Historical Christmas

For Christmas, soft-spoken Lady Jenny Windham craves the freedom to pursue her artistic ambitions, though it will mean scandalizing her ducal parents and abandoning all hope of a family of her own. She confides her plans to successful artist Elijah Harrison when he's commissioned to paint a portrait of her small nephews, because assisting Elijah will bring Jenny that much closer to her heart's desire - won't it?

Dominic and Clarice Corde, who met and fell in love in Brunswick Gardens, journey to a quaint hamlet to replace the local vicar who is away on holiday. The holiday takes a nasty turn when the vicar is discovered not to be away at all, but brutally murdered and stashed in the cellar. So instead of fulfilling the vicar's duties, the Cordes are charged with solving his murder. All the while, the picturesque village is becoming increasingly and dangerously snowbound, its residents trapped as a killer remains at large.

USA Today best-selling author William W. Johnstone built a reputation for crafting unmatched stories of true Western courage - a tradition J. A. Johnstone now continues. In A Rocky Mountain Christmas, Matt Jensen’s scenic trip on the Denver railway is derailed when an avalanche strikes the train. Far from an accident, its cause is a reckless band of outlaws out to free their leader. Surrounded and outgunned in a driving snowstorm, Matt must lead to safety a ragtag group of survivors that includes a senator’s sick daughter and a beautiful woman with a dark past.

The twins' train is held up by not one, but two vicious outlaw gangs. The Jessup gang has been using the Spalding gang's hideout to plan the robbery. The Jessups just lost two of their brothers in a bank job gone wrong - courtesy of Duff MacCallister - and they're gunning for revenge. Together, these two bloodthirsty bands of killers and thieves are teaming up to make this one Christmas the MacCallisters will never forget.

While most folks are busy preparing for Christmas, the tight-knit Jensen clan can only hope they'll make it home. Luke Jensen is in San Antonio tracking down a dangerous outlaw. But when he finds the man leading a wholesome life - as a charity-working Hill Country pastor - Luke agrees to wait until after Christmas to bring him to justice. Meanwhile, Smoke and Sally Jensen head out from Fort Worth by stagecoach, only to be stranded by unrelenting rains - and stalked by a crazed Commanche killer.

A wealthy heiress running from an arranged marriage, the hotheaded deputy who waylays her carriage, and their accidental attraction that everyone warns will never lead to happily-ever-after. The newest deputy of Christmas Mountain, Jesse Hawling, is determined to impress the boots off his fellow citizens. A poor cowboy who practically raised himself, he’s well aware of the black spots in his reputation he’ll need to overcome to gain their trust — a quick trigger finger and an even quicker temper. Iris Hildebrand has always obeyed her family’s wishes, right up to the point where her ...

It is 1890, and in the days before Christmas, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are visited at Baker Street by a new client. Eve Allerthorpe, eldest daughter of a grand but somewhat eccentric Yorkshire-based dynasty, is greatly distressed, as she believes she is being haunted by a demonic Christmas spirit. Her late mother told her terrifying tales of the sinister Black Thurrick, and Eve is sure that she has seen the creature from her bedroom window. What is more, she has begun to receive mysterious parcels of birch twigs, the Black Thurrick’s calling card.

Sophie Appersett is quite willing to marry outside of her class to ensure the survival of her family. But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He's grim and silent. A man of little emotion - or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months of courtship, she's ready to put an end to things. But severing ties with her taciturn suitor isn't as straightforward as Sophie envisioned.

Devastated by the loss of his young wife - and the life he'd always thought would be his - Sam Legend II has done everything he can to make a fresh start. As a bladesmith, all he needs is a bed, a hot fire, and enough distance from his famous family to finally indulge in a little peace and quiet. So what if it's almost Christmas? This year, he's happy just keeping to himself. But then fiery Cheyenne Ronan comes blasting into his home, and any notion of peace goes flying out the door.

A woman fleeing a horrible fate. A lonely man yearning for love. Brought together by a twist of fate, will they find a Christmas miracle? After her mother died, Pansy Robbins’ life changed forever. Forced to cater to the whims of her step-sisters, ignored by her step-father, and pitied by the servants and staff, she has no one to turn to. Neither mistress nor maid in their stately Savannah, Georgia home, Pansy lives caught in limbo. When an unwanted engagement is arranged for her, Pansy escapes Savannah to find a new home in Colorado. But when she arrives in the town of Hidden Pines, ...

