by Anna Bradley
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Then in a Twinkling
Blurb
Thank You!
Other Titles by Anna Bradley
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Sneak Peek at To Wed a Wild Scot
About the Author-Anna Bradley
It Happened at Christmas by Jenna Jaxon
Blurb
More Works by Jenna Jaxon
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Sneak Peek at The Widow's Club- What A Widow Wants
Much Ado About A Widow
About the Author- Jenna Jaxon
The Gift by Angelina Jameson
Blurb
Other Titles by Angelina Jameson
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Sneak Peek at The Marquess's Christmas Lily
About the Author- Angelina Jameson
A Promise Beneath the Kissing Bough by Tabetha Waite
Blurb
Other Titles by Tabetha Waite
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Sneak Peek at The Ways of Love Series- Why the Earl is After the Girl
Behind a Moonlit Veil
About the Author- Tabetha Waite
Her Accidental Groom by Nadine Millard
Blurb
Other Titles by Nadine Millard
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
Sneak Peek at Beauty & The Duke
About the Author- Nadine Millard
The Perfect Christmas by Annabelle Anders
Blurb
Read More by Annabelle Anders
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
Read More
Excerpt from The Perfect Spinster
About the Author- Annabelle Anders
Thank You Readers!!
Yuletide Happily Ever After II
An Original Regency Romance Collection
Anna Bradley
Jenna Jaxon
Angelina Jameson
Tabetha Waite
Nadine Millard
Annabelle Anders
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, places, or events is coincidental and not intended by the author.
If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property and reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher. In such case the author has not received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Yuletide Happily Ever After II
Copyright © 2019 Anna Bradley, Jenna Jaxon, Angelina Jameson, Tabetha Waite, Nadine Millard, Annabelle Anders
All rights reserved.
Cover art by: Jena Brignola
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The copying, scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions, and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Then in a Twinkling
A Regency Christmas Caper
Anna Bradley
THEN IN A TWINKLING: A REGENCY CHRISTMAS CAPER
How far would you go for love?
London, 1812.
An escapade, a caper, an outrageous Christmas courtship…Oliver Angel will do whatever it takes to win the heart of his chosen lady. The first time he met Dinah Bishop she turned her pistol on him, but instead of his head, Dinah’s ball struck the tenderest part of his heart. Oliver is determined to make Dinah his own, but there’s one small problem…
Dinah Bishop doesn’t believe in love. Her Christmases haven’t been filled with sugar plums and kissing balls, and she doesn’t care for Christmas capers. But as she and Oliver embark on a wild carriage ride from London to Essex, Dinah can no longer deny her heart’s whisper. She’s in love with Oliver Angel, but can she trust herself with his precious heart?
A semi-reformed rake, a lady who’s wary of love, two mischievous horses and a skittish servant who believes in ghosts—how could such a courtship possibly go wrong? Will this mismatched pair lose their chance at love, or will they spend Christmas in each other’s arms?
Thank you for reading THEN IN A TWINKLING: A REGENCY CHRISTMAS CAPER!
This is Book Two in the Tainted Angels series.
Book One, BOUGHS OF FOLLY, is currently available as a free read for Anna’s newsletter subscribers. To subscribe, go to Anna’s website at www.annabradley.net.
Other Titles by Anna Bradley
The Sutherland Scandals
A Wicked Way to Win an Earl
A Season of Ruin
The Sutherland Sisters
Lady Eleanor’s Seventh Suitor
Lady Charlotte’s First Love
Twelfth Night with the Earl
The Somerset Sisters
More or Less a Marchioness
More or Less a Countess
More or Less a Temptress
Besotted Scots
The Wayward Bride
To Wed a Wild Scot
Tainted Angels
Boughs of Folly.
Then in a Twinkling
Copyright © 2019 Anna Bradley
All rights reserved.
Dedication
To my brand new little nephew, Kamerin.
Welcome to the world, baby boy.
CH
APTER ONE
The Pandemonium Playhouse, London
November, 1812
“If you were half as shrewd as you think you are, Dinah Bishop, you’d have secured Oliver Angel before a lady with a prettier face than yours snatched him up for herself.”
Dinah didn’t have to glance into the looking glass to see who’d crept up behind her. No matter where she was or what she was about, her entire body prickled with irritation when she heard that sneering voice.
Florentina Fernside, undisputed queen of the Pandemonium Playhouse stage, darling of the drunken rabble in the pit, and tormentor of every actress doomed to tread the boards alongside her.
Dinah resumed stripping the heavy layer of stage powder from her face as if Florentina hadn’t spoken. The woman had the attention span of a pot of face paint. If Dinah ignored her, she’d soon grow bored and go away.
“Of course, you’re not the first actress here who’s made a mess of her opportunities, but I’d taken you for one of the clever ones.” Florentina sauntered across the room, skirts twitching, and dropped into the chair beside Dinah’s at the dressing table. “Imagine my disappointment at finding you’re as dim as all the rest of them.”
Dinah tossed aside the damp cloth in her hand with a resigned sigh. Florentina wasn’t going to go away on her own, but Dinah was more than willing to chase her off. What a shame she hadn’t thought to pick up one of the rotten oranges hurled onto the stage this evening. Witless as she was, even Florentina knew enough to run when spoiled fruit was hurled at her head.
“Or did you think your own face so alluring a man couldn’t see past it?” Florentina turned her gaze to her own reflection, her rosy lips curling into a smirk as she tweaked one of her dark ringlets into place.
Dinah met Florentina’s narrowed eyes in the mirror. “Is that how you lost Lord Archer? Overestimated the allure of your own pretty face? Pity, but then pride does come before a fall. You should study your Bible more often, Florentina. Book of Proverbs, I believe.”
