Katherine, Duchess of Weston, didn’t care how long it had been since everyone had seen one another, there wouldn’t be any tears at her party. So when she saw her sisters-in-law blubbering in the corridor outside the drawing room, she knew she must put a stop to it.

“Ladies, you’re going to make a mess for Sturgeon to clean up,” she said as she approached the little group of sappy relatives. “Come now, it’s Christmas. Let us put smiles on our faces and rejoice that we are once again together.”

“So wonderful to see you, too, sister dear.” Her little brother Michael said, though in all honesty, he wasn’t little at all. As a matter of fact, Katherine was rather dwarfed next to her brothers, blast them.

“Don’t be cross with me, Michael,” she said, moving in for a hug and a kiss from him. “I’m simply trying to be a good hostess.”

“You are the very the best, Kat. Never doubt it.”

She smiled widely at her brother. “You’ve always been my favorite, you know?”

“Pardon me?” Andrew stepped forward, looking affronted. “Isn’t that what you said to me just last week when I brought you all those fashion plates from Mother?”

Katherine gave Andrew her most placating smile and kissed him on the cheek just as Sturgeon rang the dinner bell. “Wonderful! Just wait until you see the dinner buffet—I’ve been planning it ever since I learned Michael and Lizzie were coming home for Christmas.”

Katherine relished hosting this Christmas Eve dinner, and the fact that she’d succeeded in bringing everyone home for it. It was a rare thing to have all of them in one place at one time, what with everyone being scattered all over Scotland and England.

Her heart gave a little flutter as her husband took her arm and led her the rest of the way to the dining room.

“You’ve done a magnificent job of putting this together, my darling,” William purred close to her ear. “You are one extraordinary woman.”

After four children, it was a wonder that he still made her heart beat so quickly and her palms go a little sweaty. He was quite the most incredible and handsome man she’d ever known, with his wavy blond locks and blue eyes that always seemed to know just what she was thinking.

“You’re thinking about last night, aren’t you?” he asked, a mischievous gleam in those azure eyes.

Katherine’s skin heated at the memory of their passionate evening together…and morning, if truth be told. Something about the holidays made her rather wanton, it seemed.

“You are very naughty,” she whispered, “talking of such things now.”

“My deepest apologies, but truly, I can’t think of anything I’d rather talk about.”

Katherine giggled and swatted her husband on the arm as they arrived at the door to the dining room. She took stock of her work as they passed over the threshold and smiled triumphantly. The dining room was a masterpiece. She’d had the walls repapered in red damask and hung garlands everywhere that would allow for them. Red velvet curtains framed the windows, through which they could watch the light snow that fell on the other side. All the Argand lamps that usually lit the dining room had been removed in favor of simple candlelight, and the room positively glowed with the romance of the holiday.

At her cue, the maid in charge of the small orchestra she’d hired for the evening scurried from the room. Only moments later, the sounds of Corelli’s Christmas Concerto wafted from the music room. It was just loud enough to be heard, but not so loud they couldn’t enjoy stimulating conversation around the dinner table.

“Brava, sister,” Benjamin said as he planted a kiss to her cheek. “Christmas has never been so perfect.”

“You always know just the right thing to say to me, don’t you?” she teased her elder brother.

“Woe to the man who doesn’t,” William chimed in.

Normally, Katherine might have taken offense to their jesting, but her mood was far too sunny tonight, so she laughed along with them as she strode to the far end of the table to take her seat.

* * *

Standing opposite his wife at the far end of the long table, William Hart, Duke of Weston, couldn’t help but smile. Though he hoped his mother-in-law’s demise wouldn’t be for a good many years, he knew his Katherine would be a brilliant matriarch for this burgeoning family in years to come. Not only was she beautiful with her near-black hair and olive skin, but she was regal, in a way that only someone born and bred to this life could be.

And while she could often be a bit overbearing, there wasn’t a person alive who could do what she did. The Christmas banquet was only one small aspect of what she was capable of. The bigger of her accomplishments was in bringing the entire family together for the event, including his little brother, Wesley. Though calling him a little brother was a bit out of line, wasn’t it? He was grown now, married to Faith exactly seven years tomorrow, with a family of his own. Quite a large one at that, with three already and one on the way.

Dinner, as was always the case with this family, was a lively affair. The Wetherby siblings still needled one another as if they were children, and everyone else laughed at the repartee. William’s heart swelled with gratitude as he looked up and down the long table. How far they had come from that Christmas seven years ago, trapped by the snow in their home in the Lake District. Katherine had been so very disappointed that her party had been ruined and that she wouldn’t have her family with her for the holiday. William’s heart constricted just thinking about the stricken look on her face when she realized no one could get through the snow.

Of course, orchestrating the wedding of Wesley and Faith had taken some of the sting out of the disappointing circumstances.

But now here they were, a large, lively family, all in a good health, all seemingly happy. Many often thought the accomplishments of a duke were measured in land and holdings, but William didn’t care about any of that. What he cared about were the people at this table. The people he called family.