Rebel Hearts, book three
A lonely shopkeeper shelters a not so innocent miss one snowy night!
Harper Cabot, the proprietor of Cabot’s Haberdashery, was devastated by the death of his wife to the point he cannot pack away any of her belongings. Everyone expects his mourning to end soon, but he is devoted to his business and ignores how lonely his life has become in every other respect. A chance encounter brings Amy Mellish to Harper’s notice when he discovers the woman huddled behind his store one bitterly cold night before Christmas. Stirred by compassion and unexpected attraction, he offers Amy shelter in his home…only to have the woman seduce him before the night is over.
Amy has long admired the proper Harper Cabot from a distance, believing a fallen woman very far below his notice. Although saddened by his loss, Amy very much needs Harper’s protection and boldly strikes a bargain to stay in exchange for satisfying his lust. In Harper’s arms, Amy discovers passion beyond her experience even though the signs of the late Mrs. Cabot linger every corner of his home. Although begun as a diversion from shared sorrows, can their brief affair overcome the bitter memories of Christmases past and create the lasting connection they both secretly desire?
The Christmas Affair is a regency historical romance novella and book three in the Rebel Hearts series. It can be read as a stand-alone.
- Christmas Fling
- Second Chance Romance
- Lady in trouble
Read an Excerpt
The woman with the basket turned to her. “Can I help you, dearie?” She had the face of kindness, but her eyes were shrewd as she took in Amy’s threadbare coat.
“No, but thank you.”
The older woman hesitated. “You’re very pale.”
“The cold,” Amy murmured, but then that moan she had overheard from the alley came to mind. “A conversation with a stranger a short time ago has overset my nerves. It’s nothing, I’m sure.”
“Oh, what did he say?” The woman adjusted her basket, waiting for a juicy bit of gossip.
“Nothing untoward, thankfully, but as I was walking away, I swear I heard a moan come from the alley behind him.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “Not again.”
The woman spun back for the bakery, shouting a man’s name, and disappeared with her basket of baked goods.
Amy sighed, lamenting the fact that the memory of the smell of freshly baked bread was going to torture her all day and likely all night.
Unfortunately, Amy had no choice but to push on in search of a customer. A shy smile, a flutter of lashes, were all she had to bring a gentleman into her arms in the right circumstances. In the biting cold of the afternoon, however, she was not having much luck, and she needed funds to escape the aching cold of winter that was sure to envelop the city tonight.
Another couple passed her, laughing as they went. “A pox on all happy couples,” she said aloud and then prayed she had not been overheard.
She had best keep her thoughts to herself, or she would never appeal to anyone. Aside from the dangerous fellow, she usually had good luck in the shopping district, though her usual haunts had attracted a rougher crowd of late. Amy had no wish to be passed around a group of men for the fee of a single client. As long as she was not overly brazen about what she was there for, she had found she was left largely to her own devices in the proper neighborhoods.
And it was usually so much cleaner, safer, nicer all round in this part of town. She lifted her thoughts to the path ahead and arranged her face into a pleasing expression.
There were certain shops, however, that she did not like to linger near for long, and they were just ahead. The pastry shop always made her empty stomach complain, and the fine merchandise displayed in the Cabot’s Haberdashery windows made her yearn for the past and the coin she did not possess.
The dream of one day having funds to buy whatever she liked gave her something to hope for though. If her circumstances changed and she had funds at the ready to spoil herself with, she might yet be a regular customer at either establishment.
However, she would not be able to frequent either if one of the proprietors—both very proper gents and handsome—discovered how she earned her living.
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Book Info
Publish Date: January 15, 2018
Digital ISBN: 978-1-925239-232
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-925239-324
Genre: Regency Historical Romance
Related Books
Rebel Hearts Series
1: The Wedding Affair (Felix and Sally)
2: An Affair of Honor (William and Matilda)
3: The Christmas Affair (Harper and Amy)
4: An Affair so Right (Quinn and Theodora)