Richard Brockwell, the younger son of Ivy Hill's most prominent family, hasn't been home for Christmas in years. He prefers to live in the London townhouse, far away from Brockwell Court, the old family secret that haunts him, and the shadows of his past mistakes. But then his mother threatens to stop funding his carefree life - unless he comes home for Christmas. Out of options, he sets out for Ivy Hill, planning to be back on a coach bound for London and his unencumbered bachelor life as soon as the festivities are over.

A desperate, expectant mother. A blacksmith locked in the past. A group of well-meaning meddlers. When she finds out she's expecting a baby shortly after her husband dies, Ruth Cunningham is torn between joy and dread. She writes to a wealthy miner via The Matrimonial Times, but leaves out a major detail... and when he rejects her upon their first meeting, she must forge a new path on the unknown Colorado frontier, aided by welcoming strangers who become friends. Earl Gibson lost his wife and daughter years ago and spends his days alone, focused on work. When a beautiful, pregnant widow ...

Two hearts. One kiss. Following his wife’s death in childbirth, Fitzwilliam Darcy hopes to ease his way back into society by hosting a house party during Christmastide. He is thrilled when his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam sends a message saying not only will the colonel attend, but he is bringing a young woman with him of whom he hopes both Darcy and the colonel’s mother, Lady Matlock, will approve. Unfortunately, for Darcy, upon first sight, he falls for the woman: He suspects beneath Miss Elizabeth Bennet’s conservative veneer lies a soul which will match his in every way; yet, she is...

This collection includes three charming and festive holiday novellas spiced with humor, frontier action, and sweet romance.

Woolworth's Five and Dime is a magical place to work at Christmastime, but will it also be a place to fall in love in 1881? Maggie Larson works the lunch counter, where she befriends a girl whose father delivers milk. Hattie Scott learns her favorite customer is Timothy Branson and a threat to her brother's job. Essie Hensley doesn't need money, but welcomes the challenges of working a job where she meets a minister and six little boys who inspire Christmas wishes. A job is the only thing orphan Lizzie Miller needs, but she can't pass up an invite to a bookkeeper's family Christmas.

Mordecai Tremaine, former tobacconist and perennial lover of romance novels, has been invited to spend Christmas in the sleepy village of Sherbroome at the country retreat of one Benedict Grame. Arriving on Christmas Eve, he finds that the revelries are in full flow - but so too are tensions amongst the assortment of guests. Midnight strikes and the party-goers discover that it's not just presents nestling under the tree...there's a dead body, too. A dead body that bears a striking resemblance to Father Christmas.

When Clay-Boy’s father fails to return home on Christmas Eve, Clay-Boy takes to the snowy Virginia hills in search of him, leaving his worried family to keep watch at the homestead. Along the way, he meets an irate deer, a threatening county sheriff, a congregation of African American churchgoers, and two elderly women who happen to be bootleggers. The story of Clay-Boy’s search for his father is told with warmth and intensity.

It’s 1930. Nola Levitt has more than most, living with her family and working in her parents’ general store in Nazareth, Iowa. She can’t risk marrying and having a family they can’t support in these depressing times. With no joy in his heart after losing everything, including his parents, and having to drop out of medical school after the stock market crash, Jerome Walcott has come to Nazareth to care for his uncle and run his drug store/pharmacy during the man’s lengthy recovery from serious injuries sustained in a car wreck. He doesn’t count on having a lovely storekeeper’s ...

With Christmas around the corner, Miss Caroline Anderson hoped to persuade a London tavern owner to carry the Home's Widow's Brew - only to discover the dastard was more interested in her ankles than her ale! To her further annoyance, her stagecoach back to Little Puddledon is waylaid by louts and a snow-covered ditch. Amid a nasty storm, Caro seeks shelter at a nearby estate - only to be greeted by Viscount Oakland, a.k.a. Nick, her brother's childhood friend - and her schoolgirl crush. Now, he's the half-dressed host of what is clearly a holiday bacchanal.

Melissa North had assumed that after eight years of not setting eyes on each other, her youthful attraction to - or an infatuation with - Julian Delamere, once Viscount Dagenham and now earl of Carsely, would have faded to nothing and gasped its last. Unfortunately, during the intervening years, she has failed to find any suitable suitor who measures up to her mark, and she is resigned to ending her days an old maid. Then she sees Julian across a crowded ballroom, and he sees her, and the intensity of their connection shocks her.