‘What, to discuss our fields?’ Arabella’s eyebrows rose a notch.
‘No, of course not, but the proceeds of selling some of our excess grain gave me the opportunity to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.’
He lowered himself onto one knee in front of her and pulled something out of his pocket which he held out on the palm of his hand. ‘Arabella, I know that we are already married, but I wasn’t able to propose properly or give you a ring, so this is for you. If I’d asked you to become my wife now, would you still say yes? I love you more than life itself and can honestly say I’ve never regretted a single moment spent with you.’
She took the gold ring set with tiny sapphires and diamonds in a design of golden leaves and pushed it onto her finger. It sparkled beautifully in the sunlight as she turned it this way and that. ‘Oh, Rhys, of course I would! I’d marry you again tomorrow. Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me and the lack of a ring has never bothered me, as long as I have your heart the way you have mine.’
His green eyes shone with joy and love, which she was sure were mirrored in her own gaze. ‘That you do, cariad. For all eternity, I can promise you that.’
As he took her into his arms and kissed her, the sparks between them more than matched those of the gems on her finger and Arabella knew it would always be thus, for as long as they lived. Perhaps even longer.
Thank You
Thank you so much for reading The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight – I hope you enjoyed spending time with my two couples as much as I enjoyed writing about them. To an author, the characters are very real and I’m always hoping they will feel that way to my readers as well and that I’ve made you care about them too.
I would really value your feedback so if you have the time, please leave a review on a book review site such as Goodreads, or the retail outlet site where you purchased this ebook – that would be amazing and much appreciated! Reviews really help other readers find the kind of books they like and they can definitely make an author’s day!
Please do feel free to contact me any time, I’d love to hear from you, especially if you’re a fellow fan of time slip novels. You can find my details under my author profile. And if you like this book, you might want to check out the others in the ‘Shadows from the Past’ series.
Thank you and happy reading!
Christina x
About the Author
Christina lives near Hereford 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’s debut Trade Winds was short listed for the 2011 Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Pure Passion Award for Best Historical Fiction. The Scarlet Kimono won the 2011 Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award. Highland Storms (in 2012) and The Gilded Fan (in 2014) won the Best Historical Romantic Novel of the year award and The Silent Touch of Shadows won the 2012 Best Historical Read Award from the Festival of Romance. The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight is Christina’s eleventh full-length novel with Choc Lit.
For more information on Christina:
www.twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay
www.christinacourtenay.com
www.facebook.com/christinacourtenayauthor
More Choc Lit
From Christina Courtenay
The Silent Touch of Shadows
Book 1 in the Shadows from the Past series
Winner of the 2012 Best Historical Read from the Festival of Romance
What will it take to put the past to rest?
Professional genealogist Melissa Grantham receives an invitation to visit her family’s ancestral home, Ashleigh Manor. From the moment she arrives, life-like dreams and visions haunt her. The spiritual connection to a medieval young woman and her forbidden lover have her questioning her sanity, but Melissa is determined to solve the mystery.
Jake Precy, owner of a nearby cottage, has disturbing dreams too, but it’s not until he meets Melissa that they begin to make sense. He hires her to research his family’s history, unaware their lives are already entwined. Is the mutual attraction real or the result of ghostly interference?
A haunting love story set partly in the present and partly in fifteenth century Kent.
Read a preview here.
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
The Secret Kiss of Darkness
Book 2 in the Shadows from the Past Series
Must forbidden love end in heartbreak?
Kayla Sinclair knows she’s in big trouble when she almost bankrupts herself to buy a life-size portrait of a mysterious eighteenth century man at an auction.
Jago Kerswell, inn-keeper and smuggler, knows there is danger in those stolen moments with Lady Eliza Marcombe, but he’ll take any risk to be with her.
Over two centuries separate Kayla and Jago, but, when Kayla’s jealous fiancé presents her with an ultimatum, and Jago and Eliza’s affair is tragically discovered, their lives become inextricably linked thanks to a gypsy’s spell.
Kayla finds herself on a quest that could heal the past, but what she cannot foresee is the danger in her own future.
Will Kayla find heartache or happiness?
Forbidden love, smugglers and romance!
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
The Soft Whisper of Dreams
Book 3 in the Shadows from the Past Series
Some dreams shouldn’t come true …
Maddie Browne thought she’d grown out of the recurring nightmare that plagued her as a child, but after a shocking family secret is revealed, it comes back to haunt her – the same swing in the same garden, the kind red-haired giant and the swarthy arms which grab her from behind and try to take her away …
In an attempt to forget her troubles, Maddie travels to Devon to spend time with her friends, Kayla and Wes. However, it becomes clear that relaxation will not be on the agenda after a disturbing encounter with a gypsy fortune teller. Not to mention the presence of Wes’s dangerously handsome brother, Alex.
And then there’s the fact that Maddie’s dream seems to be coming true …
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
Trade Winds
Book 1 in the Kinross Series
Shortlisted for the 2011 Pure Passion Award for Best Romantic Historical Fiction
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 …
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
Highland Storms
Book 2 in the Kinross Series
Winner of the 2012 Best Historical Romantic Novel of the year
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 redhea
ded 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 …
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
Monsoon Mists
Book 3 in the Kinross Series
Sometimes the most precious things cannot be bought …
It’s 1759 and Jamie Kinross has travelled far to escape his troubled past – from the pine forests of Sweden to the bustling streets of India.
In India he starts a new life as a gem trader, but when his mentor’s family are kidnapped as part of a criminal plot, he vows to save them and embarks on a dangerous mission to the city of Surat, carrying the stolen talisman of an Indian Rajah.
