Weekend Writing Warriors ~ 01/01/2023 ~ The Christmas Pact ~ An Inconvenient Notion

 

Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors !

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I am welcoming 2023 with open arms.

The fall and winter months of 2022 did their best to destroy me, with multiple pet deaths and, just before Christmas, a dire health scare that had me all but parylized with fear. But everything turned out fine, thank God, and I am able to get my head back in the game and write once more.

This is my final snippet from The Christmas Pact. I’ll start on a new work next week to begin 2023 with a bang!

 

BLURB:

When Charlie and Henrietta were children they swore a pact that if Henrietta reached her twenty-first birthday and wasn’t married, Charlie would step in and keep her from being an old maid. They even sealed it with a kiss under the mistletoe.

Now, eleven years later, Charlie comes to London to see if Henrietta is betrothed or not and, more importantly, if she remembers their pact. What he finds is a beautiful, grown-up Henrietta,  who remembers him warmly but who is also on the brink of accepting the suit of another man.

Can Charlie help her remember their promise–and that kiss–before it’s too late?

I’ve moved several chapters ahead so you can get a better look at Charlie and Henrietta’s characters. They are at dinner with Henrietta’s parents, her sister, and brother-in-law.

EXCERPT:

Mama shook her finger toward Charlie’s chest, putting him in real danger of being speared if he didn’t comply. “She must have five or ten suitors vying for her hand this very minute,” Mama paused to beam at Henrietta, and she braced herself for what would surely come, “but she has finally decided Lord Foxstone, out of all of them, has stolen her heart.”

“Mama!” One could not scold one’s mother, but Henrietta sorely wished she could. “I have decided no such thing.”

“You certainly seem happy every time he calls here.”

So much for the social niceties. “If I do, it is because you raised me to be polite and gracious. A lady must make gentlemen who call on her feel welcome. That does not mean I have decided to marry them all.”

And a little more for good measure…

“That would be inconvenient, don’t you think?” Charlie shot her a conspiratorial look. “Marrying more than one man — besides being illegal — would be fraught with other dilemmas. Which husband would you live with? Which title would you take? Which one would help you raise the children?”

Stunned looks on the rest of the family’s faces prodded Henrietta to jump in before he got them into even more trouble. “Charlie, you are simply the worst tease. Don’t you remember how he used to tease me all the time?”

Silence told Henrietta that Charlie’s quirky sense of humor was lost on the rest of her family. Best move on to another topic before things get worse. “Did you remember Christmas is my birthday, Charlie?”

“How could I forget that, Hen?” His incredulous look made a ripple of heat flow down her back. “You’re the only person I know whose birthday is on December 25th. That’s pretty special, don’t you think? Not everyone’s born on Christmas.”

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Warriors here. There are some fantastic snippets to be read.

The Christmas Pact is available on for .99 on  Amazon and KU in the Nine Ladies Dancing: Christmas in London anthology.

Nine Ladies Dancing: Christmas in London as well as all of my Christmas novellas are available on Amazon for just .99! Enjoy! Grab them all from my Amazon page.

 

My Christmas Novels and Novellas 

 

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