Four Christmas Kisses: A Scandal in Mayfair Book 4 is a Christmas and Holiday Festival pick #romance
top of page
  • N. N. Light
    • Dec 5, 2023
    • 6 min read

Four Christmas Kisses: A Scandal in Mayfair Book 4 is a Christmas and Holiday Festival pick #romance



Title: Four Christmas Kisses: A Scandal in Mayfair Book 4


Author: Anna Campbell


Genre: Historical Romance


Book Blurb:


A mysterious guest at Christmas. Spirited Anthea Bryars already has enough problems to deal with when a few days before Christmas, she stumbles across an unconscious stranger in the woods. She and her half-sisters will be homeless after New Year, now that Lord Denton has inherited Yardley Hall and given the family their marching orders. The last thing Anthea needs is a handsome, smart-mouthed distraction who makes her long for forbidden pleasures. Secrets and passion… After rakish Christopher Trant, Earl of Denton, tumbles from his horse in a snowstorm, his rescuer is the loveliest woman he’s ever seen. But waking up the next morning, he’s horrified to discover that at Yardley Hall, he’s universally hated as Wicked Cousin Christopher. He’d left London assuming the remote manor house was empty, but it turns out it’s occupied by three unknown cousins and an alluring lady called Anthea. To play for time, he pretends that his injuries have stolen his memory. But one small lie leads to others, until he’s so tangled in desire and deception, he doesn’t know where to turn. A season of goodwill? Will the revelation of Christopher’s identity destroy all his chances to win Anthea? Or might the magic of Christmas unite these two unlikely lovers and conjure up a bright new future for the whole family? Could four Christmas kisses mean goodbye or happy forever after?


Excerpt:


Yardley Woods, Shropshire, 19th December 1818


Snow, snow, snow. Everywhere Anthea Bryars looked, she saw snow.


The winter weather had delivered a frosty lead-up to Christmas. At this rate, she and her sisters wouldn’t manage to get out of the house and down to the village church for the midnight service on Christmas Eve.


She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, although she was muffled up in a wool scarf and a thick coat. The dreadful weather had kept her cooped inside all day with her sisters, and she’d been desperate for a breath of fresh air.


A short huff of amusement formed clouds in front of her face. Yes, fresh was an accurate description of this air. The walk had cleared her head, but half an hour outside in the freezing late afternoon made her think longingly of a pot of chocolate and a plate of hot scones back in Yardley Hall’s cozy library.


She turned toward home. Around her, the trees were bare and silent, and the sky loured gray and heavy, promising more snow. A smooth carpet of white surrounded her as far as she could see.


Except…


She frowned and stopped mid-step. Something dark and large lay humped on the woodland floor, something that didn’t look like a fallen branch or a rock.


What on earth? Shock held her motionless as her mind raced through the possibilities. Was it an animal? Or was it a log after all?


Curious and worried, she turned off the path. Using her staff, she made her way with difficulty toward the object. Although she soon realized that it wasn’t an object at all. It was a person spreadeagled on the ground. A man wearing traveling clothes that marked him as an outsider and not one of the tenants.


Anthea struggled to hurry, but the thick snow made progress arduous. “Are you all right, sir?” she called out, still a good ten feet away.


If he was alive, she had to get him to shelter. Anyone ill or injured in these conditions wouldn’t last long.


When he gave no response, fear colder than the air iced her veins. The nearest doctor was in Shrewsbury, ten miles away. It was too far to come in an emergency, even if the weather wasn’t closing in.


What if the man was dead? For pity’s sake, what was she to do with a dead stranger a few days before Christmas? And what in heaven’s name was he doing here? The Yardley estate occupied an isolated valley well away from major roads or towns. Anyone who passed had business in the district. Nobody stumbled over her home by accident.


By the time she reached the man, she was panting and sticky in her heavy clothes, despite the frigid temperature. She fell to her knees beside the unmoving figure, grateful that the snow was firmer here. “Sir?”


