His Christmas Bride [Harlequin Presents Series #2689]

How could the room be reduced to this state when she had only been gone for a minute? Blossom White surveyed the scene in front of her, and tried to make herself heard above the rampaging infants. There might be only four of them but they were making enough noise for a couple of dozen children. 'Harry! Simone! That's enough. Stop throwing cake at Rebecca and Ella this instant.'The twins ignored her and continued to pelt two-year-olds Rebecca and Ella--who appeared to be screaming with delight and not distress--with lumps of chocolate gateau.Jolly Aunty Blossom went out of the window as a good dollop of gooey cake landed splat on her forehead. Forgetting she had promised herself that with her sister, the children's mother, in hospital she would be patience itself with her nephew and nieces, Blossom sprang across the room and seized the elder children in a firm grip.Her fingers itching to smack small bottoms, Blossom contented herself with hissing ferociously, 'Did you hear what I said? That's enough. No TV after tea for you, now. You're straight to bed after your bath.''We want to watch our programmes.' Harry's angelic face--which was all at odds with his volatile and difficult nature--frowned at her and he wriggled in her grasp.'No deal, Harry. Not until you can do what you're told.''Mummy always lets us.'Mummy no doubt lived in a state of perpetual exhaustion. 'I'm not your mummy, and I tell you what to do, not the other way round. Understand?'This was clearly a new concept for her nephew, along with the other side to Aunty Blossom he was seeing, and he responded to it by erupting in a storm of tears, the three girls joining in after a startled moment or two.How Melissa copes with two sets of twins under the age of five I just don't know, Blossom thought grimly. She had been in charge of them for one day and she felt like a wet rag. Glancing at the fragments of cake and cream splattered on Melissa's white walls, and the table swimming in spilt orange juice which was steadily dripping onto the varnished floor-boards, Blossom contemplated the idea of joining in with the children and bawling her head off. Instead she said firmly, 'No more crying. We're going to clear this mess up together, Harry and Simone, OK? Who can clear up the most?''Me, me.' Harry's tears stopped like magic.Sending the older two to fetch the kitchen cleaner and kitchen roll, Blossom stared at her younger nieces. They too had stopped crying and were engaged in licking their small hands clean of chocolate, giggling as bits continued to drop on the floor from their clothes and hair.Whisking them up in her arms, Blossom carried the little girls into the sitting room where she popped them in their playpen until she could deal with them. She'd never agreed with the concept of playpens before Melissa had had the children, but now she was all for them. It might be a bit like putting a child in a cage, but she was now of the opinion it also kept hard-worked mothers sane.Returning to the dining room, she found Harry and Simone busily clearing up. It took a while. Eventually, though, the room was restored to order, all four children had been bathed, read to and were asleep, and Blossom staggered downstairs for a cup of coffee. She had been trying to make one earlier while the children were occupied eating their tea--a big mistake.Suddenly, after the mayhem of the day, she had a chance to sit and think, and she almost found herself wishing the children awake--almost. Ever since her brother-in-law Greg had called her that morning in a blind panic to say that Melissa had been rushed into hospital with terrible stomach pains, she had had her sister in the back of her mind whatever she'd done. Now all was quiet and still, fear for Melissa became paramount.She had rushed to the house in a leafy suburb of Sevenoaks from her flat in London in record time early that morning, to find GBrooks, Helen is the author of 'His Christmas Bride [Harlequin Presents Series #2689]', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373126897 and ISBN 0373126891.