Yuletide Gems by Grace Burrowes & Chrsti Caldwell

Author:Grace Burrowes & Chrsti Caldwell [Burrowes, Grace & Caldwell, Chrsti]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781956975314
Publisher: Grace Burrowes Publishing

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Read on for an excerpt from Miss Dauntless, Mischief in Mayfair—Book Five!

Excerpt—Miss Dauntless

“That is an earl, Thomas,” Matilda Merridew said quietly. She’d crouched down to admonish her son at eye level. “The Earl of Tremont is a peer of the realm, an important man, a lord.”

Also a bit stuffy, based on what little Matilda knew of him. His lordship was a young man, and attractive enough. He was dark-haired, lean, tall, and turned out in exquisitely understated good taste. His reputation among the former soldiers who’d served with him was one for rules, policies, and proper decorum.

If any force on earth was not inclined in those boring directions, it was Matilda’s five-year-old son.

“I am an important boy,” Tommie replied, grinning. “My mama loves me best in the whole world!”

He’d nearly yelled that proclamation, his voice carrying to every corner of the church hall. Vicar Delancey sent her a pained smile, Mrs. Oldbach flinched but otherwise ignored Tommie’s outburst, and Mr. Prebish—current dominus factotum of the pastoral committee—glowered at Tommie, then at Matilda.

The earl, fortunately, remained in conversation with the vicar’s son-in-law, one Major Alasdhair MacKay.

“I do love you best in the whole world,” Matilda said, putting a hand on Tommie’s bony little shoulder lest he hare off to make a cave out of the cloaks and coats hanging in the corridor. “I also want to be proud of you, and if I’m to take the minutes for this meeting, then you must stay out of trouble.”

“I’m always in trouble,” Tommie said, puffing out his chest. “Mrs. Oldbach says I’m a proper limb.”

A limb of Satan, did Tommie but know it. “You are not always in trouble. You are simply lively.” Exhausting was a more accurate term. “For the next hour, you will please look at your picture book, practice writing your name, and be quiet.”

Tommie would try, he truly would. He’d turn a few pages of his picture book, he’d even pick up the pencil and wave it about or make a few scratches on the paper Matilda had fetched from Vicar’s office, but Tommie had a constitutional aversion to extended periods of quiet while awake.

Mrs. Oldbach clapped her hands. “Tempus fugit, my friends. Lord Tremont is a busy man, and it’s time we brought our meeting to order.”

Mrs. O was a fixture at St. Mildred’s. White-haired, imperious, and well to do. She exuded a perfect balance of Christian good cheer and elderly ruthlessness. Matilda kept Tommie as far from Mrs. O as possible.

“Please be good,” Matilda said, kissing Tommie’s crown and moving to the table in the center of the hall. She took up her post as scribe at the right hand of the chairman’s seat and angled her perch to give her a clear view of Tommie’s corner. He’d plopped himself on the floor and dutifully opened a picture book, but his gaze was leaping all over the hall.

Matilda had packed not one but all three of his picture books, the old stuffed horse that he

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