The Five Kisses Read Online Free Page A

Christmas Eve tradition in our family that a new guest at our table receive a gold coin so that he or she will not go penniless into the new year.”
    Penny’s fine-boned face lit with pleasure as she rose to her feet to accept the present. She nodded graciously to Gillian and Chad but dipped into a very proper curtsy for Ethan.
    When she was seated again, Ethan’s deep voice rumbled in the quiet room. “In the village where my ancestors were born, at the time when Oliver Cromwell ruled, the town crier went door to door ringing a harsh hand bell.”
    Chad picked up the battered iron cowbell that had been placed beside his chair. He remembered how thrilled he had been the second year he had joined the Foster celebrations when Gillian permitted him to ring the raucous bell. He had been a child of fourteen then. Now at the advanced age of eighteen, he thought he was too old for such juvenile displays but he discovered the clanging of the bell seemed to break the bonds of tension that had wrapped him tight since his father’s death. He wondered if he would grow to resemble the earl but it came to him that the title did not have to confer arrogance and stiffness. It was up to him to take himself and his consequence less seriously. Vowing to remember that, he raised the bell again and rang it with abandon while Gillian shouted encouragement and the two adults covered their ears.
    With a new awareness, Chad silenced the metal clapper with his hand but the sound echoed in the corners of the room. He blinked to bring himself back to the present and his eyes touched Professor Foster’s and in their depths he saw understanding and approval.
    “Thank you,” Chad said quietly, his heart filled with happiness.
    Ethan waited for silence and as the tension began to build again, he spoke. “The Puritan bell warned those within the sound of its clatter that no celebration of the Christmas season would be tolerated. In this household we welcome the holiday as a time of rebirth. We want all to know that our celebration has begun and so we have found the sweetest sound to announce our joy and invite all to join us in our festivities.”
    With one hand Gillian raised a string of three bells and with a slim metal rod in the other, she hit each bell in succession. The first chime was high with a sweet clarity that held the attention. The second note was lower, complementing and intensifying the first. The third chime was lower still, adding the final ingredient to the rich blend of sounds. The tones rose to the ceiling, dissipating slowly and lingering in the memory long after the room was silent.
    From the pocket of his jacket, Ethan took out a sprig of ivy and handed it to Gillian. “I give you this token, daughter, to indicate that a female will have the rule of the house in the coming year. Use your power with wisdom and grace.”
    “I will,” she said. She accepted the cutting and carried it to the front door where last Christmas’s ivy hung. She exchanged the two sprigs, returning to the drawing room to lay the old ivy on top of the unlighted Yule log. Grinning at Chad, she returned to her chair.
    “With the fragments of last year’s Yule log I will light the new one,” Ethan said. He took a slender piece of kindling and set it in the flame of the candle on the mantel.
    Gillian sighed in satisfaction as her father set the glowing end among the rest of the kindling. He blew on the wood and the fire caught and held. She peeked at Miss Pennington, delighted with the pleasure on the older woman’s face.
    Turning her head to the other side, she watched the flickering light of the fire playing across Chad’s face. He had changed. It might have been the death of his father and his new responsibilities that made him look different. Whatever it was there was a new maturity to his expression and his bearing. She had not noticed how handsome he had become with his black curls and smoldering dark eyes. She could feel a lump rise in her