Lord Samhain's Night

By Jo Beverley

A paranormal regency romance by the NYT bestselling author, and member of the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame for Regency romance.

A harmless Halloween amusement turns perilous when Samhain, Lord of the Dead, comes when summoned.

This short novella was published in 1992 in the collection All Hallows' Eve, and has not been available since.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jo Beverley
• Release date: Oct 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466038967

Jo Beverley

The NYT bestselling author of over thirty historical romance novels, all set in her native England in the medieval, Georgian, and Regency periods, Jo Beverley firmly believes that reading should be fun, and every book should leave the reader with a smile. You can find Jo on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jo.beverley and at www.wordwenches.com where she blogs regularly.

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PRAISE FOR JO BEVERLEY

*New York Times bestselling author

*Member of the RWA Hall of Fame

Winner of two Career Achievement awards from Romantic Times.

Winner of five RITA awards.

"Arguably today’s most skillful writer of intelligent historical romance."

Publishers Weekly

"One of the great names of the genre…."

Romantic Times

"Sublime!"

Booklist

LORD SAMHAIN'S NIGHT

by Jo Beverley

Copyright 2011 Jo Beverley

Smashwords Edition

A paranormal romance set in Regency times.

This is 9,000 words, so quite short.

The story was first published in 1992.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Lord Samhain’s Night

A list of other paranormal romances by Jo Beverley

Flower Power, a short and odd SF story

LORD SAMHAIN’S NIGHT

This novella was published in 1992 in a hardcover collection titled All Hallows’ Eve. The print run was 1,000, so it’s always been hard to find, so I’m happy to make it newly available. I’ve made a few changes to correct period errors, but otherwise it is as written over two decades ago.

Halloween, 1813.

The Tapestry Room of King's Chase was dark except for the light of the leaping fire and its ghostly reflection in mirrors and polished metal. It glowed on the faces of the three people sitting near the hearth, roasting chestnuts. Charlie Brewis, Earl of Kingsbury, owner of King's Chase, was telling a ghost story.

His audience was his brother and estate manager, the Honorable Rupert Brewis, and his god-sister, Phoebe Batsford. Phoebe was as close as any true sister, having been raised with the Brewis family since her parents' death when she was five.

...and when she opened the box, concluded Kingsbury with relish, the grinning head was there within!

Phoebe did the expected and gasped, but rather spoilt it by immediately reaching with the tongs for another chestnut. She juggled it in her fingers as she flaked away the hot, crisp skin.

She knew Charlie wouldn’t expect true terror. She'd once won a guinea wager from him by spending the night in the church tower, which was said to be haunted by a demented bell-ringer. When he'd sneaked in at midnight to ring the bells, hoping to frighten her out of her wits, she'd been ready for him with a bucket of icy water.

You don't have a scrap of sensibility, Phee, he remarked without rancor. He took the hot chestnut and skinned it for her. How's a fellow to impress you if he can't even stir a shiver with a disembodied head? He passed back most of the meat, but popped a small piece into his mouth.

Phoebe pulled a face at him. He might be a Great Man to his friends, but to her he was just Charlie, his hazel eyes full of fun, his unruly brown hair always escaping the discipline his valet tried to impress upon it.

She fished for another chestnut and dropped it in his hands. If you want some, eat your own. Rupert?

No, thank you. And really, Charlie, you'd make a greater impression with originality. You tell the same story every year. That might work with your Melton cronies after the third bottle, but we’re all sober.

Are we? I think we're drunk on atmosphere...

Phoebe quickly said, Do you have a new story then, Rupert?

Rupert smiled at her, and his smiles could take her breath away. All the dramatic good looks of the Brewis family