Regency Christmas Wishes: Captain Grey's Christmas Proposal / Her Christmas Temptation / Awakening His Sleeping Beauty

Chapter Eight (#ue0e1f752-cdd3-5642-91ab-44631e831e4a)

Chapter Nine (#u4f0230ff-4973-592a-a774-4f4a028b5da1)

Chapter Ten (#u39dd740b-316a-5fb9-97b0-de588e9334c0)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Her Christmas Temptation (#litres_trial_promo)

Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)

Dear Reader (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Awakening His Sleeping Beauty (#litres_trial_promo)

Dedication (#litres_trial_promo)

Dear Reader (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Captain Grey’s Christmas Proposal (#u0127df64-7fd3-5f4e-9620-5c63f7e14f27)

Carla Kelly

To all who believe in the magic of Christmas

Dear Reader (#u0127df64-7fd3-5f4e-9620-5c63f7e14f27),

All my life I’ve noticed that the Christmas season is a time when people everywhere seem to become a little better, perform kindly deeds, think of others more and act upon good promptings. It’s almost as though Christmas gives us permission—as if we needed it—to bring out our better natures and the better natures of those around us.

We become more susceptible to the possibility that glad tidings of great joy can become a reality. Maybe we’re more willing to believe in impossible things because at Christmas all things feel possible.

In that vein, I bring you the whimsical tale of a post captain in the Royal Navy—a careful man swept into an adventure made possible by the receipt of a years-old letter that went astray. The Peace of Amiens (1802–1803) becomes a window of opportunity that takes him from Plymouth, England, to Savannah, Georgia, in the new country of the United States—a place he remembers well from his childhood and has never quite forgotten.

There’s a touch of magic, too…or maybe it’s more than magic. Maybe it’s the grace that can shower down upon us all if we’re willing to let the spirit of Christmas and St Nicholas step in and make things right.

Reader, whatever your faith or creed, I invite you to consider the possibilities of this season of wonder.

Carla Kelly

Prologue (#u0127df64-7fd3-5f4e-9620-5c63f7e14f27)

This wasn’t a story shared widely. After some thought and a few laughs, New Bedford shipbuilder James Grey and his wife, Theodora, decided to tell their little ones this odd Christmas tale of how they’d met, or re-met, after years apart. They thought it wise to tell it before those same children reached maturity and no longer set much store by St Nicholas. Later, if more adult scepticism took over—well, that was their worry.

It was Christmas story to tell around the fireplace, drinking Papa’s wassail and gorging on Mama’s pecans nestled in cream and caramelized sugar she called pralines. None of the children’s New Bedford friends ate pralines at Christmas, even though many of them had seafaring fathers who travelled the world.

None of their friends had a mother like Mrs Grey, or for that matter, a father like James Grey. If their parents’ origins were shrouded in mystery, everyone in New Bedford appreciated the solidity of Russell and Grey Shipworks, whose yards employed many craftsmen at good wages. More quietly whispered about was the boundless charity of Mrs Grey, who assisted slaves to freedom in Canada, or helped free men and women of colour find work in New England.