by Carla Kelly
Papa was just warming to the subject. “Thank goodness you are Clotilde’s size, Lucy. Her dress will look fine on you, and think of the economy for me. Anyone? Yoo hoo. Anyone? Did you hear a word I said?”
“Oh, Papa,” Lucy said, her hair a mess because Miles seemed to enjoy running his fingers through it while they kissed. “We are sane and sensible still.”
“Hardly,” Miles said, after Papa said goodnight and closed the door. “I don’t even have a ring for you, let alone a gift.”
“Neither do I,” she said. She touched his dear face, a face she knew so well. “I’ll be your gift and you will be mine. Mama would like that.”
He held her close. Together they watched the last of the embers pop and fizzle in the fireplace. In that curious, hallowed way, the benediction of the season spread over them both, because Miles Bledsoe and Lucinda Danforth knew how to keep Christmas.
About the Author
Photo by Marie Bryner-Bowles, Bryner Photography
A well-known veteran of the romance writing field, Carla Kelly is the author of thirty-four novels and three non-fiction works, as well as numerous short stories and articles for various publications. She is the recipient of two RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America for Best Regency of the Year; two Spur Awards from Western Writers of America; three Whitney Awards, 2011, 2012, and 2013; and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times.
Carla’s interest in historical fiction is a byproduct of her lifelong study of history. She’s held a variety of jobs, including public relations work for major hospitals and hospices, feature writer and columnist for a North Dakota daily newspaper, and ranger in the National Park Service (her favorite job) at Fort Laramie National Historic Site and Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site. She has worked for the North Dakota Historical Society as a contract researcher. Interest in the Napoleonic Wars at sea led to a recent series of novels about the British Channel Fleet during that conflict.
Of late, Carla has written two novels set in southeast Wyoming in 1910 that focus on her Mormon background and her interest in ranching.