‘Yes, a shame they weren’t caught and punished, but I’m sure they received their just desserts one way or another. If they really fought at Towton, that battle raged during a snowstorm and a lot of the King’s men drowned in a freezing cold river. Not a nice way to go.’
‘Still too good for the likes of them,’ Jake muttered. After another contemplative silence, he shook his head. ‘So Roger of Langford was your ancestor, not mine. Weird, isn’t it, when I’m the one who looks like him.’
‘Yes, but don’t forget you’re descended from one of Sir Gilbert’s brothers, so you share the same genes. It is strange to think you and I are related way back, but so many generations ago it doesn’t matter now.’ She sighed. ‘You know, I almost miss the dreams when he talked to me, it was so real.’
Jake frowned. ‘Well, I’m glad he’s gone. I wouldn’t want you to dream of other men now we’re married.’
Melissa giggled. ‘But how could you be sure it wasn’t you I was dreaming of? After all, you’re his spitting image or vice versa.’ She smoothed away his frown with soft fingers. ‘Don’t worry, I know now you’re the only one I love. I don’t have Sibell’s feelings running around inside me any longer, only my own.’
‘Well, that’s all right then.’ He kissed her again and hugged Roland closer as the baby stirred in his sleep and whimpered slightly. ‘Come on, let’s get these two home before they catch cold. It must be feeding time soon, and anyway, we should all be sitting in front of the fire on a day like this. The girls and Dorothy will be waiting with tea by now.’ Tactful as ever, Dorothy had kindly taken the girls home directly after the service, in order to give Melissa and Jake some time on their own.
Melissa felt the warmth of happiness spread inside her at his words. ‘Yes, let’s go home to Ashleigh. I’m glad you and Amy didn’t mind moving in with us. It felt so right.’
‘Why would we mind? It’s a wonderful place to live.’
Melissa couldn’t agree more.
Neither of them noticed the two shadowy figures hovering near the gravestone as they left. Entwined, as one, the wraiths sank slowly into the ground like mist on a summer morning and the birds in a nearby tree broke into song.
310
About the Author
Christina lives in London and is married with two children. Although born in England she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden. In her teens, the family moved to Japan where she had the opportunity to travel extensively in the Far East.
Christina is an accomplished writer of novellas, Trade Winds was short listed for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Pure Passion Award for Best Historical Fiction 2011. The sequel, Highland Storms was selected as Book of the Month at Lovereading in November 2011. The Scarlet Kimono, Christina’s second novel, won The Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award and was short-listed for the Festival of Romance Best Historical Read Award 2011.
www.christinacourtenay.com
www.twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay
More from Christina Courtenay
Trade Winds
Short-listed for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Pure Passion Award for Best Historical Fiction 2011
Marriage of convenience – or a love for life?
It’s 1732 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and strong-willed Jess van Sandt knows only too well that it’s a man’s world. She believes she’s being swindled out of her inheritance by her stepfather – and she’s determined to stop it.
When help appears in the unlikely form of handsome Scotsman Killian Kinross, himself disinherited by his grandfather, Jess finds herself both intrigued and infuriated by him. In an attempt to recover her fortune, she proposes a marriage of convenience. Then Killian is offered the chance of a lifetime with the Swedish East India Company’s Expedition and he’s determined that nothing will stand in his way, not even his new bride.
He sets sail on a daring voyage to the Far East, believing he’s put his feelings and past behind him. But the journey doesn’t quite work out as he expects …
Prequel to Highland Storms
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trade-Winds-Choc-Lit-ebook/dp/B00457XELG
Highland Storms
Sequel to Trade Winds
Winner of the 2012 RoNA Best Historical Romantic Novel Category Award
Who can you trust?
Betrayed by his brother and his childhood love, Brice Kinross needs a fresh start. So he welcomes the opportunity to leave Sweden for the Scottish Highlands to take over the family estate.
But there’s trouble afoot at Rosyth in 1754 and Brice finds himself unwelcome. The estate’s in ruin and money is disappearing. He discovers an ally in Marsaili Buchanan, the beautiful redheaded housekeeper, but can he trust her?
Marsaili is determined to build a good life. She works hard at being a housekeeper and harder still at avoiding men who want to take advantage of her. But she’s irresistibly drawn to the new clan chief, even though he’s made it plain he doesn’t want to be shackled to anyone.
And the young laird has more than romance on his mind. His investigations are stirring up an enemy. Someone who will stop at nothing to get what he wants – including Marsaili – even if that means destroying Brice’s life forever …
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Highland-Storms-Choc-Lit-ebook/dp/B00629ZK0I
The Scarlet Kimono
Winner of The Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award 2011 and short-listed for the Festival of Romance Best Historical Fiction Award 2011.
Abducted by a Samurai warlord in 17th-century Japan – what happens when fear turns to love?