There he encounters Zarmina Miller. She is rich and beautiful, but her infamous haughtiness has earned her a nickname: The Ice Widow. Jamie is instantly tempted by the challenge she presents.
But when it becomes clear that Zarmina’s step-son is involved in the plot, he begins to see another side to her – a dark past to rival his own and a heart just waiting to be thawed. But is it too late?
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
The Scarlet Kimono
Book 1 in the Kumashiro Series
Winner of the 2011 Big Red Read’s Best Historical Fiction Award
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 …
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
The Gilded Fan
Book 2 in the Kumashiro Series
Winner of the 2014 Romantic Historical Novel Award
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 …
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
The Jade Lioness
Book 3 in the Kumashiro Series
Can an impossible love become possible?
Nagasaki, 1648
Temperance Marston longs to escape war-torn England and explore the exotic empire of Japan. When offered the chance to accompany her cousin and Captain Noordholt on a trading expedition to Nagasaki, she jumps at the opportunity. However, she soon finds the country’s strict laws for foreigners curtail her freedom.
On a dangerous and foolhardy venture she meets Kazuo, a ronin. Kazuo is fascinated by her blonde hair and blue eyes, but he has a mission to complete and he cannot be distracted. Long ago, his father was accused of a crime he didn’t commit – stealing a valuable jade lioness ornament from the Shogun – and Kazuo must restore his family’s honour.
But when Temperance is kidnapped and sold as a concubine, he has to make a decision – can he save her and keep the promise he made to his father?
This is the sequel to The Gilded Fan.
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
New England Rocks
Book 1 in the Northbrooke High series
First impressions, how wrong can you get?
When Rain Mackenzie is expelled from her British boarding school, she can’t believe her bad luck. Not only is she forced to move to New England, USA, she’s also sent to the local high school, as a punishment.
Rain makes it her mission to dislike everything about Northbrooke High, but what she doesn’t bank on is meeting Jesse Devlin …
Jesse is the hottest guy Rain’s ever seen and he plays guitar in an awesome rock band!
There’s just one small problem … Jesse already has a girlfriend, little miss perfect Amber Lawrence, who looks set to cause trouble as Rain and Jesse grow closer.
But, what does it matter? New England sucks anyway, and Rain doesn’t plan on sticking around …
Does she?
A young adult novel.
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
Marry in Haste
Book 1 in the Regency Romance Collection
‘I need to marry, and I need to marry at once’
When James, Viscount Demarr confides in an acquaintance at a ball one evening, he has no idea that the potential solution to his problems stands so close at hand …
Amelia Ravenscroft is the granddaughter of a earl and is desperate to escape her aunt’s home where she has endured a life of drudgery, whilst fighting off the increasingly bold advances of her lecherous cousin. She boldly proposes a marriage of convenience.
And Amelia soon proves herself a perfect fit for the role of Lady Demarr. But James has doubts and his blossoming feelings are blighted by suspicions regarding Amelia’s past.
Will they find, all too painfully, that if you marry in haste you repent at leisure?
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Book 2 in the Regency Romance Collection
‘Once was more than enough!’
Jason Warwycke, Marquess of Wyckeham, has vowed never to wed again after his disastrous first marriage, which left him with nothing but a tarnished reputation and a rather unfortunate nickname − ‘Lord Wicked’.
That is, until he sets eyes on Ianthe Templeton …
Ianthe lives in the shadow of her beautiful twin sister, Serena, and longs to escape the ‘mindless entertainments’ she is forced to endure in London. She soon finds herself captivated by the enigmatic Wyckeham and tempted by his promises of a new life in the idyllic English countryside …
But can Wyckeham and Ianthe overcome the malicious schemes of spiteful siblings and evil stepmothers to find wedded bliss? Or will Wyckeham discover, all too painfully, that the past has come back to bite him for a second time?
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
Desperate Remedies
Book 3 in the Regency Romance Collection
‘She would never forget the day her heart broke …’
Lexie Holloway falls desperately in love with the devastatingly handsome Earl of Synley after a brief encounter at a ball. But Synley is already engaged to be married and scandal surrounds his unlikely m
atch with the ageing, but incredibly wealthy, Lady Catherine Downes.
Heartbroken, Lexie resolves to remain a spinster and allows circumstance to carry her far away from England to a new life in Italy. However, the dashing Earl is never far from her thoughts.
Years later, she returns home to find that much has changed – including the marital status of Synley. Whilst the once notorious Earl is a reformed character, the problems caused by his first marriage continue to plague him and it appears that his life may be in danger.
Can Lexie help Synley outwit those who wish to harm him and rekindle the flame ignited all those years ago, or will her associations with the Earl bring her nothing but trouble?
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
Never Too Late
Book 4 in the Regency Romance Collection
Can true love be rekindled?
Maude is devastated when the interference of her strict father prevents her from eloping with Luke Hexham. It is not long before she is married off to Edward, Luke’s cousin – a good match in her father’s eyes but an abhorrent one to his daughter.
Eight years later, Edward is dead. Maude, now Lady Hexham, is appalled to find his entire estate is to go to Luke – the man she still loves – with no provision for either herself or her young daughter. Luke has never forgotten Maude’s apparent betrayal, but he has the means to help her.
Soon Maude and Luke realise that perhaps it is never too late for true love. But, even after eight years, there is still somebody who would stop at nothing to keep them apart …
Purchase from your eBook provider or visit www.choc-lit.com for more details.
The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight Page 35
