LOUISE ALLEN has been immersing herself in history, real and fictional, for as long as she can remember, and finds landscapes and places evoke powerful images of the past. Louise lives in Bedfordshire and works as a property manager, but spends as much time as possible with her husband at the cottage they are renovating on the north Norfolk coast, or travelling abroad. Venice, Burgundy and the Greek islands are favourite atmospheric destinations. Please visit Louise’s website – www.louiseallenregency.co.uk – for the latest news!
ISBN: 978-1-474-08537-3
A REGENCY CHRISTMAS TREAT
Moonlight and Mistletoe © 2013 Melanie Hilton A Mistletoe Masquerade © 2008 Louise Allen
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.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk
Version: 2018-08-23
“You know, Hester, once you have reached the stage of sitting on a gentleman’s knee, I do feel the time for formality is past.
“Will you not call me Guy?”
She looked startled, producing yet another shade of gold in those fascinating eyes. “I could not possibly!”
“Well, you are sitting on my lap. I think calling me by my given name is a minor informality compared to that.”
“So I am! My lord…Guy…please let me go.”
“But of course.” He opened his arms wide and added wickedly, “A pity. I was enjoying it.”
The Earl’s Intended Wife
“…well-developed characters…an appealing sensual
and emotionally rich love story.”
—Romantic Times BOOKreviews
“If you’ve a yen for an enjoyable Regency-set
romance that takes place somewhere other than London, pick up The Earl’s Intended Wife. Louise Allen has a treat in store for you, and a hero and heroine you’ll take to your heart.”
—The Romance Reader
“I liked the unusual location of Malta in this sweet book.
I look forward to what Ms. Allen will write next.”
—Rakehell
“A sweet romance and an engaging story…the sort
of book to get lost in on a lazy afternoon.”
—All About Romance
December 4th 1814
The inhabitants of Winterbourne St Swithin prided themselves upon their village. It was no mere rural backwater, no sleepy hamlet full of rustics and yeomen whose social hierarchy was topped off by a red-faced squire and whose amenities consisted of the church and a tavern or two.
Theirs, they boasted, was a bustling community straddling the post road to Aylesbury with a glimpse over the meadows to the waters of the new canal ordered by the crazy old Duke of Bridgewater, up in his mansion on the Chiltern crest. There was the Bird in Hand, a large coaching inn, to serve the stage and the mail and the carriages of the gentry going to and from London and Oxford. There was the fine Winterbourne Hall with the Nugents to preside over local society and half a dozen gentry houses in the vicinity to fill the pews of the grey stone church with the living, and the marble monuments with the dead.