O Night Divine A Holiday Collection of Spirited Christmas Tales - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,210

morning air, it warmed his outside until he felt its heat matched the fire in his heart.

As much as he was present in this moment, filled with a joy that struggled to contain itself, he also found his mind hundreds of miles away, in London with another family.

Pip Sim and his brother and sister, his mother and father.

Kit smiled to himself and imagined the scene this Christmas morning.

If his instructions had been followed to the letter, a large goose would have been delivered yesterday. He imaged it roasting in the oven, surrounded by potatoes, parsnips, and pumpkin. On the kitchen dresser, a box stacked high with oranges would bring a delightful sweet aroma into the air.

Three large sacks of coal by the kitchen door would keep the family warm for the rest of the winter. They were small things, practical things to thank the family for their generosity, but Kit prided himself on the impractical.

In the parlor would be the puppet theatre filled with characters, sets, and costumes from a dozen different Shakespeare plays and with it, the book Tales from Shakespeare with his special inscription for Pip.

He could see them in his mind’s eye, imagining Peter and Susan manipulating the puppets while Pip narrated the tale from the book to the audience of a delighted Mr. Sim and his wife.

Merry Christmas, one and all.

Kit stretched, raising his arms high above his head, pleased that an Epsom Salts bath and a good night’s sleep had eased the worst of his aches. He ought to get back to the house. Sophia would awaken soon and, hopefully, she would give him the answer they both desired.

He left his place on the bench and returned to the house by a more direct route. The kitchen door was open, and the kitchen servants were already at work. He was about ten yards away when he heard singing. The tune seemed familiar, although he was certain he’d never heard it before. It must have been an old Cornish melody.

He neared in time to hear the final verse and chorus:

Then let us all with one accord

Sing praises to our heavenly Lord

That hath made heaven and earth of nought,

And with his blood mankind hath bought:

Noel, Noel

Noel, Noel

Born is the King of Israel

Kit greeted the servants and took up with whistling of the carol as he climbed the servants’ stairs two at a time. Not even his injured leg was enough to stop him. He opened the bedroom door carefully so as not to wake Sophia if she was still in bed.

She was not.

His beautiful angel was awake and waiting for him.

“I have some news,” she said. He needed no further words. The delight and wonder in her expression told him the answer. Kit pulled Sophia into his arms and rained kisses on her hair and on her cheek until she giggled, and he continued until she sighed and melted into his arms.

“You have found your father, and now you are to be a father. How do you feel?” she asked.

He had the answer ready to give her.

“Like a man who has been given the greatest gift of all.”

Additional Dragonblade books by Author Elizabeth Ellen Carter

Heart of the Corsairs Series

Captive of the Corsairs

Revenge of the Corsairs

Shadow of the Corsairs

King’s Rogues Series

Live and Let Spy

Spyfall

Spy Another Day

Father’s Day (A Novella)

The Lyon’s Den Connected World

The Lyon Sleeps Tonight

Also from Elizabeth Ellen Carter

Dark Heart

Warming Winter’s Heart

About the Author

Elizabeth Ellen Carter is an award-winning historical romance writer who pens richly detailed historical romantic adventures. A former newspaper journalist, Carter ran an award-winning PR agency for 12 years. The author lives in Australia with her husband and two cats.

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A Christmas Miracle

Elizabeth Johns

Alex Hartmere, Duke of Frompton, has endured enough heartache to make any man bitter. Having lost his wife and child in the war in Canada, he returns to England, only to inherit a dukedom from a father who dies in a scandalous duel soon afterwards. Repairing to his family estate for Christmas, Alex finds his first love now widowed and penniless. Can a Christmas miracle, in the form of a crippled little girl, bring them the happiness which was once stripped away from them?

Chapter One

Alex Hartmere was now the Duke of Frompton. He had known this day was coming, but curse it all, he would give the title away in a heartbeat. After the brutal death of his wife and child in the raid of Ganonoque, he had arrived back in England only to find his father had lost his wits