Page 14 of A Rogues & Gentlemen Christmas

He stopped, realising he could not tell her how anxious his father had become about the title. He’d been utterly furious with Chance for going away to war when there was no heir to take his place. Well, there was an heir: his cousin Humphrey, who made Chance look like a choir boy. If Chance died without a male heir and the title went to Humphrey, he had no doubt whatsoever that his father would make his afterlife a misery.

“Ah, surrounded by women,” Odette said with a laugh, watching as he hefted the snowman’s head onto the body. “He must have been so glad to see you return safe from the war.”

“Yes. He was.” It had been the only time he’d ever seen his father weep. He’d been so certain Chance would not come back. Of course he wasn’t entirely sure if the man had wept with relief that his heir was in one piece or because his son had returned, but still. It had been nice to be in his good books for once. It hadn’t lasted long.

“It must be wonderful to have family,” she said, packing snow around their creation’s neck to keep his head on. “My uncle’s home is remote, in Derbyshire. There was only him and André, and a few servants. He lost so much during the war, it changed him, made him bitter. He is so proud, you see, and to have lost so much money, so much power…. He feels he cannot hold his head up in society, not unless—”

She stopped abruptly and brushed the snow from her gloves. Chance wondered just who her uncle was and what she’d been about to say, but then she flashed him a dazzling smile, and all the sense was knocked out of his brain.

“There, il est très beau.”

“As handsome as me?” Chance asked, before he could stop himself.

That awful, delicious tension rose between them again, tantalising, daring him.

Odette shook her head.

“Non,” she said softly. “Not as handsome as you.”

She moved towards him and reached for his lapels, steadying herself as she lifted onto her toes and pressed her mouth to his.

Oh, that’s torn it, he thought wildly, and pulled her into his arms.