Sir Desmond Comes Home For Christmas

Friends since childhood—though separated by class, marriage, and fate—Fiona Rannelly has never forgotten her first love, Sir Desmond Hannington, son of the local squire. When Desmond returns to their village for the Christmas pageant, this once star-crossed pair will discover more than magic amidst the festivities. They’ll find love. SIR DESMOND COMES HOME FOR CHRISTMAS is a Victorian Christmas novella of approximately 30,000 words. “Happily ever after” guaranteed!

Lady Augusta Cherrill is barreling toward spinsterhood faster than her feet can keep up. When she takes a tumble down the stairs at the social event of the Season, Gussie is delighted to discover a handsome, intriguing, wholly unsuitable stranger picking her up and dusting her off. Did she bump her head—or has fate finally delivered the answer to her prayers? Sir Malcolm Sharpe left Scotland as a young man to make his fortune in the Canadian frontier. Now he’s back, as rich as a king, to claim his rightful place in London society. The rugged fur trader may have survived fifteen years in the wilderness…but is he strong enough to withstand the force of nature that is Lady Augusta Cherrill?

Feisty Chicago heiress, Evangeline “Birdie” Horst, wants nothing more than to make her debut in London, yet her family drags her on a detour through the Lake District. While visiting the ruins of a stately castle, Birdie meets a handsome and mysterious groundskeeper who endeavors to show her the beauty of the English countryside. As a young boy, the Duke of Rosthwaite lost his family’s home in a devastating fire. Determined to keep the estate from falling into further disrepair, he lives and works on the grounds of Keswick Castle, which he opens to paying visitors during the summer. While laboring in the gardens, Ross meets a brazen American beauty set to inherit a fortune and insistent on marrying an English nobleman. Marriage to a Dollar Princess would solve his money problems, yet Ross knows the true cost of life in the aristocracy. Can he convince Birdie that he isn’t a predatory peer before she soars from his life forever? Or will the Duke and Duchess of Rosthwaite become trapped together in a gilded cage of their own making?

At Bradwell, the Cherrill family estate, Lord Douglas stumbles upon a young woman banished to the country for birthing an illegitimate child. Lady Phoebe de Moncy, the beautiful daughter of the Earl of Rudham, was once a debutante with a bright future until she placed her heart in the wrong man's hands. Now, she knows time with baby Ellen is running out. Soon, the child will be taken for adoption, and she must return to London society. Phoebe longs for a quiet, independent life with her daughter and a warm friendship with the fun-loving, neighboring lord, but—for a woman with a tarnished past—what hope is there? Can the second son of the illustrious Cherrill family risk his reputation to marry the woman he loves, or will Doug, Phoebe, and her precious baby girl be parted forever?

Reeling from the death of her parents, eldest daughter Octavia strives to be a source of strength for her sisters. She defies their grandfather’s high-handed meddling—and his desire to see the Staunton girls married. She forges her own path to independence, which leads to the gates of Caswell Hall. There, the governess has just quit her post, leaving a vacant spot in the local lord’s household. Simon, Viscount Althorne, is impressed by the sensible, dark-haired beauty, and hires her to teach his wayward young niece. He resents the loss of his carefree bachelor days, and longs to see the child settled so that he may return to London. But one perfect English summer turns their plans upside down, and he becomes hopelessly drawn to the one woman he cannot have—the governess. Can Simon convince her that he is a gentleman worth loving? Will Octavia allow herself to fall for a man beyond her reach? Or will class and duty separate them forever?

Lady Rowena Arrington has fallen in love with the man her sister must marry. When Viscount Craighorne invites the family to his castle for Christmas, Rowena knows she cannot avoid her host during the festivities, nor can she prevent the engagement planned to take place at his annual Christmas ball. As their evening of merrymaking draws to an end, Craig and Rowena meet beneath the mistletoe for one magical kiss. Can the promise of true love embolden the young couple to defy her family’s plans? Or will she and Craig settle into the separate lives expected of them, with only the memory of one shared Christmas Eve to keep them warm?

Eliza Summersby does what she must to survive. Caught red-handed picking the pocket of a Piccadilly toff, she knows to beat a hasty retreat. But when Eliza slips into a passing carriage, the clever thief comes face to face with a mysterious stranger. Sir Mark van Bergen knows a thing or two about taking risks. After all, one doesn’t become the youngest director of the Bank of England by playing it safe, yet faced with harboring a petty criminal, Mark must make a decision that could change both their lives—will he be Eliza’s refuge or her one-way trip to Scotland Yard?