A Christmas Bride / A Christmas Beau Read online

  Dear Reader,

  Over the years I have written a number of Christmas novels and novellas, all of them love stories, all of them as full of sheer romance as I can possibly make them. They vary, too. I try my best never to write the same story or create the same character more than once. I aim for originality. However, all my Christmas stories have something else in common apart from the romance. They all have three main characters—the hero, the heroine, and Christmas itself!

  Christmas is never incidental to my stories; they are never love stories that just happen to occur over the Christmas season. Christmas is central to all of them. None of them could happen quite as they do at any other time of the year. Christmas has so many meanings. There is the religious, of course, and, yes, that sometimes appears in my stories. More than that, though, Christmas represents all that is finest in the human experience. It represents family and warmth and kindness and joy and peace and second chances and a whole host of other desirable things.

  Give me a pair of star-crossed lovers, I have always said, and Christmas, and preferably a child or two, and watch me go! In A Christmas Bride, Edgar Downes falls in love with the wrong woman, Lady Helena Stapleton, who is carrying around with her a great deal of baggage from her guilty past. Aware that he cannot be happy with her, he nevertheless marries her. But when he takes his bride home for Christmas, the magic of the season contrives to bring her pardon and peace, and to bless the two of them abundantly. In Christmas Beau, Judith Easton, who had once jilted the Marquess of Denbigh for another man, finds that he is pursuing her relentlessly again now that she is a widow with two small children, and he invites her to a Christmas house party in the country. His motive is revenge—but he has chosen the wrong season, foolish man, for such a negative plan!

  I hope these two classic stories from the 1990s will help warm your hearts over the Christmas season and beyond.

  Mary Balogh

  PRAISE FOR

  THE NOVELS OF MARY BALOGH

  THE PROPOSAL

  “Balogh begins a new series with one of her most beloved characters, Lady Gwendoline Muir, in the tender, heart-tugging story of a wounded soldier and an emotionally scarred woman who find unexpected love. It is a mature romance with unforgettable characters, and a sweetness and depth of emotion that only Balogh can create.” —RT Book Reviews (4½ stars, top pick)

  “Beautifully characterized and with a gracefully developed romance, this is a historical romance of unusual thoughtfulness and depth from one of the best writers in the genre.” —Publishers Weekly

  “Balogh contravenes the conventions of historical romance by introducing an ingredient the genre is not always known for: intelligence.” —Kirkus Reviews

  THE SECRET MISTRESS

  “Regency romance doyenne Balogh … pairs a staid young nobleman with a vivacious debutante in this top-notch tale.… An unusually accurate portrayal of Regency society, laden with colorful period detail, makes a sparkling backdrop, and the supporting characters are delightful.… The charming mixture of sensual passion and hilarious confusion makes Balogh’s delightful tale a must-read for Regency fans.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “A grand mistress of Regency romance, Balogh always gifts readers with delightful, enthralling love stories layered with depth, humor, emotional intensity, grand passion and just a touch of the unconventional. This prequel to the Mistress series is utterly delightful, charming and intelligent—a winner!” —RT Book Reviews (4 stars, top pick)

  A SECRET AFFAIR

  “Hannah, widowed duchess of Dunbarton, has set her sights on Constantine as the ideal lover—a handsome man of experience that she can seduce and set aside once she is done with him.… Constantine—dark, wicked, and cryptic—has a perfect foil in Hannah, and their encounters are steamy, their romance believable. Though series fans will be disappointed to see it come to a close, they couldn’t ask for a better way to go out.” —Publishers Weekly

  “The exquisitely crafted chemistry that develops between Hannah and Con is pure passion deftly leavened with tart wit, which ensures that A Secret Affair, the concluding volume in Balogh’s Regency historical Huxtable series, is a sweetly romantic, deliciously sexy triumph.”—Booklist

  SEDUCING AN ANGEL

  “With her inimitable, brilliantly nuanced sense of characterization, elegantly sensual style, and droll wit, bestseller Balogh continues to set the standard to which all other Regency historical writers aspire while delivering another addictively readable addition to her Huxtable family series.” —Booklist

  “One of [Balogh’s] best books to date.” —A Romance Review

  AT LAST COMES LOVE

  “Sparkling with sharp wit, lively repartee, and delicious sensuality, the emotionally rewarding At Last Comes Love metes out both justice and compassion; totally satisfying.” —Library Journal

  “At Last Comes Love is the epitome of what any great romance should be.… This novel will leave you crying, laughing, cheering, and ready to fight for two characters that any reader will most definitely fall in love with!” —Coffee Time Romance

  THEN COMES SEDUCTION

  “Exquisite sexual chemistry permeates this charmingly complex story.” —Library Journal

  “Balogh delivers another smartly fashioned love story that will dazzle readers with its captivating combination of nuanced characters, exquisitely sensual romance, and elegant wit.” —Booklist

