Monsoon Mists (38 page)

‘Hmm, yes, you may be right there. Roshani isn’t exactly ladylike either.’

‘They take after their grandmother then,’ Killian said drily, and they all laughed. It was a family joke that Jessamijn had been a right hoyden when she was younger, but as it was a trait Killian loved, the teasing was good-natured.

‘I was beginning to think I’d have to come and fetch you home, you’ve been gone so long,’ Brice said.

It was Jamie’s turn to grin. ‘From what I’ve seen already, you couldn’t bear to leave your family for that long.’

‘True, but needs must …’

‘Your mother and I wouldn’t have let him,’ Killian put in. ‘We’d have gone ourselves, but she insisted you would see sense in the end. You just needed time.’

Jamie nodded. ‘She was right. She knows me so well. I’m guessing she didn’t think I’d require quite this much time though. Her letters were getting rather sharp.’

‘Ah, so you read between the lines then? She was rather hoping you would.’ Killian laughed. ‘But tell us about the jewellery business. Are you going to set up a branch here? It sounded intriguing and you’ve obviously made good contacts …’

The conversation turned to business, until they were interrupted by a small dark-haired whirlwind who came dashing into the room and threw herself at Jamie, wrapping her small arms round his legs. ‘So are you really my papa? The other children said I’d made you up. I didn’t, did I?’

Jamie pulled her up onto his lap and hugged her close. She smelled of some kind of flowery soap and biscuits and he breathed in her fragrance, storing it in his memory. He didn’t know why he’d been so scared of acknowledging this daughter. It was so simple and he already loved her. ‘Yes, I really am your papa, you can tell them that from me. And if anyone says anything different, you let me know, all right?’

She nodded. ‘Or I’ll punch them on the nose. That’s what I did with Ola. He was being ’noxious.’

Brice, Killian and Jamie all burst out laughing. ‘Another fighter,’ Brice murmured. ‘Ye gods, is the world ready for the next generation of the Kinross family?’

‘I hope you don’t go round hitting people without reason, Margot.’ Jamie tried to sound stern, but had a hard time hiding his smile.

‘No, only when they’re stupid. Rosh says I won’t have to now though, she’s going to do it for me.’

‘Oh, wonderful.’ Jamie sighed, but a warm feeling spread through him. He’d gone from being totally alone to having a wife and three children in the space of little more than a year. It was going to take some getting used to.

Just then, Zar came into the room carrying Thomas, with Brice’s wife in tow, holding her own baby and with a three-year-old boy, Brice’s oldest son, Kenelm, hanging onto her skirts. Jessamijn brought up the rear, directing two maids who were bringing in a tray.

‘Time for some celebratory cake, I think,’ she announced. ‘We can make another one for Yule, this one is needed now.’

‘Hurrah, cake!’ A stampede of little girls materialised next to their grandmother, with Margot jumping off Jamie’s lap so quickly he hardly had time to register that she was gone. Even Kenelm forgot to be shy and elbowed his way to the front of the queue.

Jamie watched
for a moment as everyone crowded round his mother, his new family already instantly absorbed into the clan. Everything inside him fell into place.

They were truly home.

About the Author

Christina Courtenay lives in Herefordshire and is married with two children. Although born in England she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden. In her teens, the family moved to Japan where she had the opportunity to travel extensively in the Far East.

Christina is chairman of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. She won the Elizabeth Goudge Trophy for a historical short story in 2001 and the Katie Fforde Bursary for a promising new writer in 2006.

Monsoon Mists
is Christina’s eighth novel with Choc Lit. She also has a number of novellas published under the Choc Lit Lite imprint, which are available online.

In 2011, Christina’s third novel,
The Scarlet Kimono,
won the Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award. Both
Highland Storms
(in 2012) and
The Gilded Fan
(in 2014) have won RoNA Best Historical Romance Novel awards, and
The Silent Touch of Shadows
won the 2012 Best Historical Read Award from the Festival of Romance. Christina’s debut novel,
Trade Winds
, was also shortlisted for the 2011 Pure Passion Award for Best Historical Fiction.

www.christinacourtenay.com

www.twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay

More Choc Lit

From Christina Courtenay

Trade Winds

Short-listed for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Pure Passion Award for Best Historical Fiction 2011

Marriage of convenience – or a love for life?

It’s 1732 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and strong-willed Jess van Sandt knows only too well that it’s a man’s world. She believes she’s being swindled out of her inheritance by her stepfather – and she’s determined to stop it.

When help appears in the unlikely form of handsome Scotsman Killian Kinross, himself disinherited by his grandfather, Jess finds herself both intrigued and infuriated by him. In an attempt to recover her fortune, she proposes a marriage of convenience. Then Killian is offered the chance of a lifetime with the Swedish East India Company’s Expedition and he’s determined that nothing will stand in his way, not even his new bride.

He sets sail on a daring voyage to the Far East, believing he’s put his feelings and past behind him. But the journey doesn’t quite work out as he expects …

Prequel to Highland Storms.

Visit
www.choc-lit.com
for more details including the first two chapters and reviews.

Find out more and purchase in the kindle store (
Amazon UK
,
Amazon US
,
Amazon Australia
,
Amazon Canada
)

Highland Storms

Winner of the 2012 Best Historical Romantic Novel of the year

Who can you trust?

Betrayed by his brother and his childhood love, Brice Kinross needs a fresh start. So he welcomes the opportunity to leave Sweden for the Scottish Highlands to take over the family estate.

But there’s trouble afoot at Rosyth in 1754 and Brice finds himself unwelcome. The estate’s in ruin and money is disappearing. He discovers an ally in Marsaili Buchanan, the beautiful redheaded housekeeper, but can he trust her?

Marsaili is determined to build a good life. She works hard at being a housekeeper and harder still at avoiding men who want to take advantage of her. But she’s irresistibly drawn to the new clan chief, even though he’s made it plain he doesn’t want to be shackled to anyone.

And the young laird has more than romance on his mind. His investigations are stirring up an enemy. Someone who will stop at nothing to get what he wants – including Marsaili – even if that means destroying Brice’s life forever …

Sequel to Trade Winds and prequel to Monsoon Mists.

Visit
www.choc-lit.com
for more details including the first two chapters and reviews.

Find out more and purchase in the kindle store (
Amazon UK
,
Amazon US
,
Amazon Australia
,
Amazon Canada
)

The Scarlet Kimono

Winner of the 2011 Big Red Read’s Best Historical Fiction Award

Abducted by a Samurai warlord in 17th-century Japan – what happens when fear turns to love?

England, 1611, and young Hannah Marston envies her brother’s adventurous life. But when she stows away on his merchant ship, her powers of endurance are stretched to their limit. Then they reach Japan and all her suffering seems worthwhile – until she is abducted by Taro Kumashiro’s warriors.

In the far north of the country, warlord Kumashiro is waiting to see the girl who he has been warned about by a seer. When at last they meet, it’s a clash of cultures and wills, but they’re also fighting an instant attraction to each other.