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The Duke's Christmas Bargain
(2026)(The sixth book in the Mistletoe and Manners series)
A novel by Emily Barnet
‘Every December the Duke of Lyneham burns his letters unopened. This year he put his hand into the fire and took one back out.’
He knew the handwriting. He had last seen it seven years ago, on the papers that ruined him.
Hester Ansty keeps her father's books, writes his letters, and meets his creditors at the door herself. When there is nothing left to sell, she writes to the coldest man in Gloucestershire and asks him for terms.
He comes. He pays every shilling the barony owes, mends the cottages, and provides for her father. Then he names his condition. She is to marry him inside the week, and nothing becomes absolute until Candlemas. If he finds the Anstys have concealed one material thing from him, the marriage is void and they stand exactly where they stood.
What he does not tell her is why.
She comes home to a great house with bare nails in the panelling, no greenery on the walls, and a husband who watches her over a ledger and waits to be proved right. So she begins with a bowl of oranges. Then a bough of bay on a cold chimneypiece. Then the names of his tenants, written down in her own hand.
He married her to find out what she was hiding. He did not plan on her lighting the house.
Candlemas is coming, and one of them will have to say the true thing first.
A clean Christmas Regency romance with a guaranteed happily ever after and nothing beyond a kiss.
Let "The Duke's Christmas Bargain" carry you into a cold ducal house at Christmas, where a bargain marriage, a secret on both sides and a heroine armed with oranges and bay slowly bring a frozen heart back to life. A tender winter story of trust earned, a home rekindled, and a duke who learns that some letters are worth pulling from the fire.
Perfect for readers who love marriages of convenience, guarded heroes and cozy Christmas charm, with a guaranteed happily ever after.
No cheating, no cliffhangers, just pure holiday joy.
Genre: Historical Romance
He knew the handwriting. He had last seen it seven years ago, on the papers that ruined him.
Hester Ansty keeps her father's books, writes his letters, and meets his creditors at the door herself. When there is nothing left to sell, she writes to the coldest man in Gloucestershire and asks him for terms.
He comes. He pays every shilling the barony owes, mends the cottages, and provides for her father. Then he names his condition. She is to marry him inside the week, and nothing becomes absolute until Candlemas. If he finds the Anstys have concealed one material thing from him, the marriage is void and they stand exactly where they stood.
What he does not tell her is why.
She comes home to a great house with bare nails in the panelling, no greenery on the walls, and a husband who watches her over a ledger and waits to be proved right. So she begins with a bowl of oranges. Then a bough of bay on a cold chimneypiece. Then the names of his tenants, written down in her own hand.
He married her to find out what she was hiding. He did not plan on her lighting the house.
Candlemas is coming, and one of them will have to say the true thing first.
A clean Christmas Regency romance with a guaranteed happily ever after and nothing beyond a kiss.
Let "The Duke's Christmas Bargain" carry you into a cold ducal house at Christmas, where a bargain marriage, a secret on both sides and a heroine armed with oranges and bay slowly bring a frozen heart back to life. A tender winter story of trust earned, a home rekindled, and a duke who learns that some letters are worth pulling from the fire.
Perfect for readers who love marriages of convenience, guarded heroes and cozy Christmas charm, with a guaranteed happily ever after.
No cheating, no cliffhangers, just pure holiday joy.
Genre: Historical Romance
Used availability for Emily Barnet's The Duke's Christmas Bargain