Dear Reader,
Some time ago I shared on these pages a report from the far north about A Duke and His Housekeeper and a Yuletide story of love. While I know that we are in the middle of blessed summer, I have received new information for you and cannot resist sharing it now!
Here is that tale again as told to me in a letter from an American acquaintance:
~~~
A Duke and His Housekeeper!
I have received a most interesting report from an American acquaintance now engaged in a grand tour of the far northern reaches of our fair isle. The events in question occurred several months previously, and have not been greatly talked of in London. Or at all!
Dear Readers, you are the first in our great metropolis to learn of this story! No less a personage than a new member of the loftiest of our toplofty ranks, formerly a mere Mr. Mac, has married none other than the lady he employed to tend to the domestic responsibilities of the castle from which he rules his realm.
His housekeeper!
Some of you may not find such a story surprising. After all, it is said that the society of those places my American friend describes as having “lakes with a quiet sheen of water surrounded by high, swelling, naked mountains” might be less genteel than that of our southern climes. Perhaps this is due to the great north’s scarcity of society, the harsh climate, and the ancient rigors of kinship. (Why, my friend has also reported that at the close of a hearty dinner, even the ladies take whisky!)
Astonishingly, however, my inquiries reveal that this former Mr. Mac and the lady in question, a certain Mrs. M, were in fact not of Caledonian extraction at all but of good English gentry stock!
How such a thing came about is a tale involving a long-standing feud, common in those climes. My American friend, a minister of one of the churches hatched in the free-thinking country that renounces all noble titles, finds the matter vastly amusing. He claims, in fact, to have dined with the lofty personage and his lady and heard the whole story from the proverbial horse’s mouth!
He proclaims it a most heartening Christmas tale of revelation, forgiveness and in the end redemption.
Dear Reader, as soon as I learn more, I will be sure to provide the whole story!
~~~
And now I am happy to report more information. As mentioned in the earlier edition of the Teatime Tattler, the happy couple were English, nevertheless with close relations in the north. In fact, they had met as children and were related through the marriage of her cousin and his brother, albeit a marriage that neither attended. So not such a tawdry and shocking tale, though neither party recognized the other from childhood after so many years and… well, suffice to say, identities were otherwise concealed for, at least in the lady’s case, Noble Reasons. As for the gentleman’s thinking in concealing his identity, let me only concur with my American friend that this Yuletide tale ends with a Noble Redemption!
The Duke She Despised
The new Duke of Kinmarty has lost everyone who mattered and gained naught but a title, and debt, and an old pile of a castle. When a fetching new housekeeper appears on his doorstep frantic to ready the place for the Yuletide, he seizes the chance for a respite from grieving and pretends to be the new duke’s estate factor.
With her cousin’s children due to arrive from India, a vicar’s widow hides her identity and takes a position as housekeeper to their dreadful uncle, the man who years ago sabotaged her own chance for happiness. Overwhelmed by a castle understaffed and in disarray, she forges a bond with the new duke’s charming but not very competent factor, not knowing that he’s hiding something as well.
When allies become lovers, each senses the truth may rip them apart. Can their love survive when she discovers he’s the duke she despised?
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087ZB5H37
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-duke-she-despised
Nook:
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-duke-she-despised/id1511435698?ls=1
Universal Book Link: https://books2read.com/TheDukeSheDespised
About the Author
Award-winning and USA Today bestselling author Alina K. Field earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and German literature, but she prefers the much happier world of romance fiction. Though her roots are in the Midwestern U.S., after six very, very, very cold years in Chicago, she moved to Southern California and hasn’t looked back. She is the author of several Regency romances, including the 2014 Book Buyer’s Best winner, Rosalyn’s Ring. She is hard at work on her next series of historical romances, but loves to hear from readers!
Author Links:
https://www.facebook.com/alinakfield
https://twitter.com/AlinaKField
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7173518.Alina_K_Field
https://www.pinterest.com/alinakf/
https://www.instagram.com/alinak.field/
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/alina-k-field
Newsletter signup: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z6q6e3
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alina-K.-Field/e/B00DZHWOKY
Gerren Stafford, sailor and Cornish wrestler, ran away to sea when his gentle older brother was taunted and killed in a duel, and vowed never to set foot in his homeland again. When a stranger informs him he is the new Earl of Siltsbury, Gerren reluctantly returns to England with a hidden purpose, and to assume a role for which he is woefully unprepared.
Author of eight books on California history and twenty-two romance novels, Pamela Gibson is a former City Manager who retired with her husband to the Southern Nevada desert. Having spent several years messing about in boats, a hobby that included a five-thousand-mile trip in a 32-foot Nordic Tug, she now spends most of her time indoors happily reading, writing, cooking and keeping up with the antics of Ralph, her Siamese cat. She loves dry red wine, all kinds of chocolate, old Jimmy Buffet sailing songs, and curling up with a good book. You can find her in these places:
Ladies and Gentlemen, gather your teacups and prepare your fans for fluttering, for today’s tittle-tattle traverses the tantalizing tale of Baron Gregory Stone, known in the shadows of London’s candlelit corridors as the Black Knight. Not for his sable attire nor for his darkly handsome visage, but for his prowess on the chessboard, where he reigns supreme. Yet, it appears our Baron has found himself in a game far more perilous than chess—a game of the heart.
“Baron in Check” promises a tour de force of romantic adventures, with suitors bold and socialites cunning. Our characters dance through the glittering backdrop of Regency London, each move calculated, each glance significant. And amidst the sparkling wit and whispered secrets, one question remains—will the Black Knight capture his queen, or will the game of love prove too treacherous?
As your most devoted and diligent chronicler of the comings and goings in our illustrious society, it has come to my attention that the quiet harmony of Regent Street has been delightfully disrupted by a series of events most extraordinary. And who, you might ask, are the orchestrators of this melodious chaos? None other than the gentlemen of Klonimus & Sons, Jewelers at the venerable address of 35 Regent Street.