Again, there was no answer. He lay flat on his face. A voluminous black greatcoat fanned out around him and good quality leather boots encased the feet sprawled across the white ground. He was bareheaded, and in possession of a disheveled mass of coal-black curls. His high-crowned hat lay upside down, a few feet from one outstretched gloved hand.


She turned her head and saw drag marks in the snow. More concerning, bloodstains splattered these signs of his progress.


“Sir? My name is Anthea Bryars. I live at the hall.” She spoke loudly and slowly, hoping to rouse some response.


She took off her glove and curved her hand around the nape of his neck under his high collar. He felt dangerously chilled, but she didn’t think he was dead. She prayed that wasn’t just wishful thinking.


“Can I offer assistance?”


With increasing urgency, she battled to turn him onto his back. He was a big man, and once she saw his face, she realized he was handsome. And young. She’d guess no more than thirty. A sullen trickle of red marked his temple, although given the amount of blood that he’d shed reaching this particular tree, he’d been bleeding for a while.


“Sir? I need to get you back to the house, or you’ll freeze to death.”


She tapped his lean cheeks to return him to alertness, although she feared doing more damage. But she needed him to move. She couldn’t carry him, and by the time she came back with help, he’d have succumbed to the cold.


At least she now knew that he was alive. His chest moved. And there was a trace of color in that haughty face, with its ferocious black eyebrows and slashing cheekbones and arrogant, aquiline nose.


“Please speak to me.” She tapped a little harder, then gasped with surprise when amber eyes flickered open and regarded her with blazing fury from between thick black eyelashes.


“What in Hades are you doing, woman?” he snapped in the unmistakable tones of the upper classes.


Anthea sat back and returned his glare, as powerful relief rushed through her veins like the spring melt down the Severn. “Why, I’m trying to save your life, my good man. Under the circumstances, a spot of graciousness wouldn’t go astray.”


“Devil take you, you were punching me in the jaw.”


Her lips tightened. “If you refuse to mind your manners, I’ll leave you where you are.”


It was an idle threat, and she suspected this man knew it. The code of the countryside was to offer aid to stranded travelers. However rude they might be.


“Where’s my horse?”


“I have no idea.” She glanced around, but saw no hoofprints on the sea of white. “Can you stand?”


“Yes, I can bloody stand. I’m not an invalid.”


“Very well.” She rose and regarded him from above. Her experience of well-bred young men was limited, but she supposed that she couldn’t blame him for being out of temper. He must be in pain and freezing, and perhaps she had been a little too enthusiastic in her efforts to wake him.


Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):









Share a holiday family tradition:


My late grandmother bought me an album of Christmas carols when I was a very young piano student – maybe 9 or 10? The whole family still gets together to sing these wonderful old songs while I bash away at the accompaniments on the piano. It’s a lovely way to mark the festive season. Although any neighbors within earshot mightn’t agree!


Why is your featured book perfect to get readers in the holiday mood?


This is a heart-warming book about family and love and finding your rightful place in the world. What better story to read at Christmas with its messages of hope and belonging?


Giveaway –


One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon gift card



Open internationally.


Runs December 1 – 31


Drawing will be held on January 2, 2024.



Author Biography:


Australian Anna Campbell has written 11 multi award-winning historical romances for Avon HarperCollins and Grand Central Publishing. As an independently published author, she’s released more than 35 bestselling stories. She’s currently working on a series called Scoundrels of Mayfair, set amidst the glamour and sensuality of Regency London. The Worst Lord in London and The Trouble with Earls are currently available. Look out for The Last Duke She’d Marry and The Duke Says I Do in the first half of 2024. Anna has won numerous awards for her Regency-set stories, including RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice, the Booksellers Best, the Golden Quill (three times), the Heart of Excellence (twice), the Write Touch, the Aspen Gold (twice), and the Australian Romance Readers' favorite historical romance (five times).


Social Media Links:


Twitter: AnnaCampbellOz

Tags:

bottom of page