  “Mary Balogh succeeds shockingly well.” —Rock Hill Herald

  FIRST COMES MARRIAGE

  “Intriguing and romantic … Readers are rewarded with passages they’ll be tempted to dog-ear so they can read them over and over.” —McAllen Monitor

  “Wonderful characterization [and a] riveting plot … I highly recommend you read First Comes Marriage.” —Romance Reviews Today

  “Peppered with brilliant banter, laced with laughter … and tingling with sexual tension, this story of two seemingly mismatched people struggling to make their marriage work tugs at a few heartstrings and skillfully paves the way for the stories to come.” —Library Journal

  “The incomparable Balogh delivers a masterful first in a new trilogy.… Always fresh, intelligent, emotional and sensual, Balogh’s stories reach out to readers, touching heart and mind with their warmth and wit. Prepare for a joyous read.” —Romantic Times

  SIMPLY PERFECT

  “A warm-hearted and feel-good story … Readers will want to add this wonderful story to their collection. Simply Perfect is another must-read from this talented author, and a Perfect Ten.” —Romance Reviews Today

  “With her signature exquisite sense of characterization and subtle wit, Balogh brings her sweetly sensual, thoroughly romantic Simply quartet to a truly triumphant conclusion.” —Booklist

  SIMPLY MAGIC

  “Absorbing and appealing. This is an unusually subtle approach in a romance, and it works to great effect.” —Publishers Weekly

  “Balogh has once again crafted a sensuous tale of two very real people finding love and making each other’s lives whole and beautiful. Readers will be delighted.” —Booklist

  SIMPLY UNFORGETTABLE

  “When an author has created a series as beloved to readers as Balogh’s Bedwyn saga, it is hard to believe that she can surpass the delights with the first installment in a new quartet. But Balogh has done just that.” —Booklist

  “A memorable cast … refresh[es] a classic Regency plot with humor, wit, and the sizzling romantic chemistry that one expects from Balogh. Well-written and emotionally complex.” —Library Journal

  SIMPLY LOVE

  “One of the things that make Ms. Balogh’s books so memorable is the emotion she pou
rs into her stories. The writing is superb, with realistic dialogue, sexual tension, and a wonderful heart-wrenching story. Simply Love is a book to savor, and to read again. It is a Perfect Ten. Romance doesn’t get any better than this.” —Romance Reviews Today

  “With more than her usual panache, Balogh returns to Regency England for a satisfying adult love story.” —Publishers Weekly

  SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS

  “Slightly Dangerous is the culmination of Balogh’s wonderfully entertaining Bedwyn series.… Balogh, famous for her believable characters and finely crafted Regency-era settings, forges a relationship that leaps off the page and into the hearts of her readers.” —Booklist

  “With this series, Balogh has created a wonderfully romantic world of Regency culture and society. Readers will miss the honorable Bedwyns and their mates; ending the series with Wulfric’s story is icing on the cake. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal

  SLIGHTLY SINFUL

  “Smart, playful, and deliciously satisfying … Balogh once again delivers a clean, sprightly tale rich in both plot and character.… With its irrepressible characters and deft plotting, this polished romance is an ideal summer read.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  SLIGHTLY TEMPTED

  “Once again, Balogh has penned an entrancing, unconventional yarn that should expand her following.” —Publishers Weekly

  “Balogh is a gifted writer.… Slightly Tempted invites reflection, a fine quality in romance, and Morgan and Gervase are memorable characters.” —Contra Costa Times

  SLIGHTLY SCANDALOUS

  “With its impeccable plotting and memorable characters, Balogh’s book raises the bar for Regency romances.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “The sexual tension fairly crackles between this pair of beautifully matched protagonists.… This delightful and exceptionally well-done title nicely demonstrates [Balogh’s] matchless style.” —Library Journal

  “This third book in the Bedwyn series is … highly enjoyable as part of the series or on its own merits.” —Old Book Barn Gazette

  SLIGHTLY WICKED

  “Sympathetic characters and scalding sexual tension make the second installment [in the Slightly series] a truly engrossing read.… Balogh’s sure-footed story possesses an abundance of character and class.” —Publishers Weekly

  SLIGHTLY MARRIED

  “Slightly Married is a masterpiece! Mary Balogh has an unparalleled gift for creating complex, compelling characters who come alive on the pages.… A Perfect Ten.” —Romance Reviews Today

  A SUMMER TO REMEMBER

  “Balogh outdoes herself with this romantic romp, crafting a truly seamless plot and peopling it with well-rounded, winning characters.” —Publishers Weekly

  “The most sensuous romance of the year.”—Booklist

  “This one will rise to the top.” —Library Journal

  “Filled with vivid descriptions, sharp dialogue, and fantastic characters, this passionate, adventurous tale will remain memorable for readers who love an entertaining read.” —Rendezvous

  WEB OF LOVE

  “A beautiful tale of how grief and guilt can lead to love.” —Library Journal

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  2012 Dell eBook Edition

  A Christmas Bride copyright © 1997 by Mary Balogh

  Christmas Beau copyright © 1991 by Mary Balogh

  Epilogue for A Christmas Bride copyright © 1997 by Mary Balogh

  Excerpt from The Proposal by Mary Balogh copyright © 2012 by Mary Balogh

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Dell, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  DELL is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  A Christmas Bride was originally published in paperback in the United States by Signet, an imprint of Dutton Signet, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., in 1997.

