A secret admirer, a Yuletide ball, and a desperate situation.
Violet Hambleton, parson's daughter, botanical artist, and self-professed wallflower, wants a marriage based on love. A secret admirer who keeps sending her verse will reveal his identity this Christmas. It can't be the man she loves. . . Sebastian, Viscount Stanworth—he's heir to an Earl and seven years her junior.
Sebastian is an heir without a spare. The pressure from his family to wed soon is intense. If he doesn't act fast this Christmas, he'll end up betrothed to a bride of his mother's choosing, not to the woman he loves. . . Violet.
Time is running out for Sebastian to disclose his secret. It must be revealed at the Yuletide Ball, but will Violet reject him? Is Sebastian destined to surrender to a loveless marriage? Or will verse deliver new hope this Christmas?
Romantic Book of the Year (novella category) 2022.
This 20,000-word novella was previously published on Amazon in September 2021 as part of: Sweet Christmas Secrets: A Regency Holiday Anthology.