A Kiss At Christmastide – Christina McKnight

Startled, she looked up to see him only a few paces behind her. “I am ready to assist you in any way. And if things do not fare well, you can lay the blame with me if anyone asks.” “How generous of you.” Pippa laughed, retrieving a sack of minced meat Cook had prepared before leaving.

“We will start by filling the pie crusts I made earlier with mincemeat and putting them to bake.” “Lead away, my lady,” he said, taking the sack from her hands. “I am sorry the storm keeps you from Lady Natalie’s holiday party. I am sure you will be sad to miss spending the time with your family for the first year in ages.” His confession from earlier made all the more sense now that she knew he’d been kept from his family all these holiday seasons.

He was likely angry the previous night due to that and not completely at the storm or having to leave London. “I do hope the storm lets up by morning, and all won’t be completely lost.” He’d spotted her lopsided pie crusts on the side table and set the sack close. “If it does not, all will still not be lost.”

Pippa wanted to ask what that comment meant, but his smile stopped her words. He was not overly concerned with missing Natalie’s party, so she would not dwell on it, either. Surely, the Sheridans would not notice one guest missing. So what if that meant one less eligible man fawning over Natalie. “What are you thinking about?” “Nothing of import, why?”

“A smile, so smug, crossed your face, and I must admit that I find I must know what mischief was behind it.” He untied the sack and peeked inside, avoiding staring at her. “Oh, this does, indeed, smell good. Do you think I can offer your cook a larger monthly allowance to come cook for me in London?”

“You would poach my staff?”

ISBN: 1-945089-05-9 (Electronic book) ISBN-13: 978-1-945089-05-3 (Electronic book) La Loma Elite Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For permission requests, write to the author, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below. [email protected] 1kitap1.com/en DEDICATION To Marc ~ Every story I write, every character I dream into reality within my pages, every creative idea that comes to mind has a bit of you in it. You are the essence of what goes into the perfect hero; compassion, caring, strength, integrity, faithfulness, loyalty, wit, intelligence, and above all else, endless, unconditional love for your family.

This book, the ones before it and the ones yet to be written, would never be possible without you by my side. You are the keeper of my hopes and dreams. Thank you for allowing me the freedom to live my dream every single day! 1kitap1.com/en L PROLOGUE ady Pippa Godfrey, the only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Midcrest, sat in the front row of Lord and Lady Sheridan’s musicale recital, awaiting her turn at the pianoforte.

It was the final evening of entertainment, thrown in Lady Natalie’s honor on the eve of her introduction to society. The room was crowded, overly hot, and the competing voices were deafening as Pippa waited for the next debutante to be called to the dais to apply her talents to her chosen instrument—some played the harpsichord or another stringed instrument, while others favored singing. Pippa’s fingers ached, and her head swam at the thought of standing before the large crowd—mostly strangers and only a few she could greet by name—and playing the complex piece her music tutor had requested she perform.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 187a8371766798da
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 7,706,846 bytes (7.35 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781945089060, 9781945089053, 1945089067, 1945089059
• Pages: 141
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 184.73 minutes
• Total Words: 36,946
• Total Characters: 208,022
• Average Words per Page: 262.03
• Average Characters per Page: 1475.33

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