England, 1611, and young Hannah Marston envies her brother’s adventurous life. But when she stows away on his merchant ship, her powers of endurance are stretched to their limit. Then they reach Japan and all her suffering seems worthwhile – until she is abducted by Taro Kumashiro’s warriors.
In the far north of the country, warlord Kumashiro is waiting to see the girl who he has been warned about by a seer. When at last they meet, it’s a clash of cultures and wills, but they’re also fighting an instant attraction to each other.
With her brother desperate to find her and the jealous Lady Reiko equally desperate to kill her, Hannah faces the greatest adventure of her life. And Kumashiro has to choose between love and honour …
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Scarlet-Kimono-Choc-ebook/dp/B004Q9TCXC
Coming in February 2013
The Gilded Fan
How do you start a new life, leaving behind all you love?
It’s 1641, and when Midori Kumashiro, the orphaned daughter of a warlord, is told she has to leave Japan or die, she has no choice but to flee to England. Midori is trained in the arts of war, but is that enough to help her survive a journey, with a lecherous crew and an attractive captain she doesn’t trust?
Having come to Nagasaki to trade, the last thing Captain Nico Noordholt wants is a female passenger, especially a beautiful one. How can he protect her from his crew when he can’t keep his own eyes off her?
During their journey, Nico and Midori form a tentative bond, but they both have secrets that can change everything. When they arrive in England, a civil war is brewing, and only by standing together can they hope to survive…
More from Choc Lit
If you’ve enjoyed Christina’s heroes, you’ll enjoy the rest of our selection. Here’s a sample:
The Silver Locket
Margaret James
Winner of Catanetworks Reviewers’ Choice Award for Single Titles 2010
If life is cheap, how much is love worth?
It’s 1914 and young Rose Courtenay has a decision to make. Please her wealthy parents by marrying the man of their choice – or play her part in the war effort?
The chance to escape proves irresistible and Rose becomes a nurse. Working in France, she meets Lieutenant Alex Denham, a dark figure
from her past. He’s the last man in the world she’d get involved with – especially now he’s married.
But in wartime nothing is as it seems. Alex’s marriage is a sham and Rose is the only woman he’s ever wanted. As he recovers from his wounds, he sets out to win her trust. His gift of a silver locket is a far cry from the luxuries she’s left behind.
What value will she put on his love?
First novel in the trilogy, followed by The Golden Chain (May 2011) and The Penny Bangle (May 2012)
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Silver-Locket-Choc-ebook/dp/B004D4ZYTQ
The Importance of being Emma
Juliet Archer
Darcy & Friends Series
Winner of The Big Red Reads Fiction Award 2011 and short listed for the 2009 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance.
Mark Knightley – handsome, clever, rich – is used to women falling at his feet. Except Emma Woodhouse, who’s like part of the family – and the furniture. When their relationship changes dramatically, is it an ending or a new beginning?
Emma’s grown into a stunningly attractive young woman, full of ideas for modernising her family business.
Then Mark gets involved and the sparks begin to fly. It’s just like the old days, except that now he’s seeing her through totally new eyes.
While Mark struggles to keep his feelings in check, Emma remains immune to the Knightley charm. She’s never forgotten that embarrassing moment when he discovered her teenage crush on him. He’s still pouring scorn on all her projects, especially her beautifully orchestrated campaign to find Mr Right for her ditzy PA. And finally, when the mysterious Flynn Churchill – the man of her dreams – turns up, how could she have eyes for anyone else?
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Importance-Being-Emma-ebook/dp/B003ZSHNWW
Love & Freedom
Sue Moorcroft
Short-listed for the Festival of Romance Award for Best Romantic Read 2011.
New start, new love.
That’s what Honor Sontag needs after her life falls apart, leaving her reputation in tatters and her head all over the place. So she flees her native America and heads for Brighton, England.
Honor’s hoping for a much-deserved break and the chance to find the mother who abandoned her as a baby. What she gets is an entanglement with a mysterious male whose family seems to have a finger in every pot in town.
Martyn Mayfair has sworn off women with strings attached, but is irresistibly drawn to Honor, the American who keeps popping up in his life. All he wants is an uncomplicated relationship built on honesty, but Honor’s past threatens to undermine everything. When secrets about her mother start to spill out ...
Honor has to make an agonising choice. Will she live up to her dutiful name and please others? Or will she choose freedom?
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Freedom-ebook/dp/B00564A0RS
Turning the Tide
Christine Stovell
All’s fair in love and war?
Depends on who’s making the rules.
Harry Watling has spent the past five years keeping her father’s boat yard afloat, despite its dying clientele. Now all she wants to do is enjoy the peace and quiet of her sleepy backwater.
So when property developer Matthew Corrigan wants to turn the boat yard into an upmarket housing complex for his exotic new restaurant, it’s like declaring war.
And the odds seem to be stacked in Matthew’s favour. He’s got the colourful locals on board, his hard-to-please girlfriend is warming to the idea and he has the means to force Harry’s hand.
