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    December Scandal
    December Scandal
    December Scandal
    Ebook85 pages1 hour

    December Scandal

    By Suzi Love

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This novella is a stand alone story connected to the Scandalous Siblings Series.
    The Jamison family joins the Duke of Sherwyn and the St. Martin clan at the duke’s country estate, but the guest numbers double when stranded travelers seek refuge after early December snowfalls make roads impassable.
    Michael Brandon travels to introduce the woman he loves, and her daughter, to his family, but a missing bridge delays their journey. To their shock, horror, and yet profound relief, Michael’s missing brother is carried into the house by the four men who rescued him from captivity. Frederick battles to stay alive long enough to convict his kidnappers, and to warn his family of future danger.
    Four years ago, Melissa called herself a widow to protect her daughter. When she reveals the truth to her past lover, and her present love, will the men forgive her deceit? And can Frederick convince his brother to protect Melissa and Freda, or will Michael walk away?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSuzi Love
    Release dateDec 18, 2015
    ISBN9780992570491
    December Scandal
    Author

    Suzi Love

    I now live in a sunny part of Australia after spending many years in developing countries in the South Pacific. My greatest loves are traveling, anywhere and everywhere, meeting crazy characters, and visiting the Australian outback.I adore history, especially the many-layered society of the late Regency to early Victorian eras. In and around London, my titled heroes and heroines may live a privileged and gay life but I also love digging deeper into the grittier and seamier levels of British life and write about the heroes and heroines who challenge traditional manners, morals, and occupations, either through necessity or desire.Tag Line- Making history fun, one year at a time

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      Book preview

      December Scandal - Suzi Love

      DECEMBER SCANDAL

      By SUZI LOVE

      (Book 3 Scandalous Siblings Series)

      In this novella length, stand-alone story, the Jamison family joins the Duke of Sherwyn and the St. Martin clan at the duke’s country estate, but the guest numbers double when stranded travelers seek refuge after early December snowfalls make roads impassable.

      Michael Brandon travels to introduce the woman he loves, and her daughter, to his family, but a missing bridge delays their journey. To their shock, horror, and yet profound relief, Michael’s missing brother is carried into the house by the four men who rescued him from captivity. Frederick battles to stay alive long enough to convict his kidnappers, and to warn his family of future danger.

      Four years ago, Melissa called herself a widow to protect her daughter. When she reveals the truth to her past lover, and her present love, will the men forgive her deceit? And can Frederick convince his brother to protect Melissa and Freda, or will Michael walk away?

      Dedication

      For my family and friends, this is for you.

      And to the wonderful authors at The Keeper Shelf,

      thanks for making my writing life so much fun.

      Copyright

      Copyright © 2015 by Suzi Love

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

      Chapter 1

      Martin House, England.

      1844

      Michael Brandon strolled after Cayle St. Martin, the Duke of Sherwyn, when the duke strode to the hallway to greet the latest group of travelers. They’d be, like him, grateful to accept the duke’s hospitality because they’d all become stranded after heavy snowfalls had led to rapidly rising water levels and an impassable local bridge.

      He leaned on a wall and watched Mason, the efficient butler at Martin House, ease open the massive front door while three footmen braced their shoulders against the door to stop it blowing fully open. The house had already been full of family members gathered for Christmas, but with the addition of several groups of half-frozen travelers arriving every hour during the afternoon, the house’s walls must be groaning under the excess number of guests needing beds.

      Several massive rooms in Martin House had been opened and warmed for the weary travelers who had descended on the duke and his family, but those large fires needed constant feeding with logs of wood. Therefore, Sherwyn couldn’t risk a barrage of snow and sleet blowing inside his house from the courtyard because, in such inclement weather, his footmen might not be able to collect more firewood for another week. Little wonder then that the duke hovered near the front entrance and supervised each subsequent arrival, his charming duchess by his side to add her won welcome.

      Michael and his party had been the first to beg assistance from Sherwyn this afternoon, as he’d known that Sherwyn had left London a week earlier and would already be in residence at his country home. There had been a flurry of social events in London over the past two weeks before the Ton left the city and retreated to their country estates to wait out the colder months. Though this extreme weather had caught everyone by surprise.

      It was barely mid December and the nearby bridge usually served the locals well through that month and into the New Year. Water levels normally only rose and covered the bridge after the snowstorms of January. Michael and Cayle were long time friends and so he knew Cayle had loathed this house, his family seat, when his father and stepmother had been in residence, but now that Cayle was the duke, and a married man, he had decided to turn this house into a more welcoming family gathering place. Even with the influx of visitors, invited or not, the staff here were jolly and efficient, a rare combination in the serving ranks.

      The jolliness came from Becca’s side of the family. The Jamison’s collected staff that were more like stray dogs that no other household would allow across the doorstep. Ex-criminals mostly. Housebreakers, street thieves, and several reformed trollops now ran Cayle’s houses, and those of his cousin, Richard. A week of extra guests to feed and bed wouldn’t stretch Sherwyn’s supplies, or their staff, too much, but if this large group remained any longer than a few days, the meals were bound to be less generous than the St Martin and Jamison families expected when they gathered for their Christmas weeks at Martin House.

      Michael would feel guilty for landing, unannounced, on the St. Martin’s doorstep, with Melissa and her daughter and their retinue in tow, except that he knew he was providing Becca and her sisters with the drama and excitement that they thrived on. The Jamisons had proved their resourcefulness when Becca and her siblings, with help from Cayle and Richard St. Martin, had tracked down a stock-investing madman or, as it had turned out to be, a madwoman, and handed her over to Scotland Yard. Becca, and the other ladies, appeared delighted to have new people and conversations to keep them entertained while snowstorms kept them all housebound.

      The children, Richard’s nieces and nephews, thought the duke and duchess had especially invited extra playmates to enliven their raucous games, which they played all day at top speed through every hallway and room in the house. Voices echoed from every wing of the grand house as maids scuttled to and fro and put warmed bricks into the newly aired beds in rooms that normally sat unused. Michael had never seen Martin House so busy, or so full of gaiety. And soon both Becca and her sister, Laura, would be adding their babies to the organized chaos.

      Michael felt a pang of jealousy for his old friends, Cayle and Richard. He’d known them at school and when he’d returned to London from the continent, he’d been surprised and delighted to discover that the two men, plus Cayle’s younger brothers, were all avid investors. And that Becca, with her gift for mathematics, would far rather discuss finances and share her insights and predictions for future stock trading than sit in a drawing room and drink tea with the more upright ladies of the Ton.

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