Christmas at Carriage Hill

By Carla Neggers

Celebrate the holidays with this magical Swift River Valley novella from New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers

When fashion designer Alexandra Rankin Hunt is asked to create the dresses for Olivia Frost’s Christmas wedding in tiny Knights Bridge, Massachusetts, she jumps at the chance. She’s certain she’ll never get to design one for herself—not with her history of falling for the wrong men. Ian Mabry, the sexy fighter pilot whose bravery reminded her of her beloved great-grandfather, was the worst yet.

To Alexandra’s surprise, Ian is also at Carriage Hill, Olivia’s picturesque country inn. And if anyone can charm his way into a wedding, it’s him. Ian wants more than an invitation—he’s determined to find a way back into Alexandra’s life.

Originally published in 2014

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781488050060

Carla Neggers

Carla Neggers is the New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy-five novels, including her popular Sharpe & Donovan and Swift River Valley series. Her books have been translated into dozens of languages and sold in over thirty-five countries. Carla is a founding member of the New England Chapter of Romance Writers of America and has served as vice president of International Thriller Writers and president of Novelists, Inc. She has received multiple awards for her writing and is a recipient of the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award for romantic suspense. She and her husband divide their time between Boston, home to their two grown children and three young grandchildren, and their hilltop home in Vermont.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Alexandra Rankin Hunt hoped—fervently—that a Christmas wedding in the small New England village of Knights Bridge would be the perfect diversion and would put her latest mistake behind her. It had been three months, three weeks and—she glanced at her bedside clock—two hours since she’d met, and then fallen in and out of love with said mistake.

Out of love was still a work in progress, but she was determined to return to England after Christmas a new woman.

She sat on the edge of her bed and picked up a copy of her favorite photograph of her great-grandfather. She’d never met Philip Rankin. He was killed early in World War II during the Battle of Britain. The photograph was the only one she knew of with him in his Royal Air Force uniform. He was smiling his rakish smile. It was just a few weeks before his combat death, but she couldn’t detect a hint of fear or overconfidence in him. By then, he’d fallen in love with Grace Webster, a young American woman facing eviction from the only home she’d ever known in order to make way for a massive reservoir. Until a few months ago, only Philip and Grace had known of their love affair late in the summer of 1938. Grace had created a secret hideaway as her family prepared to leave their doomed small town for Knights Bridge, another small town in western Massachusetts. Injured and on the run, Philip had taken refuge in her hideaway. He’d just stolen jewels in Boston—from his brother-in-law, a difficult man who’d tried to claim them after his sister, Philip’s wife, had died. Philip had been determined to get the jewels back to his daughter.

And he did, Alexandra thought with a smile—it had just taken decades.

Philip had returned to England and gone to war, never to return. Grace had stayed in America. She was in her nineties now, a retired schoolteacher who had never married.

Sun streamed through the windows of Alexandra’s flat above her dress shop on one of the prettiest streets in one of the most charming villages in the Cotswolds, an area in the countryside east of London known for its scenic beauty. She’d moved there in August, abandoning London for a different life. A new life. A life she’d hoped would bring her romantic love and happiness—or at least stop bringing her the wrong man.

It hadn’t worked out that way, but it wasn’t the fault of the village she’d chosen.

It’s my own fault, she said under her breath.

She had wanted instant results, but she now knew she couldn’t snap her fingers and change the things about herself that continued to land her romantic life in scalding water. It wasn’t just that the wrong sort of man was drawn to her. She was drawn to the wrong sort of man.

An RAF wing commander? What had she been thinking?

The only fighter pilot she needed in her life was her great-grandfather, a World War II hero she had never known.

She realized she was hungry and put on her coat, a lovely, simple gray cashmere with no buttons, just an easy tie. She’d designed and made it herself, but dresses were her specialty. Although she was getting a name for herself, she’d been flattered when Olivia Frost had asked her to design the dresses for her Christmas Eve wedding to wealthy Dylan McCaffrey—Alexandra’s second cousin. Or some sort of cousin. Earlier that year, he had discovered that his father, Duncan McCaffrey, was Grace and Philip’s son, placed in the loving hands of a couple who’d adopted him as an infant. Grace hadn’t seen him again for more than seventy years, until shortly before his death two years before. He’d been a businessman and adventurer, marrying late, and now his only son—Grace’s grandson—was marrying a woman from Knights Bridge.

Alexandra had already packed Olivia’s wedding dress for the flight to Boston. She loved designing and sewing wedding dresses. That wouldn’t change even if she never would have one of her own.

RAF officer Ian Mabry, a thorough rake of a man, was her last mistake.

She went down the narrow stairs to her shop—it was more a design studio, really—and locked up as she headed out. Her street was off the village’s main thoroughfare but nonetheless lined with shops and restaurants, the buildings constructed of the honey-colored limestone that signified a traditional Cotswolds village. Despite the sunshine, the air was brisk, although not as cold as it would be in New England. She’d packed warm layers for her trip.

Because Ian was not in town and his family had no idea of the havoc he’d wreaked on her life, Alexandra decided on lunch at the corner pub the Mabrys owned. She slipped into a cozy wooden booth under the pub’s low, beamed ceilings and ordered soup—a lovely-sounding leek and potato—and tea. A few shopkeepers wandered in, but it was early yet. She loved the pub’s relaxed, unhurried atmosphere. She supposed she shouldn’t berate herself for having succumbed to Ian’s charms when he’d waited on her on one of her first nights in town. She’d been tired from moving and had been second-guessing the wisdom of leaving London. All her friends who’d helped with the move had gone home, with promises to visit soon and often. She’d felt alone but in a good way. It was positive, healthy.

And she’d thought Ian was a local man who managed his family’s thriving pub.

Wrong. So wrong.

Now, of course, she noticed the framed photograph behind the bar of Ian in his fighter pilot uniform. His smile was without fear and decidedly, at least in her estimation, cocky.

From August through early November, she’d thought him the most exciting, charming, endearing and thoroughly desirable man she’d ever met. A manly man. Sexy. Self-confident. Not without flaws, but she’d missed the danger signs. The ambition. The single-mindedness. The need to put himself and his work first, ahead

Reviews for Christmas at Carriage Hill

[rhonda1111 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4 STARS This is a novella. Alexandra Rankin Hunt designs wedding dresses. Alexandra lives in England. She got asked to make Olivia's wedding dress. Dylan is her cousin that her family new they had. Now she gets to be friends with the couple and comes to celebrate their wedding. Alexandra has broken up with her boyfriend Ian Mabry. He is a RFA pilot like her great-grandfather. When she gets to Knights Bridge, Massachusetts for the wedding she is surprised to find Ian. Ian has decided that he wants her back. This novella can stand alone it is better if you have read the previous stories. A lot of the storyline and characters we have met and know parts of the story. Secrets of the Lost Summer is where Dylan and Olivia met. How Dylan found out about his past and found family in England. This is short and sweet romance. It compares Alexandra & Ian story to Dylan' mother & father who met before the war11. I would have preferred more to the story. Though it was a good novella. I was given this ebook to read by Netgalley and Harlequin to read. So I could in return give an honest review.