Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Goose

by Stephanie Laurens

  There were cheers all around the table.

  Christian picked up his glass and joined with the others in echoing loudly, “To our Christmas goose!”

  Then Christian carved, and the Crimminses and Mrs. Haggerty proudly passed the plates and platters, then Reverend Colebatch said grace.

  After uttering “Amen,” the company looked around the table, meeting each other’s gazes, all thoroughly pleased with their present and looking forward to their future.

  Then cutlery rattled as they all claimed their knives and forks and settled to the serious business of doing justice to this year’s Christmas goose.

  * * *

  * * *

  Dear Reader,

  I know many of you have long wondered about the redoubtable Lady Osbaldestone’s earlier life. I haven’t yet traipsed back in time to her own romance, but when I thought of doing a series of Christmas tales, she was the principal character that leapt to mind, and she brought her grandchildren along with her! I hope you’ve enjoyed this small insight into Lady O’s own family, of whom you will see more in subsequent volumes in this series, and have also enjoyed a lighthearted Christmas-of-long-ago tale—if you feel inclined to leave a review here (link to retailer’s bookpage), I would greatly appreciate it.

  Next year, 2018, will see the release of The Legend of Nimway Hall books, commencing with the first installment from me, to be released March 15, 2018 – this is a series of historical romance novels from five of your favorite historical romance authors that documents the romances of successive generations of the ladies who are born to become the guardians of Nimway Hall. The first five stories will be released a week apart, commencing on March 15. The five of us are having great fun getting together to write this series and we all hope you’ll enjoy the result!

  In addition, the first of the romances of the Cavanaugh siblings – Ryder Cavanaugh’s half brothers and sister, who you met in The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh – will be released on May 29, 2018. In that book, Lord Randolph Cavanaugh meets his match, quite literally over the workings of a steam engine.

  Then to keep you amused, we’ll be releasing two more Casebook of Barnaby Adair novels in July and August.

  And to round out the year, we’ll have the second volume of Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Chronicles to delight you in the lead-up to Christmas. So lots more fun and games ahead – stay tuned!

  And from me and mine to you and yours: we wish you a happy and safe festive season and a productive and prosperous New Year.

  Stephanie.

  For alerts as new books are released, plus information on upcoming books, exclusive sweepstakes and sneak peeks into upcoming novels, sign up for Stephanie’s Private Email Newsletter

  The ultimate source for detailed information on all Stephanie’s published books, including covers, descriptions, and excerpts, is Stephanie’s Website

  Stephanie can also be followed on Amazon through her Amazon Author page. Click here to follow her.

  Goodreads members can join the discussion of Stephanie’s books at the Fans of Stephanie Laurens group.

  You can email Stephanie at stephanie@stephanielaurens.com

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  COMING NEXT:

  The first volume in

  THE LEGEND OF NIMWAY HALL

  1750: JACQUELINE

  To be released on March 15, 2018

  The opening tale in a series of romances through the ages from five bestselling historical romance authors

  Available for e-book pre-preorder in mid December, 2017

  RECENTLY RELEASED

  The first volume of the Devil’s Brood Trilogy

  THE LADY BY HIS SIDE

  A marquess in need of the right bride. An earl’s daughter in search of a purpose. A betrayal that ends in murder and balloons into a threat to the realm.

  Sebastian Cynster knows time is running out. If he doesn’t choose a wife soon, his female relatives will line up to assist him. Yet the current debutantes do not appeal. Where is he to find the right lady to be his marchioness? Then Drake Varisey, eldest son of the Duke of Wolverstone, asks for Sebastian’s aid.

  Having assumed his father’s mantle in protecting queen and country, Drake must go to Ireland in pursuit of a dangerous plot. But he’s received an urgent missive from Lord Ennis, an Irish peer—Ennis has heard something Drake needs to know. Ennis insists Drake attends an upcoming house party at Ennis’s Kent estate so Ennis can reveal his information face-to-face.

  Sebastian has assisted Drake before and, long ago, had a liaison with Lady Ennis. Drake insists Sebastian is just the man to be Drake’s surrogate at the house party—the guests will imagine all manner of possibilities and be blind to Sebastian’s true purpose.

  Unsurprisingly, Sebastian is reluctant, but Drake’s need is real. With only more debutantes on his horizon, Sebastian allows himself to be persuaded.

  His first task is to inveigle Antonia Rawlings, a lady he has known all her life, to include him as her escort to the house party. Although he’s seen little of Antonia in recent years, Sebastian is confident of gaining her support.

  Eldest daughter of the Earl of Chillingworth, Antonia has abandoned the search for a husband and plans to use the week of the house party to decide what to do with her life. There has to be some purpose, some role, she can claim for her own.

  Consequently, on hearing Sebastian’s request and an explanation of what lies behind it, she seizes on the call to action. Suppressing her senses’ idiotic reaction to Sebastian’s nearness, she agrees to be his partner-in-intrigue.

  But while joining the house party proves easy, the gathering is thrown into chaos when Lord Ennis is murdered—just before he was to speak with Sebastian. Worse, Ennis’s last words, gasped to Sebastian, are: Gunpowder. Here.

