A Scandalous Rogue has been rescued in Hampshire!

Dearest Readers,

You will hardly need reminding of the scandalous doings of Mr. James Thornton some years past, who refused to marry his betrothed, the lovely Miss Plimpton, even on pain of suit! The rapscallion blithely paid the financial damages but has found the social costs not so easy to dismiss. After having respectable doors closed to him for so long, however, reports have reached me that one family at least has been willing to shelter this man of dubious reputation: Sir Miles and Lady Arden of Ardenmere, Hampshire.

Now, now, before we storm the baronet’s gates, let me say in their defense that they were constrained by charity, Thornton having gravely injured himself in a hunting accident. If his life had not been in danger, they would never have relented, I am certain, not only for their own sake, but also because they have staying with them Miss Blinker of Winchester, an unmarried friend of the family.

Lady Arden reports that though she is sorry Mr. Thornton has been afflicted with blindness among his other injuries, she cannot but be grateful his condition will protect her guest from any attempts on her heart or virtue.

I am certain all well-meaning readers will join her in this hope, for how ill-mannered would it be to remind Lady Arden of blindness being Love’s proverbial status quo?

Yours in concern,

A Hampshire Neighbor

A Winter’s Romance: A Regency Anthology

“Epiphany Day” is a short story found in A Winter’s Romance: a Regency Anthology

Can blindness and deception keep them from love? When scandalous James Thornton suffers an accident, he is carried broken and unconscious to Ardenmere, where schoolteacher Eliza Blinker is spending her holidays. All hands are required to nurse the patient, but for Eliza’s protection Lady Arden insists she pose as an older, plainer woman. Blinded as he is, Thornton may be told anything, after all. But what if love truly is blind, and he begins to care for Eliza despite what he’s been led to believe?

Available for preorder on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Winters-Romance-Regency-Anthology-ebook/dp/B0DG3R12L1

About the Author

Christina Dudley is the author of two complete series of sweet Regency romances, The Hapgoods of Bramleigh and The Ellsworth Assortment, as well as contemporary Austen adaptation Pride and Preston Lin. Her novels have been called “sparkling,” “swoon-worthy,” and “compulsively readable” (Publishers Weekly). Pride and Preston Lin was the February 2024 Fiction Editor’s Pick for Kirkus Reviews (starred review) and chosen as a 2024 Top 10 Best Debut Romance by Booklist (starred review).