The Earl's Christmas Colt

By Rebecca Thomas

Lady Arabella Sutton is stunned to learn her brother has betrothed her to a stranger despite his promises for a season in London. Although she is the first to admit no man would suit, since she's more interested in horses than marriage, the last thing she wants is to become a brood mare to a stuffy old earl. Facing a future she cannot abide, she takes an impetuous ride to clear her head and ends up tending her injured mare instead.?

Oliver Westwyck, the Earl of Marsdale, can't believe his luck when he stops at an inn the night before he's to meet his fiancée. In the stable, while tending the colt he intends to give to his future wife, he happens upon her—rain-drenched but beautiful. She assumes he's a stable hand, a fine joke he means to end...until Lady Arabella declares all noblemen are egotistical, conceited, and arrogant. How can he reveal his true identity before he's managed to change her mind and win her heart?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Dec 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781622664399

Rebecca Thomas

Rebecca Thomas is a Welsh author and mother who bases her work on the cheeky charming world she sees around her. With a passion to make her children smile, she writes everything with them in mind, driven by what they would like to read and listen to.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Rebecca Thomas

The Blacksmith’s Son

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Letters at Christmas

The Twelve Days of Seduction

The Earl’s New Bride

Romancing His English Rose

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Rebecca Thomas. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

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Fort Collins, CO 80525

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

Scandalous is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

Edited by Robin Haseltine and Kerri-Leigh Grady

Cover design by Erin Dameron-Hill

Cover art from Period Images

ISBN 978-1-62266-439-9

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition December 2012

For Robin Haseltine, who believed in this story before anyone else.

And in loving memory of my aunt Diane Berglund (1939–2011). I know you’re riding your beloved Spunk in heaven.

Chapter One

Sussex County, England, December 1819

Thunder grumbled in the distance, corresponding in perfect harmony with the uncertainty simmering in Lady Arabella’s belly.

Why had Will summoned her to the library? Meeting there was never a good sign, because only matters of great importance were broached in that room. Regardless of what her brother wished to discuss, she was going riding afterward. Her maid helped her secure the green fitted jacket over her long skirt and bodice. Thank you, Millie. Did you ask Basil to ready my mare?

Yes, my lady. Although he grumbled about the weather and the appropriateness of a woman riding alone.

The fresh scent of lemon oil on the banister filled the air as Arabella descended the curved staircase with Millie on her heels. Must a head groom always verbalize his misgivings over my actions?

Yes, my lady.

At the bottom, Arabella paused. You may go now. I won’t require further assistance until I return.

Yes, my lady. Millie scurried past without making eye contact.

Millie was usually quite chatty and always met her gaze. Arabella frowned. Servants and maids knew everything that happened inside their master’s home, oftentimes sooner than the masters themselves. Something was definitely amiss.

On edge, she glanced toward the oak-paneled double doors and clutched her riding gloves. Five years ago when she’d learned of her father’s illness, it was in the library. Her mother’s passing and subsequent funeral arrangements had been discussed in the dreaded room, too. She took a deep breath and nodded to the footman manning the entrance.

Must she always expect the worst? Mayhap Will had good news to share. Or, mayhap it was the afternoon’s gray clouds that inspired such dismal thoughts.

Inside the large room, she took in the hundreds of volumes of books on shelves covering three walls, and imagined her father sitting with a leather-bound book in his lap, a glass of brandy on the end table, and a cigar in his hand. If she inhaled deeply enough, she still caught the tiniest hint of tobacco.

At the scuff of boots, she glanced toward the fireplace and found Will staring at the flames. After a moment he turned. Thank you for coming.

Arabella fidgeted with the high-ruffed collar of her riding habit. Why have you summoned me?

Never one to mince words are you, sister? Fine. Won’t you sit down? He gestured toward the mahogany gilded chaise longue with fraying blue damask fabric.

No, I’d rather stand.

All right then. No sense in waiting to tell you. Will strode around the sofa, closer to her. I’ve arranged a match for you.

Incredulous, Arabella glared at her brother. He’d chosen her husband without her consent? Without considering it necessary to ask her? I thought I was going to attend the season. I thought I would have a choice.

I gave you a choice last season and you wouldn’t select anyone, so now it’s up to me. The London season doesn’t suit you, I understand that. I do. You’d rather be in the stable with your precious horses than in a ballroom dancing.

"Perhaps that’s true