  Gunpowder? And here, where?

  With a killer continuing to stalk the halls, side by side, Sebastian and Antonia search for answers and, all the while, the childhood connection that had always existed between them strengthens and blooms…into something so much more.

  First volume in a trilogy. A historical romance with gothic overtones layered over a continuing intrigue. A full length novel of 99,000 words.

  Click here to read an excerpt.

  Buy & Read THE LADY BY HIS SIDE

  The second volume of the Devil’s Brood Trilogy

  AN IRRESISTIBLE ALLIANCE

  A duke’s second son with no responsibilities and a lady starved of the excitement her soul craves join forces to unravel a deadly, potentially catastrophic threat to the realm - that only continues to grow.

  With his older brother’s betrothal announced, Lord Michael Cynster is freed from the pressure of familial expectations. However, the allure of his previous hedonistic pursuits has paled. Then he learns of the mission his brother, Sebastian, and Lady Antonia Rawlings have been assisting with and volunteers to assist by hunting down the hoard of gunpowder now secreted somewhere in London.

  Michael sets out to trace the carters who transported the gunpowder from Kent to London. His quest leads him to the Hendon Shipping Company, where he discovers his sole source of information is the only daughter of Jack and Kit Hendon, Miss Cleome Hendon, who although a fetchingly attractive lady, firmly holds the reins of the office in her small hands.

  Cleo has fought to achieve her position in the company. Initially, managing the office was a challenge, but she now conquers all in just a few hours a week. With her three brothers all adventuring in America, she’s been driven to the realization that she craves adventure, too.

  When Michael Cynster walks in and asks about carters, Cleo’s instincts leap. She wrings from him the full tale of his mission—and offers him a bargain. She will lead him to the carters he seeks if he agrees to include her as an equal partner in the mission.

  Horrified, Michael attempts to resist, but ultimately finds himself agreeing—a sequence of events he quickly learns is common around Cleo. Then she delivers on her part of the bargain, and h
e finds there are benefits to allowing her to continue to investigate beside him—not least being that if she’s there, then he knows she’s safe.

  But the further they go in tracing the gunpowder, the more deaths they uncover. And when they finally locate the barrels, they find themselves tangled in a fight to the death—one that forces them to face what has grown between them, to seize and defend what they both see as their path to the greatest adventure of all. A shared life. A shared future. A shared love.

  Second volume in a trilogy. A historical romance with gothic overtones layered over a continuing intrigue. A full length novel of 101,000 words.

  Click here to read an excerpt.

  Buy & Read AN IRRESISTIBLE ALLIANCE

  The thrilling third and final volume in the Devil’s Brood Trilogy

  THE GREATEST CHALLENGE OF THEM ALL

  A nobleman devoted to defending queen and country and a noblewoman wild enough to match his every step race to disrupt the plans of a malignant intelligence intent on shaking England to its very foundations.

  Lord Drake Varisey, Marquess of Winchelsea, eldest son and heir of the Duke of Wolverstone, must foil a plot that threatens to shake the foundations of the realm, but the very last lady—nay, noblewoman—he needs assisting him is Lady Louisa Cynster, known throughout the ton as Lady Wild.

  For the past nine years, Louisa has suspected that Drake might well be the ideal husband for her, even though he’s assiduous in avoiding her. But she’s now twenty-seven and enough is enough. She believes propinquity will elucidate exactly what it is that lies between them, and what better opportunity to work closely with Drake than his latest mission, with which he patently needs her help?

  Unable to deny Louisa’s abilities or the value of her assistance and powerless to curb her willfulness, Drake is forced to grit his teeth and acquiesce to her sticking by his side, if only to ensure her safety. But all too soon, his true feelings for her show enough for her, perspicacious as she is, to see through his denials, which she then interprets as a challenge.

  Even while they gather information, tease out clues, increasingly desperately search for the missing gunpowder, and doggedly pursue the killer responsible for an ever-escalating tally of dead men, thrown together through the hours, he and she learn to trust and appreciate each other. And fed by constant exposure—and blatantly encouraged by her—their desires and hungers swell and grow…

  As the barriers between them crumble, the attraction he has for so long restrained burgeons and balloons, until goaded by her near-death, it erupts, and he seizes her—only to be seized in return.

  Linked irrevocably and with their wills melded and merged by passion’s fire, with time running out and the evil mastermind’s deadline looming, together, they focus their considerable talents and make one last push to learn the critical truths—to find the gunpowder and unmask the villain behind this far-reaching plot.

  Only to discover that they have significantly less time than they’d thought, that the villain’s target is even more crucially fundamental to the realm than they’d imagined, and it’s going to take all that Drake is—as well as all that Louisa as Lady Wild can bring to bear—to defuse the threat, capture the villain, and make all safe and right again.

  As they race to the ultimate confrontation, the future of all England rests on their shoulders.

  Third volume in the trilogy. A historical romance with gothic overtones layered over an intrigue. A full length novel of 129,000 words.

  Click here to read an excerpt.

