivating in a soft peach gown, a dazzling smile on her lips and in her eyes.
“You! Uh—aren’t you ill?” Colin sputtered.
“Do I look ill?”
“No. And you don’t look like the Earl of Greystone, either.”
Laughter came from behind him, and he turned, confused. Kendra tilted her head. “Don’t you like your Christmas present, Colin?”
A grin of amusement twitched on his lips as he turned back to Amy. “You’re lovely, but you’re not a present, love. I have you already.” He grasped her under her arms, effortlessly lifting her out of the box. “It was a good trick, though,” he conceded as he set her on her feet. “Even if the sign was spelled wrong.”
“No, it was spelled correctly,” Amy said.
He remained silent, his brows drawn together in puzzlement.
“The box contains the next Earl of Greystone.”
Colin could sense all their eyes on him, but his brain refused to work. His head felt completely blank. He leaned over a little, gazing into the empty box.
“It contained the next Earl of Greystone, I mean,” Amy clarified. “He’s not inside the box anymore.”
Colin blinked stupidly.
“You’ll have to wait to see him, though—about seven and a half months, I suspect.”
His heart faltered in his chest.
“He’s inside me, Colin,” she finished softly.
His mouth opened, closed, then he let forth a whoop of joy as he swept her up and swung her around and around in a wide circle. Jason and Ford both laughed, while tears brightened Kendra’s eyes.
Suddenly, Colin stopped and set Amy down with exquisite care. “Have I hurt you?” he asked earnestly. “Either of you?”
“No, we’re not that fragile. Though it’s a good thing I don’t seem prone to morning sickness.”
Ford snorted. “You’d have got it straight in your face, I expect.”
“Ford!” Jason and Kendra shouted together.
“Forgive him,” Jason continued to Amy. “He’s hopelessly uncivilized.”
“I think he’s funny,” Amy declared between giggles. “And quite handsome, besides.”
Ford’s neck turned red.
“Well, Colin, I reckon the honeymoon is over.” Jason’s smile belied the seriousness of his tone.
“Come again?”
“She played a joke on you. She’s challenging your virtuosity as a prankster already.”
Colin looked at his bride, his heart swelling with emotion. “Au contraire,” he said slowly. “The honeymoon is only beginning.” He swept her up, bearing her slight weight as one would a sleeping child, his arms beneath her shoulders and knees. Cradling her against his upper body, he strode toward the staircase
“Wait!” Kendra shouted. “The games!”
“Go ahead, children,” Colin called over his shoulder. “We have our own games to play.”
“Colin!” Amy chided, shocked at his indelicacy. But she kept laughing all the way up the stairs.