A Holiday Gamble
Short Story in Snowy Night with a Stranger Anthology
By Jane Feather
Pocket - November 2008
Historical Romance
Having been exiled by his family to India, Ned Vasey found it difficult to believe he was now returning as Viscount Allenton, after the untimely death of his brother. He had not planned on returning, but now he had responsibility for the estate that his father and brother had brought almost to complete ruin. As if that wasn't bad enough, the weather had turned and he and the staff traveling with him would need to seek shelter at Hartley House, which was filled with guests for the holiday.
Lady Georgiana Carey had secrets, and plans which needed to play out without the interference of the too perceptive Ned. She needed to find certain papers which would provide her independence, and she wanted to escape the clutches of her fiancee. Her entire future was at stake, and regardless of what her heart said, Georgiana feared trusting Ned to help her.
A Holiday Gamble was a romance between a hero with a blackened past and a heroine with a shadowy present. Ned was determined to find out the secrets Georgiana was hiding, while Georgiana wasn't certain if she could trust him. I particularly liked Ned as a hero. However, I had a difficult time with the believability of the romance between these two characters. I think it is because the story dragged a bit. I enjoyed the interaction between Ned and Georgiana, but found all of the secondary characters too one dimensional.
A Holiday Gamble is a short story in the Snowy Night With a Stranger Anthology. This is a wonderful anthology to get readers in the holiday mood. Included in this anthology are Sabrina Jeffries' When Sparks Fly, and Julia London's Snowy Night With a Highlander.
Kathy Andrico - ReaderToReader.com