Dinah didn’t bother to hide her satisfaction as Florentina’s smirk darkened into a scowl. Florentina had lost her wealthy protector to another of the Pandemonium’s actresses, Dinah’s dearest friend, Penelope Hervey. William Angel, the Earl of Archer had fallen madly in love with Penelope last Christmas, and had made her his countess. Penelope was Lady Archer now, and mistress of Cliff’s Edge, a lovely estate situated on the edge of the sea in Essex.
An actress turned countess. Dear me, how shocking! London was still reeling over it, but no one so much as Florentina, who could be relied upon to fall into a fury whenever Penelope’s name was mentioned.
“I suppose you thought you’d enjoy a similar happy fate as your friend.” Florentina tossed her head. “You should have known better, my dear. Lord Oliver is as constant as a child with a shiny trinket clutched in its fist.”
Dinah rolled her eyes. For pity’s sake, this again? Everyone in London believed she was Oliver’s mistress. It wasn’t true, but the truth was far less entertaining than a delicious lie, and no lie was more delicious than a lie about Oliver Angel.
London had suffered a severe blow when they’d lost Lord Archer to Penelope. The ladies might yet be in despair if Archer’s younger brother had been anyone less than Oliver Angel. As it was, Lord Oliver’s dimpled smile set hearts aflutter all over the city. Dinah’s own heart was icier than most, but even hers thawed a degree or two when Oliver grinned at her. There wasn’t a lady in London who could resist those deep dimples at the corners of his mouth.
Of course, resistance was a matter of measures. Dinah might admire Oliver’s dimples, but more often than not dimples came with a rogue attached, and rogues were too troublesome to bother with. People in general were a great nuisance, but she forgave Oliver his occasional antics because he was entertaining and clever, and truly kind-hearted.
She was fond of him—not too fond, because it wasn’t wise to be too fond of a man with a smile like Oliver’s—but he was one of only a handful of people she considered a friend. “Lord Oliver isn’t my protector, Florentina.”
Florentina let out a laugh shrill enough to crack the looking glass. “Well no, dear. Not anymore. After the spectacle he and Lady Serena made in his box tonight, the entire theatre knows that. Why, at one point his tongue nearly fell out of his mouth.”
Dinah’s hand froze as she reached for her hairbrush. “Lady Serena? Lady Serena Howard? That Lady Serena?”
“Who else?” Florentina’s fingers flew to her mouth in mock chagrin. “You mean to say you didn’t know about her? Goodness me. How humiliating for you to find out this way. I do beg your pardon, dear, but then you would have found out soon enough. Every gossip in London will be whispering about it by tomorrow morning.”
“Lady Serena was in his box tonight?” Dinah detested having to ask Florentina, but she couldn’t see a thing from her own position on the stage aside from the glare from the chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. Oliver might have tumbled from his box into the pit below without her noticing.
“Lord Oliver, Lady Serena, and Lord Erskine. What a trio, to be sure.” Florentina rose from her chair and flounced across the room. “You should have predicted his attention would wander, and secured him before it did. Alas, it’s too late now.”
If the gentleman in question had been anyone other than Oliver Angel, perhaps Dinah would have secured him, just as Florentina suggested. She wouldn’t be the first lady to trade the stage for a place in a wealthy gentleman’s bed. But for all Oliver’s caprices and whims, his quirks and foibles, he deserved better than that.
Better than Lady Serena, as well.
Dinah had recently put some distance between herself and Oliver in hopes he’d overcome a silly little infatuation he’d developed for her, but she hadn’t turned him loose so a venomous viper like Lady Serena could snatch him up and devour him.
“Well, my dear, I’m truly sorry for you.” Florentina turned to Dinah with a triumphant smile. “Indeed, I am, but it’s your own fault, and heaven knows you aren’t likely to do any better than Oliver Angel.”
With that parting shot, Florentina swept from the room, and Dinah was left alone, staring into the glass at the troubled blue eyes peering back at her.
Lady Serena Howard. Of all the ladies London had to offer, why would Oliver choose her? She was witty and beautiful, yes, and she had a certain lazy elegance the stupider gentlemen seemed to find irresistible, but Oliver was no fool. The woman might be one of London’s most sought-after courtesans, but she was notorious for leading her conquests from one disastrous scandal to the next, bleeding them dry of every last guinea, then tossing what was left of them aside before moving on to her next wealthy patron.
Oliver might do as he pleased, of course, but Dinah had thought he had more sense than that. Then again, Florentina could be lying, or at the very least exaggerating. The woman lived to stir up mischief. There was no sense in panicking until she’d seen Oliver and Lady Serena together with her own eyes.
She snatched up her things, pulled her cloak around her shoulders and hurried into the corridor outside the dressing room. The performance had ended a half hour ago, but Oliver always waited outside in the mews for her afterwards to take her home in his carriage.
He was there, on the street outside the theater. He hadn’t yet forgiven her for her recent standoffishness, and his dimpled smile dimmed a little when he saw her. Dinah pretended not to notice it, or the cool note in his voice when he said, “Here you are at last.”
There, it was just as she’d suspected. Florentina had exaggerated the entire thing. Oliver was here, just as he always was, and there wasn’t a sign of—
“Come along, then, my lord. We’ve been waiting in this damp alleyway for an age!”
Dinah’s gaze jerked to Oliver’s carriage, and her eyes narrowed to slits.
There sat Lady Serena, like a queen on her throne. Blast it, why did this have to be the one instance when Florentina was telling the truth?
>
“Are you ready?” Oliver held out his hand to Dinah.
She didn’t take it. It was the first time since she and Oliver became friends a year ago she didn’t take his hand when he offered it. She glanced back at the carriage and saw Lady Serena hanging out the window, a generous expanse of her bare, white bosom shoved high against the bodice of her gown.