Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Winter Wife: A Christmas Novella
    The Winter Wife: A Christmas Novella
    The Winter Wife: A Christmas Novella
    Ebook87 pages1 hour

    The Winter Wife: A Christmas Novella

    By Anna Campbell

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Will a chance meeting on Christmas Eve...

    Alicia Sinclair, Countess of Kinvarra, cannot believe that fate has been so cruel as to strand her on the snowy Yorkshire moors with her estranged husband as her only hope of rescue. During their rare encounters, the arrogant earl and his countess act like hostile strangers. Now that Alicia has fallen into Kinvarra’s power, will he seek revenge for her desertion? Or does the dark, passionate man she once adored have entirely different plans for his headstrong wife?

    ...deliver a second chance at love?

    Sebastian Sinclair, Earl of Kinvarra, has spent ten wretched years regretting the mistakes he made with his young bride, but after long separation, the barriers between them are insurmountable. Until an unexpected encounter one stormy night makes him wonder if the barriers of mistrust and thwarted desire are so insurmountable after all. When winter weather traps Sebastian and his proud, lovely wife in an isolated inn, could the earl and his headstrong countess have a Christmas miracle in store?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAnna Campbell
    Release dateDec 6, 2012
    ISBN9781301418886
    The Winter Wife: A Christmas Novella
    Author

    Anna Campbell

    Always a voracious reader, Anna Campbell decided when she was a child that she wanted to be a writer - particularly once she discovered the wonderful world of romance novels. Her first historical romance for Avon was the multi-award winning CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, followed by three more highly-acclaimed Regency noirs. MY RECKLESS SURRENDER is her fifth novel.

    Read more from Anna Campbell

    Related to The Winter Wife

    Related ebooks

    Historical Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Into The Breeches

      Jul 8, 2022

      Into The Breeches
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Invitation

      Aug 21, 2023

      York, October 1644 Before I’ve even mustered the courage to knock, the door to the townhouse flings open. I drop my hand. “It is me, John Falmouth,” I say and wince at how loud my voice carries into the night. My greeting falters when I look up and n

      6 min read

    • Article

      Mrs. Robinson

      Dec 10, 2022

      “Do you think she will like me?” The question slipped from between my lips and hung suspended in the air. My gloved hands were in my lap, and I was wringing them. As the carriage conveyed us and we neared my new husband’s ancestral home, Ashby Hall,

      20 min read

    • Article

      Cast Out

      Jul 10, 2021

      Verity pushed back the quilts, rolled off her straw mattress onto the floor, felt for the poker, and stirred the ashes. The embers glowed. She wouldn’t have to go fire-borrowing again. Her chilled hands were clumsy. One glowing bit of wood rolled fro

      21 min read

    • Article

      Not Quite MR DARCY

      Aug 10, 2022

      Not Quite MR DARCY
      6 min read

    • Article

      Left To Lose

      Jul 10, 2022

      Around the time she gives up her name, it starts to feel like this entire revolution isn’t worth it anymore. The world is probably lucky that Kelian—she still remembers Kelian, in spite of everything—is there to pick up the pieces, the way he always

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Wisdom of Women Shines in Najla Jraissaty Khoury’s ‘Pearls on a Branch: Oral Tales’

      Oct 22, 2018

      Long, long ago These things happened or maybe no. Let’s start with the image on the cover. Three women sit in a courtyard. One holds a long-handled pan over a coal brazier; the other two, one of whom has her back to us, hold small cups. They wear ide

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Wind Feels Loss

      Aug 8, 2019

      The Wind Feels Loss
      7 min read

    • Article

      Climbing Mount Cameroon

      Nov 18, 2019

      In 1895 Mary Kingsley became the first woman to climb Mount Cameroon. Her apparel was unlikely: long black trailing skirt, tight waist, high collar, a small fur cap, lace-up shoes and a parasol. In every respect she was unusual. With no formal school

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Black Spider

      Nov 28, 2019

      The Black Spider
      22 min read

    • Article

      Healing

      Apr 8, 2020

      Healing
      9 min read

    • Article

      Ode to Joy

      Mar 28, 2018

      Ode to Joy
      6 min read

    • Article

      Watership Down

      Nov 6, 2017

      Watership Down
      6 min read

    • Article

      Subscribers’ News

      Oct 6, 2022

      ‘I find so much inspiration from reallife, real-world events firing up my imagination for so much of my fiction,’ writes subscriber Drew Payne. ‘Often just the bare bones of an event will inspire a story. ‘I am not above using events from my own life

      6 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    • Article

      Jack of Knives

      Jun 3, 2021

      WINNER £100 Jennifer is the author of four middle grade children’s novels published by Maverick (writing as Jenny Moore). Her latest book, The Misadventures of Nicholas Nabb, is set during the same period as her winning story and also includes a scen

      6 min read

    • Article

      Saving Freyfaxi

      Feb 1, 2024

      Saving Freyfaxi
      8 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary

      Jun 17, 2020

      Mrs Macarthur’s Secret Diary
      7 min read

    • Article

      Jason the Heat Guy

      Jan 11, 2021

      Jason the Heat Guy
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Book Club HAS SPOKEN!

