Emily woke up on Christmas morning, certain that all her plans for the day would unfold perfectly. She’d personally overseen the menu, handwritten each invitation to family and friends herself, and had shopped for weeks for the perfect gift for Cooper. Though it would have to be a private gift exchange, neither of them would wish to share the item with their guests.

She got out of bed, stretched, and went to select a dress for the day’s festivities. She settled on a simple hunter-green day dress and set out the red gown with the green trim she had had specially made for dinner.

Half an hour later, dressed, coiffed for the day, and feeling very positive about what lay ahead, she went to the breakfast room. The house had holly and pine boughs strewn throughout, permeating the air with a refreshing wintery scent. The fire crackled merrily in the fireplace, and the servants were bustling about. She paused for a moment. Perhaps they bustled about a little too much?

“Mrs. Pedigrew, is something amiss?” Emily experienced a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach.

The kindly old lady with her blue-gray hair and soft, faded green eyes tried to muster a smile. “I’m afraid the cook has come down with a terrible cold. She is bedridden, unable to even come sit in the kitchen. Unfortunately, this was discovered only a short while ago. The kitchen maid is attempting to step in, but quite honestly, I fear for your breakfast. Christmas dinner is likely ruined as well.” The woman hung her head and tsked.

Disappointed, though not defeated, Emily did as she always did. She took charge. “Well then, let us go see about breakfast, and we can sort out dinner arrangements, as well.”

Half an hour later, she finally sat down to a plate of runny eggs, burnt toast, and a rather charred shape she suspected was meant to be meat. Cooper walked in just as she had begun to scrape the burnt parts off the bread.

“Good morning, my lovely wife, and Merry Christmas.” He stopped as he took in the pathetic-looking meal on her plate. “Oh my, that looks rather unpleasant.”

She huffed but kept rasping her knife across the toast. “It seems the cook is sick in bed, and the kitchen maid, who has ostensibly been learning from the cook, is rather inept at actually cooking. This meager effort was what I managed to accomplish without burning down the house.”

Cooper eyed her plate suspiciously, not that she could blame him. Were she not starving herself, she would pass on the questionable fare. “I have sent round to Theo’s house to see if she has anyone on her staff that might be capable of stepping in to assist us. I’d send to the employment agency, but it’s Christmas. I can’t imagine anyone being in the office, nor any help available.”

He looked at everything once more, a little forlorn crease between his brows. “I suppose there is nothing for it. I’m sure I have had worse in my life.”

She couldn’t hide her grimace. “Perhaps you should taste the food before making any pronouncements on its fitness for consumption.”

His brows rose nearly to his hairline. “Very well.”

And so he made a plate and settled across from her. She waited for his first bite with a sense of impending doom hanging over her. He shoved the eggs in, chewed a moment, stopped, and then swallowed. And coughed.

Emily wanted to die. Of course, no noble woman of her acquaintance knew how to cook. They all had servants. But to have her deficiency so openly exposed on the day she had planned to profess her love to her husband seemed a cruel twist of fate.

She shoved another bite of gloppy eggs in her mouth before she could start crying. To his rather inestimable credit, Cooper choked down the food on his plate. For that alone, Emily would have declared her love. But she had a plan, and she refused to deviate.

* * *

Around midmorning, as Emily was seeing to those details she could at least do something about, a note arrived from Theo in the hands of her cook. Emily read through the short missive, then looked up at the apparently happy woman. “I cannot tell you how grateful I am for your assistance.”

“It is my pleasure, my lady. I was sore disappointed when Lady Stonemere told me she wouldn’t need me to cook Christmas dinner.” The pleasantly plump woman was all smiles. “I had best get started if you are to eat at a decent hour.”

“Thank you again. The guests will not arrive for a few hours, and there were a few items my cook had prepared in advance. Please let me know if you need anything at all.”

“Very good, my lady.” The woman curtsied and headed toward the kitchens behind the footman, who acted as her guide.

A sense of calm settled in now that the most urgent matter had been addressed. Emily went to her room, which she used as a private sitting room now that she slept next to Cooper every night, and pulled out her gift for him. She looked at the sheer pale green trousers that would billow a bit and then tighten at the ankles. Then she pulled out the small green velvet vest that had no fastenings and would come down just below her breasts. And finally, she admired the accompanying jewelry, a pair of peridot stones that dangled from a set of gold rings. The ensemble was completed by a pair of matching slippers that turned up slightly at the toes.

She pictured Cooper’s face when he saw her in the outfit. Imagined how he would touch her, love her.

Excited to give him the gift, she wrapped everything up, tucking it all into a beautiful red box covered in silvered snowflakes. Then she looped a silver ribbon around it and tied a sweet bow.

* * *

By early evening, Emily was dressed and ready for their dinner guests. Despite the day’s challenges, she was excited to give Cooper his gift. With the red-and-silver box in hand, she knocked on the door of their room.

He swung the portal open. “Why are you knocking? This is our room now.”