  Buy & Read THE GREATEST CHALLENGE OF THEM ALL

  If you haven’t yet caught up with the first books in the Cynster Next Generation Novels, then BY WINTER’S LIGHT is a Christmas story that highlights the Cynster children as they stand poised on the cusp of adulthood – essentially an introductory novel to the upcoming generation. That novel is followed by the first pair of Cynster Next Generation romances, those of Lucilla and Marcus Cynster, twins and the eldest children of Lord Richard aka Scandal Cynster and Catriona, Lady of the Vale. Both the twins’ stories are set in Scotland. See below for further details.

  BY WINTER’S LIGHT

  A Cynster Special Novel

  #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns to romantic Scotland to usher in a new generation of Cynsters in an enchanting tale of mistletoe, magic, and love.

  It’s December 1837 and the young adults of the Cynster clan have succeeded in having the family Christmas celebration held at snow-bound Casphairn Manor, Richard and Catriona Cynster’s home. Led by Sebastian, Marquess of Earith, and by Lucilla, future Lady of the Vale, and her twin brother, Marcus, the upcoming generation has their own plans for the holiday season.

  Yet where Cynsters gather, love is never far behind—the festive occasion brings together Daniel Crosbie, tutor to Lucifer Cynster’s sons, and Claire Meadows, widow and governess to Gabriel Cynster’s daughter. Daniel and Claire have met before and the embers of an unexpected passion smolder between them, but once bitten, twice shy, Claire believes a second marriage is not in her stars. Daniel, however, is determined to press his suit. He’s seen the love the Cynsters share, and Claire is the lady with whom he dreams of sharing his life. Assisted by a bevy of Cynsters—innate matchmakers every one—Daniel strives to persuade Claire that trusting him with her hand and her heart is her right path to happiness.

  Meanwhile, out riding on Christmas Eve, the young adults of the Cynster clan respond to a plea for help. Summoned to a humble dwelling in ruggedly forested mountains, Lucilla is called on to help with the difficult birth of a child, while the others rise to the challenge of helping her. With a violent storm closing in and severely limited options, the next generation of Cynsters face their first collective test—can they save this mother and child? And themselves, too?

  Back at the manor, Claire is increasingly drawn to Daniel and despite her misgivings, against the backdrop of the ongoing festivities their relationship deepens. Yet she remains torn—until catastrophe strikes, and by winter’s light, she learns that love—true love—is worth any risk, any price.

  A tale brimming with all the magical delights of a Scottish festive season.

  A Cynster novel – a classic historical romance of 71,000 words.

  Click here to read an excerpt.

  Buy & Read BY WINTER’S LIGHT

  THE TEMPTING OF THOMAS CARRICK

  A Cynster Next Generation Novel

  Do you believe in fate? Do you believe in passion? What happens when fate and passion collide?

  Do you believe in love? What happens when fate, passion, and love combine?

  This. This…

  #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns to Scotland with a tale of two lovers irrevocably linked by destiny and passion.

  Thomas Carrick is a gentleman driven to control all aspects of his life. As the wealthy owner of Carrick Enterprises, located in bustling Glasgow, he is one of that city’s most eligible bachelors and fully intends to select an appropriate wife from the many young ladies paraded before him. He wants to take that necessary next step along his self-determined path, yet no young lady captures his eye, much less his attention...not in the way Lucilla Cynster had, and still did, even though she lives miles away.

  For over two years, Thomas has avoided his clan’s estate because it borders Lucilla’s home, but disturbing reports from his clansmen force him to return to the countryside—only to discover that his uncle, the laird, is ailing, a clan family is desperately ill, and the clan-healer is unconscious and dying. Duty to the clan leaves Thomas no choice but to seek help from the last woman he wants to face.

  Strong-willed and passionate, Lucilla has been waiting—increasingly impatiently—for Thomas to return and claim his rightful place by her side. She knows he is hers—her fated lover, husband, protector, and mate. He is the only man for her, just as she is his one true love. And, at last, he’s back. Even though his returning wasn’t on her account, Lucilla is willing
to seize whatever chance Fate hands her.

  Thomas can never forget Lucilla, much less the connection that seethes between them, but to marry her would mean embracing a life he's adamant he does not want.

  Lucilla sees that Thomas has yet to accept the inevitability of their union and, despite all, he can refuse her and walk away. But how can he ignore a bond such as theirs—one so much stronger than reason? Despite several unnerving attacks mounted against them, despite the uncertainty racking his clan, Lucilla remains as determined as only a Cynster can be to fight for the future she knows can be theirs—and while she cannot command him, she has powerful enticements she’s willing to wield in the cause of tempting Thomas Carrick.

  A neo-Gothic tale of passionate romance laced with mystery, set in the uplands of southwestern Scotland.

  A Cynster Second Generation Novel – a classic historical romance of 122,000 words.

  Click here to read an excerpt.

  Buy & Read THE TEMPTING OF THOMAS CARRICK

  A MATCH FOR MARCUS CYNSTER

  A Cynster Next Generation Novel

  Duty compels her to turn her back on marriage. Fate drives him to protect her come what may. Then love takes a hand in this battle of yearning hearts, stubborn wills, and a match too powerful to deny.

  #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns to rugged Scotland with a dramatic tale of passionate desire and unwavering devotion.