OK, so it’s not really early (not according to Target, which was setting out their Christmas displays next to the Halloween stuff! Really, people….one holiday at a time, please), but I do have a new Christmas-theme novella out this month! A Very Tudor Christmas is now available….
A Very Tudor Christmas was such a fun story to write. It takes place against the backdrop of a real historical event, the enormous dynastic marriage of Anne Cecil, the teenaged daughter of William Cecil, Lord Burghley (Elizabeth I’s chief advisor) to the Earl of Oxford, one of the most eligible young courtiers. The wedding (which took place at Westminster Abbey, with the queen herself in attendance, followed by a lavish banquet at Cecil House in Covent Garden) was on December 19, 1571 and was the event of the holiday season. Alas for poor Anne, she died young in 1588, after a very unhappy marriage, but her wedding seemed like the perfect backdrop for a winter romance for my own characters, Rob and Meg, who were parted when they were young and had to learn to find their way back to each other.
England, 1571
A brief but passionate flirtation with the dashing Sir Robert Erroll had Margaret Clifford dreaming they would be wed—until Robert left for the continent without a word, breaking her heart.
Robert never forgot Meg, or gave up hope that she would wait for him to make his fortune. But after three years abroad, he has returned to court to discover a cold, distant woman in place of the innocent maiden he left behind.
Yet Robert can sense the desire that still burns within her. And when a snowstorm forces them to take refuge for the night, he is determined, come Christmas morn, to have melted the ice that has built up around Meg’s heart….
(Another inspiration for this story was Much Ado About Nothing! Meg and Rob’s younger cousins have to help the stubborn lovers along a bit…)
Are you feeling in the Christmas spirit yet??? Hopefully a holiday story can help! I will give away a copy to one commenter on todays post. Meanwhile, you can see more about it here at Amazon or at eHarlequin, or at my website…