“I did not wish to walk in on you unawares.” She smiled shyly and stepped through the opening. “I have your gift, and I’d like to give it to you now.”

He eyed the beribboned box she held out. “An excellent idea. Let me fetch yours.”

She sat on one of the two chairs nestled near the window and waited for her husband to return. A few moments later, he appeared, holding a simple green box with a red velvet ribbon wrapped around it. Too excited to wait, she held her gift out to Cooper. “You should go first.”

He laughed at her obvious excitement and handed her the other box as he took hers. He held the larger box, shook it a bit as he listened, and then tried to predict its contents. “A new robe for your lord and master.” He waggled his eyebrows comically.

Emily laughed. “Open it, silly man.”

So he did. As was Cooper’s wont, he made a large production of pulling the ribbon to untie the bow, then slowly easing the lid off, and finally pushing aside the thin paper protecting the delicate garments. As he took in the sheer material and jewelry, his merriment fell away and confusion took hold.

He held up the small velvet vest and admired it. “While it is beautifully crafted, I fear you may have purchased the wrong size for me.”

Emily laughed again, a full belly laugh. “It’s not for you to wear. It’s for me to wear…for you.”

He looked at the garment again, then over at Emily, and back at the vest. He cleared his throat. “I fear you may still have the wrong size, sweetheart.”

“It certainly fits. It is designed not to cover certain bits very much. Take a look at the rest of the box,” she said, still smiling despite the warmth in her cheeks.

He delved back into the box and pulled out the pants. He looked at the trousers and then back at her, and the wicked smile she had come to love appeared. Then he held up the dangling jewels, looked at her ears and then back at the glittery items.

Realizing they would be there all night as he tried to puzzle out their purpose, she took one from him and held it against one breast. “They’re jewelry for my nipples.”

His confusion cleared, but then he groaned. “As we are soon to receive dinner guests, I take it you are not planning to don this outfit now.”

“I am not.” She smiled, letting her excitement and desire shine through. “But I shall put it on later when I give you the rest of your gift.”

“The rest?” His interest was obviously piqued.

She nodded and leaned into where he sat. “Your very own slave girl.”

He groaned again. “You are a wicked, wanton woman, and I adore you.”

She bit her lip, bursting to tell him how she felt. It had been hard not blurting the words out over the past weeks, but she knew it would be worth it once she told him. And while she wanted to tell him then, he had his own agenda.

“Now, my gift to you.” Cooper pointed at the box sitting in her lap.

She picked it up, pulled the ribbon, and carefully lifted the lid. Inside lay a rolled-up piece of paper with a small ribbon around it.

Curious, she looked up at her husband, her own confusion as to what he could possibly be giving her writ plain on her face. “I don’t understand.”

“Open it,” he said, urging her to take action.

Carefully, she lifted the paper from the box and untied the ribbon. When she unrolled the sheet, all she saw was the neat scrawl of whoever had penned the document. The very top of the page identified it as a Title Deed. As she continued to read, she realized what he had given her, what he had done.

All the blood drained from her face as she took in the fact she was now the owner of a dower house. That regardless of what happened in her life, she would never again be without a home. Tears filled her eyes, making it difficult to read beyond that point. As she looked up at the man she knew she loved and the full force of her emotions swelled within, the first tear slipped down her cheek. “Cooper, I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I know I was not the heiress you may have desired—”

“You are everything I could have wished for in a wife, had I been intelligent enough to know what I truly needed.” He reached out and cupped her cheek, wiping some of the tears away.

Emily drew a deep breath and said the words she had feared for too long but now ached to say. “I love you, Cooper. I love how thoughtful and considerate you are. I love that you make me laugh, and I love that you know me well enough to have found the perfect gift for me.”

She stood up, still clutching the precious paper in her hand. The moment he rose, she flew the short distance into his arms and claimed his lips in a passionate kiss. She reveled in the strength and heat of him, the faint taste of eggnog, and the hint of sweetness from the rum. She explored him, savoring the control he once more surrendered to her as she commandeered his mouth—and this time his heart—if she had any say in the matter.

After long minutes of kissing, tasting, and being close to one another, they pulled apart, both shaking from such an intense moment. Cooper cupped her face and looked her in the eyes, allowing all the passion she’d just stirred to heat his gaze. “I love you, too. I think I fell in love the moment I pulled that necklace from your bosom.”

She laughed. “I believe our dinner guests should be arriving soon. I had better check on Theo’s cook to see if all is well.”

“Dinner and our friends can go hang.”

Then he hauled her into his arms and simply held her as his heat sank into her body. They clung together, absorbed in such a powerful moment. Despite all the fiascos of the day—runny eggs, burnt toast, a sick cook, and the Christmas dinner that almost wasn’t—she wouldn’t have changed a thing about standing there enfolded in his arms. She might have been the thief, sneaking about in the shadows of ballrooms, but in the end, Cooper had stolen her heart.