Queen of May Day

By Diana Bold

A fateful kiss. A stolen letter. Falling for the wrong man has never felt so right...

Daisy Weatherby cannot remember a time she wasn't in love with Flynn Hollister. When the dashing young soldier writes to her older sister, she steals his letter and writes him back herself, setting off a chain of unstoppable events that will ultimately change her fate forever.

During the five years he has been stationed overseas, Flynn Hollister has looked forward to letters from Daisy's sister. But when he returns home, wounded and weary, he is shocked to learn that the eldest Weatherby sister is married to his older brother.

Furious and heartsick, Flynn believes himself betrayed by the woman he loves. Now Daisy must find a way to confess she is the author of the letters he so treasured. Will Flynn see the woman he fell in love with is standing right before him? Or will Flynn's wounded heart keep Daisy from experiencing the passionate love she has kindled for so many years?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diana Bold
• Release date: Jul 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201906351

Diana Bold

All my life, I've wanted to a writer. Even as a child, my sister claims all I ever did was sit in my closet and scribble in a notebook. In any event, I won my first writing contest when I was seven, and I was hooked! I married young, and soon had three wonderful little boys running around the house, so writing took a backseat for several years as I worked a variety of jobs that I hated. Once I started seriously pursuing a writing career, I found it was not as easy as I had expected, and I was not the prodigy I had imagined. But I joined a writer's group and made a ton of writing friends along the way who showed me the error of my ways and unselfishly helped me get a little better. By the time I sold my first book in 2006, I'd already been at this for over ten years and was about ready to give up. Rejection is hard!!! But holding that first book in my hands made it all worth it! Now my sons are all grown up, and two of them have babies of their own. But I now have all the time in the world to devote to telling the stories that just won't let me sleep. Hope you enjoy them! Love, Diana Diana 

Book preview

Dedication

For Emmalee, my little fairy princess. I hope someday you find your happily ever after.

Prologue

May 1, 1851

Flynn Hollister leaned against the corner of the ancient church in the village of Woolshire, smiling as the May Day parade approached the grassy area behind the building. The May Pole stood tall in the center of the field, waiting for the Morris dancers, which would be led by the lovely girl at the head of the parade. The Queen of May Day, Violet Weatherby.

The black-haired beauty wore a lovely white gown and flowers in her hair, and her green eyes sparkled as she caught his gaze, her red lips tilting up in invitation.

He’d been infatuated with her for years, but he was leaving tomorrow. His father had bought him a captain’s commission in the army. The thought of leaving his home and everything he knew behind didn’t sit well with him. The entire thing didn’t sit well with him, truth be told. He’d much rather go to university and study botany, but his father, the Earl of Darlington, had been insistent that as the second son, Flynn should make a career of the Army, as his own brother had done decades before.

Flynn desperately wanted to forge a connection with Violet before he left. He wanted to write to her while he was gone. If he could keep in touch with her, it would make him feel just a little less alone.

As the girls came closer, he smiled at the sight of Daisy, Violet’s younger sister. She was an awkward girl of fifteen, four years younger than he and Violet, but he enjoyed her very much. She shared his love of growing things, and they’d spent many hours together in the vast gardens that surrounded Darlington House. Her hair was not nearly as dark as Violet’s, and her eyes were brown instead of green, but she was lovely nonetheless, and he enjoyed seeing her dressed up in her May Day finery.

At last, the girls came to a stop in front of the Maypole and took up their ribbons, proceeding to circle the pole in a dance as old as time, or at least as old as England. He grinned a bit at the thought of the pagan rituals that had once been associated with this festival, now completely watered down beneath a varnish of British respectability. In another age, he would have simply chased Violet into the woods, told her how much he wanted her, and hopefully, she would have willingly submitted...

He cut the thought off, a bit ashamed of having such thoughts about such a gently bred girl, and forced himself to instead watch the lovely girls dance, knowing there would be nothing following the dance but food and tame festivity. But that was fine. He wanted more than a quick passionate encounter from Violet anyway. He wanted a future with her. He wanted her to be his wife.

Somehow, before the end of the day, he had to get her alone and tell her so.

DAISY WEATHERBY PUSHED impatiently at the crown of flowers that hung in her hair, trailing limp petals in front of her eyes and obscuring her view of the simply awful sight in front of her. She’d seen her older sister, Violet, sneak away from the May Day celebrations that were still in full swing in the field behind the church and had followed her, knowing that Violet was up to no good. Since her sister had just been crowned Queen of May Day, she wouldn’t be leaving the adoration of her adoring court unless it was to meet some man.

What Daisy hadn’t suspected was that the man in question would be the only one that she herself was interested in. Flynn Hollister, the second son of the local lord, Earl Darlington, had been Daisy’s secret obsession for years now, and she’d only told one person of her secret love for him—Violet!

Tears sprang to her eyes, and she hastily scrubbed them away, hating that she always cried when she was angry. Because she was angry. Absolutely, completely enraged.

Was it not enough that Violet was prettier, older, more popular? Everyone had always loved Violet, while Daisy was dismissed as the bookish, quiet, less-attractive Weatherby girl.

Violet could easily have charmed any man at the May Day celebration, so why was she sneaking off into the trees with Flynn Hollister? Daisy was almost certain that her sister was doing this just to prove that she could. It seemed that no matter how much attention Violet received, she was always greedy for more.

Flynn’s golden hair gleamed in the sunlight as he leaned forward to whisper something in Violet’s ear. She laughed, a bright, tinkling sound that filled the small clearing. Daisy couldn’t hear what they were saying, so she crept closer, still dashing away angry tears.

Why did he have to be so handsome? He was tall and broad-shouldered, his features so beautifully carved that he looked like a Roman statue come to life. His eyes reminded her of the sky at dusk, a deep azure she could stare into forever if given a chance. But it wasn’t his masculine beauty that had drawn her to him. She loved him because he was funny, smart, and above all, kind. Though he was already a man of nineteen, he still took the time to talk to his fifteen-year-old neighbor. They’d worked in his family’s gardens together, and he’d listened to her go on and on about flowers and shrubs. He’d shown her the kittens in his family’s stables, and they’d spent one day last summer sitting