Title: The Christmas Husband Hunt
Author: Kate Moore
Genre: Historical Holiday Romance
Book Blurb:
In wintry London Charles Davenham, the dashing Viscount Wynford and new Foreign Office spy, enlists the aid of his distant cousin Harriet Swanley, who's fallen in the world from eligible earl's daughter to unpaid caretaker of children and dogs. While Charles works to unmask a dangerous Russian spy, he asks Harriet to help his younger sister Octavia, newly come to town with her copy of The Husband Hunter's Guide to London, to find a husband by Christmas. The Christmas spirit seems deader than a doornail to Charles and Harriet, until Octavia mangles the guidebook's advice and the Russian spy takes too much interest in her. Suddenly, mistletoe, a dog, and the secrets of the past reawaken a long-buried attraction.
Excerpt:
The door closed behind her. The howling ceased. Charles heard her speak to the dog in a firm and friendly tone, and then the click of the beast’s nails on the tiles as it followed her off.
He remained standing by the weak fire in the frigid room. Perry’s description of Harriet Swanley as the steady unpaid governess to a large and careless family had misled him into thinking she would be the sort of woman no one noticed. He knew he had been introduced to a governess or two among the families of his acquaintance, and he supposed that he’d met such women with civility, but none had made an impression on him.
Lady Harriet Swanley did not fit the category. Instead of the neat and unassuming figure Perry’s words had conjured, Charles had looked up from the cold hearth in the bare room and seen a softly beautiful countenance enlivened by eyes full of barely contained spirit. If he had been pressed to say what struck him about her, he would have to say it was a sense of controlled passion. The coil of her hair at her nape and the unadorned simplicity of her gown did not wholly conceal the riches of her appearance. Her brow was clear and her cheeks smooth as silk with a curve that invited a man’s thumb to stroke. In her gray eyes he caught a silver glint of wit and a sense of the ridiculous.
He was grateful for the interruption provided by the dog. He could recover his wits and determine how to try again.
The door opened, and she stepped inside, her hand on the knob as if she would leave again. “I beg your pardon for the interruption.”
“You’re the dog-minder, too?” he asked. It spoke volumes about her state of absolute dependence on her relations that such tasks fell to her lot.
She laughed. “I suppose I am until Jasper returns from school. But you must not think the dog an imposition.”
She gathered herself. He anticipated another refusal, but he cut her off. “Don’t let me drive you from the fire, Lady Harriet,” he said, extending a hand. “If you stand by the door, you’ll turn into a block of ice.”
After a brief hesitation, she accepted his hand and let herself be led back to a seat. “You mustn’t judge my circumstances by this room. The Luxboroughs are kind, and…”
“Value you just as they ought?” He knew more about her situation than he would admit after a brief interview with Lady Luxborough, who had given him a rather shrewd look but had raised no objection to his request to enlist her governess’s aid.
“I want for nothing,” she said.
“Except, perhaps, independence? I know I’m speaking frankly, but I do need your help if Octavia is not to have her heart broken, or worse.”
“What do you know of broken hearts, Lord Wynford?” Her eyes flashed.
“Nothing,” he admitted.
Her gaze dropped to his boots, which she regarded with apparent fascination. He suspected she did not often look away. If self-control was the key to survival in London, she would be the very one to help Octavia.
“I will help your sister. Let us say that we are renewing our cousinly ties. But you must call me Miss Swanley, you know,” she said briskly. “I have given up being called Lady Harriet.”
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What I love most about the holiday season:
What I love most about the season is that what happens to old Scrooge in Dickens’ tale magically happens to all of us more or less. The presents, the lights, the fragrant boughs and baked goodies are just the ways we open our hearts to one another and delight in bringing one another joy.
Why is your featured book a must-read to get you in the holiday mood?
A governess, a spy, and dog meet in that most Christmas-y of cities, snowy London. The CHH mixes mistletoe, children, a dog, games, a clever spy, a dangerous enemy, a heart-broken teenager, and thoughtful heroine with a lost chance at love unexpectedly rekindled. It’s the 4th book in the Husband Hunter series.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon (US) gift card.
Open internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to win.
Runs July 1 – 31
Drawing will be held on August 1.
Author Biography:
How did I ever become a writer? I was not orphaned. I never had to work in a shoe-blacking factory or live in an isolated country vicarage. Other than the threat of atomic annihilation, my childhood was an agreeable one. I grew up in a lively extended family that crammed into station wagons, tents, boats, and cabins for adventures to woods and waters along the California coast, and magically on the island of Oahu. My people were storytellers, fascinated with history, news, and gossip; our house was full of books; and we were left to imagine and dream. In Jane Austen’s works I found the world I knew and began to write stories of falling in love standing up (mostly fully clothed) in the midst of family and friends. Twenty-one books, and a few awards, later I’m still telling stories.
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