Meanwhile, Harry has to fight not just his plans but also her feelings for the man himself.
Then a family secret from the past creates heartbreak for Harry, and neither of them is prepared for what happens next …
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Turning-The-Tide-ebook/dp/B003Y8XQOC
Please Don’t Stop the Music
Jane Lovering
Winner of the RONA Best Novel of the Year 2012
Winner of the RONA Best Romantic Comedy of the Year 2012
How much can you hide?
Jemima Hutton is determined to build a successful new life and keep her past a dark secret. Trouble is, her jewellery business looks set to fail – until enigmatic Ben Davies offers to stock her handmade belt buckles in his guitar shop and things start looking up, on all fronts.
But Ben has secrets too. When Jemima finds out he used to be the front man of hugely successful Indie rock band Willow Down, she wants to know more. Why did he desert the band on their US tour? Why is he now a semi-recluse?
And the curiosity is mutual – which means that her own secret is no longer safe ...
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Please-Dont-Stop-Music-ebook/dp/B004LROOFK
The UnTied Kingdom
Kate Johnson
Shortlisted for the RONA Best Contemporary Novel 2012
The portal to an alternate world was the start of all her troubles– or was it?
When Eve Carpenter lands with a splash in the Thames, it’s not the London or England she’s used to. No one has a telephone or knows what a computer is. England’s a third world country and Princess Di is still alive. But worst of all, everyone thinks Eve’s a spy.
Including Major Harker who has his own problems. His sworn enemy is looking for a promotion. The general wants him to undertake some ridiculous mission to capture a computer, which Harker vaguely envisions running wild somewhere in Yorkshire. Turns out the best person to help him is Eve.
She claims to be a popstar. Harker doesn’t know what a popstar is, although he suspects it’s a fancy foreign word for ‘spy’. Eve knows all about computers, and electricity. Eve is dangerous. There’s every possibility she’s mad.
And Harker is falling in love with her.
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-UnTied-Kingdom-Choc-ebook/dp/B004URV5SA
Never Coming Home
Evonne Wareham
Winner of the 2012 Joan Hessayon New Writers Award
All she has left is hope
When Kaz Elmore is told her five-year-old daughter Jamie has died in a car crash, she struggles to accept that she’ll never see her little girl again. Then a stranger comes into her life offering the most dangerous substance in the world: hope.
Devlin, security consultant and witness to the terrible accident scene, inadvertently reveals that Kaz’s daughter might not have been the girl in the car after all.
What if Jamie is still alive? With no evidence, the police aren’t interested, so Devlin and Kaz have little choice but to investigate themselves.
Devlin never gets involved with a client. Never. But the more time he spends with Kaz, the more he desires her – and the more his carefully constructed ice-man persona starts to unravel .
The desperate search for Jamie leads down dangerous paths – to a murderous acquaintance from Devlin’s dark past, and all across Europe, to Italy, where deadly secrets await. But as long as Kaz has hope, she can’t stop looking…
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Coming-Home-Choc-ebook/dp/B007FU93TM
To Turn Full Circle
Linda Mitchelmore
Life in Devon in 1909 is hard and unforgiving, especially for young Emma Le Goff, whose mother and brother die in curious circumstances, leaving her totally alone in the world. While she grieves, her callous landlord Reuben Jago claims her home and belongings.
His son Seth is deeply attracted to Emma and sympathises with her desperate need to find out what really happened, but all his attempts to help only incur his father’s wrath.
When mysterious fisherman Matthew Caunter comes to Emma’s rescue, Seth is jealous at what he sees and seeks solace in another woman. However, he finds that
forgetting Emma is not as easy as he hoped.
Matthew is kind and charismatic, but handsome Seth is never far from Emma’s mind. Whatever twists and turns her life takes, it seems there is always something – or someone – missing.
Find out more and purchase in the kindle store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Full-Circle-Choc-ebook/dp/B0080HDVO2
Coming in September 2012
The Road Back
Liz Harris
When Patricia accompanies her father, Major George Carstairs, on a trip to Ladakh, north of the Himalayas, in the early 1960s, she sees it as a chance to finally win his love. What she could never have foreseen is meeting Kalden – a local man destined by circumstances beyond his control to be a monk, but fated to be the love of her life.
Despite her father’s fury, the lovers are determined to be together, but can their forbidden love survive?
A wonderful story about a passion that crosses cultures, a love that endures for a lifetime, and the hope that can only come from revisiting the past.
Introducing Choc Lit
We’re an independent publisher creating a delicious selection of fiction. Where heroes are like chocolate – irresistible! Quality stories with a romance at the heart.
Choc Lit novels are selected by genuine readers like yourself. We only publish stories our Choc Lit Tasting Panel want to see in print. Our reviews and awards speak for themselves.
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The Silent Touch of Shadows Page 31