  Christmas Beau was originally published in paperback in the United States by Signet, an imprint of Dutton Signet, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., in 1991.

  The epilogue for A Christmas Bride originally appeared on the author’s website.

  eISBN: 978-0-345-53579-5

  Cover design ; Lynn Andreozzi

  Cover photograph : © Herman Estevez

  www.bantamdell.com

  v3.1

  Contents

  Cover

  Dear Reader

  Title Page

  Copyright

  A Christmas Bride Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  Christmas Beau Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Excerpt from The Proposal

  Other Books by This Author

  A Christmas Bride

  1

  MR. EDGAR DOWNES HAD DECIDED TO TAKE A bride.

  Doubtless he should have made up his mind to do so long before he did, since he was six-and-thirty years old and had both a high respect for matrimony and a fondness for family life. But the truth was that he had procrastinated. He had felt caught between two worlds. He was not a gentleman. He was the son of a Bristol merchant who had grown enormously wealthy over the years and had eventually purchased and renovated a grand mansion and estate near Bristol and retired to live there like a gentleman. Edgar had been educated at the best schools, had become a respected and successful lawyer, and then had taken over his father’s business.

  He was hugely wealthy in his own right. He had received a gentleman’s education. He spoke and dressed as a gentleman. He would inherit Mobley Abbey on his father’s death. He was extremely eligible. But he was not a gentleman by birth, and in certain circles that fact made all the difference in the world.

  He had thought about marrying someone of his own kind. At various points during his adulthood he had even singled out a few daughters or sisters of his middle-class acquaintances as possible wives. But he had never felt that he quite belonged in their world—not when it came to something as personal and intimate as marriage. He would have been hard put to it to explain exactly why that was so. There were certain almost puritanical attitudes in the class, perhaps, or a certain vulgar preoccupation with money and possessions for their own sake. Though neither explanation quite accounted for his discomfort.

  He had thought of marrying a lady. But there had been obvious arguments against that. And they all narrowed down to one simple fact—he was not a gentleman. It was true that Cora, his sister and only sibling, had married a younger son of a duke seven years before and had become Lady Francis Kneller as a result. It was true, too, that Edgar got along remarkably well with his exceedingly elegant brother-in-law and with those of their aristocratic friends he had met. But though Cora’s marriage appeared to be bowling along very nicely indeed and had produced four bouncing children, Lord Francis would not in the normal course of events have wed her. It was her disastrous tendency to play heroine without pausing for one hundredt
h part of a second to consider the wisdom of her actions that had forced him on more than one occasion to her rescue and to compromising circumstances at the same time. Finally, poor fellow, he had had no choice—as a gentleman—but to take on a leg shackle and Cora all at the same time.

  Lord Francis Kneller and his friends—the Earl of Thornhill, for example, or the Marquess of Carew or the Duke of Bridgwater—might be quite prepared to treat Mr. Edgar Downes, Lady Francis’s brother, as a friendly acquaintance. But would they be happy to watch him woo and wed their sisters or cousins if he so chose, and if there were any such females available? It was a question Edgar could not answer with any certainty since he had never posed it to any of the gentlemen concerned, but he could make an educated guess.

  Some lesser gentleman with a daughter difficult to fire off in a more acceptable manner—due to impoverishment or lack of beauty or a shrewish nature, perhaps—might be very willing to ally her to a cit, to a lawyer-turned-merchant who also happened to be as wealthy as all but a few of the bluest-blooded lords in the land and with as much more wealth again to inherit on the death of his father. That lesser gentleman, however, would believe in his heart—and all the genteel world would believe with him—that he had stooped low indeed for the mere satisfaction of seeing his daughter wed.

  But at the age of six-and-thirty Edgar Downes had decided to take a bride. A bride of good birth. A lady, no less. And he was going to do it soon. By Christmastime he would either be betrothed or have fixed his choice firmly and confidently enough that he would invite the woman and her family to Mobley Abbey for the holiday and a celebration of the betrothal. It was a promise he had made his father, and he always kept his promises.

  The elder Mr. Downes celebrated his sixtieth birthday at the beginning of September. And though it would be difficult to find a healthier, more robust, more mentally agile man of his age anywhere in the kingdom, he had chosen on that occasion to remember his mortality and to declare himself an old man. An old man with a dying wish. Cora had shrieked when he had put it thus, doubtless imagining all sorts of hidden and deadly ailments, and Lord Francis had pursed his lips. Edgar had rocked back on his chair. The dying wish was to see his son wed. Perhaps he would even be spared long enough to see a son of his son in the nursery … a man longed for an heir to his heir.