A Diamond In The Snow

When opposites attract...

They may find their Christmas miracle!

Needing help to organize the Christmas party of the decade, Victoria Hamilton hires the very unconventional yet very charming Sam Weatherby as her PA. With pressure from their parents, both need each other’s help, and when Sam—normally a banker!—is quickly promoted to fake fiancé until the party is over, neither realizes that in the most unexpected place, they may have actually found true love!

KATE HARDY has always loved books, and could read before she went to school. She discovered Mills & Boon books when she was twelve, and decided that this was what she wanted to do. When she isn’t writing Kate enjoys reading, cinema, ballroom dancing and the gym. You can contact her via her website: katehardy.com.

Also by Kate Hardy

Her Festive Doorstep Baby

His Shy Cinderella

The Runaway Bride and the Billionaire

Christmas Bride for the Boss Unlocking the Italian Doc’s Heart

Reunited at the Altar

Carrying the Single Dad’s Baby

Miracles at Muswell Hill Hospital miniseries

Christmas with Her Daredevil Doc

Their Pregnancy Gift

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

A Diamond in the Snow

Kate Hardy

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07822-1

A DIAMOND IN THE SNOW

© 2018 Pamela Brooks

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Jo Rendell-Dodd, with love and thanks for

coming on my research trip, and Megan, with love and thanks for putting up with a recalcitrant author! xxx

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

‘VICTORIA?’ FELICITY, THE textile conservation expert who was doing the annual survey of the displays at Chiverton Hall, stood awkwardly in the office doorway. ‘Could I have a quick word?’

Victoria’s heart sank. Felicity and her team were checking for anything that might need conservation work over the winter. The fact that she wanted a word must mean she’d found something. ‘Bad news?’

‘It’s not all bad,’ Felicity said brightly. ‘There are a couple of rooms where you need to lower the light levels a bit more, to limit the fade damage, but those moth traps have worked brilliantly and there’s no evidence of silverfish or death watch beetle—all the holes in the wood are the same as they were last time round and there’s no evidence of frazz.’

Frazz, Victoria knew, were the little shavings of wood caused by beetles chomping through it. And that would’ve meant major structural repairs to whatever was affected, anything from a chair to floorboards to oak panelling. ‘I’m glad to hear that.’ Though she knew Felicity wouldn’t have come to talk about something minor. ‘But?’

Felicity sighed. ‘I was checking the gilt on a mirror and I found mould behind it.’

‘Mould?’ Victoria looked at her in shock. ‘But we keep an eye on the humidity levels and we’ve installed conservation heating.’ The type that switched on according to the relative humidity in a room, not the temperature. ‘How can we have mould?’ A nasty thought struck her. ‘Oh, no. Is there a leak somewhere that’s caused dampness in a wall?’ Though Victoria walked through the rooms every day. Surely she should’ve spotted any signs of water damage?