      Jan 5, 2020

      Welcome to the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly Book Club. Each month I’m choosing a new novel to get us all reading, thinking and talking. I’m hoping that lots of you will enjoy the book club choice and share your opinions. Once you join the book club, yo

      3 min read

    • Article

      Safety

      Mar 1, 2023

      IT WAS only a dream, a bad dream, and nothing else. The man in Vidal’s dream was stalking a woman, spying on her from the shadows, following her down a dark alley as she sought refuge from a downpour. The woman was vaguely familiar to Vidal, though h

      13 min read

    • Article

      The Change

      Aug 8, 2019

      The Change
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Winter Wife

    4/5

    8 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this little Christmas Love Miracle. Although was missing was a short epilog.

    Book preview

    The Winter Wife - Anna Campbell

    The Winter Wife: A Christmas Novella by Anna Campbell

    Published by Anna Campbell

    Copyright 2010, 2012 Anna Campbell

    Cover design and eBook design by Karrie Mathews

    Published by Anna Campbell at Smashwords

    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 - except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews - without permission in writing from the author, Anna Campbell. This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Will a chance meeting on Christmas Eve…

    Alicia Sinclair, Countess of Kinvarra, cannot believe that fate has been so cruel as to strand her on the snowy Yorkshire moors with her estranged husband as her only hope of rescue. During their rare encounters, the arrogant earl and his countess act like hostile strangers. Now that Alicia has fallen into Kinvarra’s power, will he seek revenge for her desertion? Or does the dark, passionate man she once adored have entirely different plans for his headstrong wife?

    ..deliver a second chance at love?

    Sebastian Sinclair, Earl of Kinvarra, has spent ten wretched years regretting the mistakes he made with his young bride, but after long separation, the barriers between them are insurmountable. Until an un- expected encounter one stormy night makes him wonder if the barriers of mistrust and thwarted desire are so insurmountable after all. When winter weather traps Sebastian and his proud, lovely wife in an isolated inn, could the earl and his headstrong countess have a Christmas miracle in store?

    To my dear Readers,

    Thank you so much for picking up The Winter Wife: A Christmas Novella.

    I’ve had a yen to do a Christmas story for a long time. I love the hope and joy that are part of this time of year and I think the festive season makes a wonderful background for a romance.

    The Winter Wife was originally published in shorter form in 2010 as Upon a Midnight Clear in The Mammoth Book of Regency Romance. It was my first reunion romance and I loved the characters. I’ve always wanted the chance both to expand the story and to share it with a wider audience as a stand-alone novella rather than as part of an anthology, much as I love anthologies. This Christmas, I thought, Why not?

    So I hope you enjoy this chance to meet or revisit my Scottish hero, Sebastian, Earl of Kinvarra, and his estranged countess, Alicia, who meet one Christmas Eve in the middle of a Yorkshire snowstorm.

    Thanks to the people at Mammoth Anthologies who gave me the op- portunity to write Upon a Midnight Clear, and to my writing friends Vanessa Barneveld, Annie West and Christina Brooke for their help in bringing The Winter Wife to publication.

    Best wishes!

    Anna Campbell, December 2012

    Chapter One

    North Yorkshire, Christmas Eve, 1825

    THE CRASH OF shattering wood and the terrified screams of horses pierced the frosty night like a knife.

    Sebastian Sinclair, Earl of Kinvarra, swore, brought his restive mount under control, then spurred the animal around the turn in the snowy road. With icy clarity, the full moon lit the white landscape, starkly revealing the disaster before him.

    A flashy black curricle lay on its side in a ditch, the hood up against the weather. One horse had broken free and wandered the roadway, harness dragging. The other plunged wildly in the traces, struggling to escape.

    Swiftly Kinvarra dismounted, knowing his mare would await his signal, and ran to free the distressed horse. As he slid down the muddy ditch, a hatless man scrambled out of the smashed curricle.

    Are you hurt? Kinvarra asked, casting a quick eye over him. No, I thank you, sir. The effete blond fellow turned back to the carriage. Come, darling. Let me assist you.

    A graceful black-gloved hand extended from inside and a cloaked woman emerged with more aplomb than Kinvarra would have believed possible in the circumstances. Indications were that neither traveler was injured, so he concentrated on the trapped horse. When he spoke soothingly to the terrified beast, it quieted to panting stillness, exhausted with thrashing. While Kinvarra checked its legs, murmuring calm assurances, the stranger helped the lady up to the roadside.

    The horse shook itself and with a few ungainly jumps, ascended the bank to trot along the road toward its partner. Neither animal seemed to suffer worse than fright, a miracle considering that the curricle was beyond repair.

    Madam, are you injured? Kinvarra asked as he climbed the ditch. He stuck his riding crop under his arm and brushed his gloved hands together to knock the clinging snow from them. It was a hellishly cold night. Christmas tomorrow would be a chilly affair. But then of course his Christmases had been chilly for years, no matter the weather.

    The woman kept her head down. With shock? With shyness? For the sake of propriety? Perhaps he’d stumbled on some elopement or clandestine meeting.

    Madam? he asked again, more sharply. Whatever her fear of scandal, he needed to know if she required medical assistance.

    Sweeting? The yellow-haired fop bent to peer into the shadows

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1