The Holiday Present
Chapter 1
The Malory dan always spent the Christmas holidays at Haverston,…
Chapter 2
As the housekeeper, Molly usually wasn’t present when the Malorys…
Chapter 3
As it happened, the trip to Havers Town tunred out…
Chapter 4
The family was spread out in the large country mansion…
Chapter 5
The problems that arose with the staff with so many…
Chapter 6
When James entered the breakfast room that morning, it was…
Chapter 7
Though she had said she wasn’t coming, James’s wife showed…
Chapter 8
Later in the afternoon, Edward, the second oldest of the…
Chapter 9
The silence that settled on the room as everyone stared…
Chapter 10
There were four large wagons in the caravan. Three of…
Chapter 11
Anastasia had turned eighteen a few months ago. That was…
Chapter 12
“And whose bed was she found in this week?”
Chapter 13
“I’ve never seen so many married men in one place”,…
Chapter 14
Christopher had seen Gypsies before, thought never this close. Large…
Chapter 15
Too bad you don’t want me enough to keep me.
Chapter 16
The gwan woke him. Christopher couldn’t figure out where it…
Chapter 17
Christopher had never realized just how pleasant it could be,…
Chapter 18
It was too much to hope, really, that they would…
Chapter 19
She wasn’t going to cry. He was an insensitive beast,…
Chapter 20
It was still morning, but Anastasia had put her grandmother…
Chapter 21
“This is going to be so much fun! We can’t…
Chapter 22
Christopher couldn’t manage to get back into the swing of…
Chapter 23
Christopher wasn’t expecting to be surprised as he was shown…
Chapter 24
He’d come to her. Anastasia hadn’t had to go out…
Chapter 25
Christopher took Anastasia straightaway to his London town house, but…
Chapter 26
It was their first Christmas at Haverston. Christopher had always…
Chapter 27
Amy closed the journal for the last time with a…
Chapter 28
James paused by his wife’s bedroom as he did each…
Chapter 29
“Did it get finished tonight?” Molly asked when Jason joined…
Chapter 30
Christmas morning dawned bright if chilly at Haverston, though the…
About the Author
Praise
Other Books by Johanna Lindsey
Copyright
About the Publisher
Malory Family Tree
Anderson Family Tree
Chapter 1
England, 1825
The Malory clan always spent the Christmas holidays at Haverston, the ancestral estate in the country where the oldest among them had been born and raised. Jason Malory, Third Marquis of Haverston and the oldest of four brothers, was the only family member who was still a permanent resident. The head of the family since he was only sixteen, Jason had raised his brothers—two of whom had been utterly scandalous in their pursuits—and a young sister.
At present the various Malorys and offspring were quite numerous and difficult to place, sometimes even for Jason himself. So it was a very large brood that gathered at Haverston these days for the Christmas season.
Jason’s only son and heir, Derek, was the first to arrive, more than a week before Christmas. With him came his wife, Kelsey, and Jason’s first two blond and green-eyed grandchildren.
Anthony, his youngest brother, was the next to arrive only a few days after Derek. Tony, as most of the family called him, admitted to Jason that he’d deserted London early after hearing that their brother James had a bone to pick with him. Annoying James was one thing, and something Anthony often strived to do, but when James was out for blood, well, Tony considered that a different matter entirely.
Anthony and James were his youngest brothers, yet only a year apart in age themselves. They were both skilled pugilists, and Anthony could hold his own with the best of them, yet James was heftier, and his fists were frequently likened to solid bricks.
With Anthony came his wife, Roslynn, and their two daughters. Judith, the oldest at six, had taken after both her parents, having her mother’s glorious red-gold hair and her father’s cobalt blue eyes, a seriously striking combination that Anthony feared was going to make her the reigning beauty of her day—which as her father and a reformed rake he was not looking forward to.
But his younger daughter, Jaime, was going to break some hearts as well.
But even with all his guests, Jason was the first one to notice the present that had appeared in the parlor while the family was breakfasting. It was hard to miss, actually, placed prominently up on a pedestal table next to the fireplace. Wrapped in gold cloth, banded with a red velvet ribbon and bow, it was oddly shaped, nearly like the size of a thick book, yet a round protrusion on top suggested it was nothing that simple.