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While getting ready for the holiday season, Team H&H found this previously released story from Kieran Kramer's House of Brady Series, originally featured at Not Another Romance Blog. We hope you enjoy it!
First, a special message from Kieran:
Holiday greetings, everyone! When I decided to write this vignette involving an off-key carol singer within the Brady household, I laughed out loud imagining it unfold—because I’m from a family of extreme singers! What does that mean? Well, we all love to sing, and we harmonize together so well that people often say we’re like the Von Trapp family from The Sound of Music, and they wonder why we didn’t have stage parents who made us form a group like the Osmonds. But my family just enjoyed singing for singing’s sake, especially around the holidays. Christmas Eve was a big deal because we’d all pile on a wagon that my dad pulled behind his tractor, and we’d go down the dirt road from house to house in the country neighborhood we lived in and sing carols.
I still remember being twelve and sitting in that wagon on a pile of hay. I remember looking up at the starry night sky and seeing one special star twinkling—I was sure it was the Christmas star. It was such a wonderful feeling, knowing that we were all together and singing and that the next morning, Christmas would be there…
Next thing I knew years passed, and I married a man who can’t sing his way out of a box! He’s so cute, though, when he does sing, and it makes me realize listening to him that the best singing is heartfelt. It doesn’t matter if you don’t sound real purty—just sing! Let your heart express in song what words can’t always do alone.
And that’s what I love most about music. It says things words can’t—and as a writer, that’s a pretty big thing for me to admit. But I’m glad to—I love music, and without it, my life would feel incomplete. And that’s a fact. Especially around the holidays, I want my Thanksgiving songs and my Christmas carols!
Now that you know where I’m coming from, I hope you’ll enjoy this scene I wrote from the heart (and I played Christmas carols while doing it):
Enjoy this story from Kieran Kramers's House of Brady Series, Caroling Off-Key on Christmas Eve. And look for the newest book in the House of Brady Series, The Earl is Mine, available Febuary 26, 2013.
Everyone at Ballybrook should be as happy at Christmas as I am, thought Marcia Lattimore, Lady Chadwick, and said a quick prayer that each resident, from the lowliest stable boy to the wine steward to her parents, the Marquess and Marchioness of Brady themselves, felt as loved as she did at that moment.
She finished fastening the pearl earring bobs her new husband Duncan had just presented her and sat back from her looking glass to admire her appearance. She couldn’t help it—she was so madly in love with her man that she knew she looked the best she ever had.
What you do in bed with him has everything to do with it, a naughty voice in her head reminded her. She gave a little giggle. They were spending an awful lot of time away from the Christmas festivities, weren’t they? Ballybrook was filled to the brim with family and good friends. Her parents’ estate in Ireland was never prettier than it was around Christmas, and there was so much to do, every single minute.
But at least three times in the past two days alone—since they’d arrived there with their son Joe, his nurse Aislynn, and a few other beloved servants from their London home—Marcia and Duncan had sneaked out of the charades, the decorating, and the sipping of hot chocolate to rendezvous for a few stolen moments of intimacy: once in their bedchamber, on the rug before the fire; once in the greenhouse, which was warm and cozy; and once outside, in the bright, clear sunlight against the trunk of a tree in the woods behind the estate.
She couldn’t resist Duncan. And it made her heart melt even more with love for him to realize that he couldn’t resist her, either. Together, they were a fire that was almost dangerously out of control. But it was thrilling—and oh, so right—to let herself surrender completely to passion with the man she loved.
“I get so tired of being proper all the time,” she said to her reflection.
With Duncan, she needn’t be.
Which was why her cheeks glowed so pink, why her eyes were the clearest blue they’d ever been, and why her lips felt soft and plump and looked red as raspberries.
The earrings swayed on her earlobes, and she stood.
It was time to sing. It was her favorite part of Christmas, how on Christmas Eve the whole family gathered with friends and sang carols around the pianoforte. And of course, that family included Alice, their housekeeper. She sang louder than everyone else. This was her house and her family, and no one dared argue with her on either point! And on Christmas Eve, Alice wanted everyone to sing their very best. She couldn’t stand a bit of squeakiness or a note sung off-key.
Marcia was so excited when downstairs, all the out-of-town friends staying with the family were gathered, and all the family’s local friends—the shopkeepers, the vicar, and various neighbors from the nearby village—had arrived. Indeed, everyone was already crowding about the pianoforte, where Marcia’s beloved Duncan sat. He would play the Christmas carols this year instead of Alice, giving the housekeeper even more time to ensure that the gathering went off famously.
Marcia blew Duncan a kiss and felt butterflies in her stomach when he sent her a look that she knew was meant only for her. It promised lots of kisses—and more—after midnight, when the house was quiet, awaiting Christmas. But she had to put aside those warm, fuzzy thoughts of Duncan for now. It was time to sing!
She had to restrain a giggle when she saw Alice lift an eyebrow and glance around the company. Was there anyone there who needed some coaching? Alice wasn’t averse to that. Oh, no. In fact, she found great pleasure in taking poor singers aside and conducting an impromptu practice with them, if needs be. But no one had ever objected in the past, as being asked to spend any time at all with the august housekeeper was considered quite an honor by all—such an honor, in fact, that some people even faked being bad singers. They knew that after practice, Alice—if she were in an extra jolly holiday mood—would wink at the lucky person she’d singled out and tell him that she’d sneak him her own special whisky cake—an entire one—to carry home with him when they left!
But Alice saw through the phony awful carol singers every time. No, she was after only genuinely bad ones. Her mission on Christmas Eve was to ensure that everyone at Ballybrook, which was a little piece of heaven, sang like true angels.
My favorite kind of historical romances have heaping helpings of both history and romance; when the history shapes the romance, I am one happy camper. Sometimes this combination comes in the form of actual historical figures making an appearance, or the fictional characters engaging in actual events recorded by history. Cynthia Wright’s website offers pictures of the real life locations that inspired her recently reissued classic, You and No Other, where the hero and heroine are closely linked to King Francois I of France.
Pamela Clare’s MacKinnon’s Rangers trilogy couldn’t possibly take place at any other time or in any other place than the French and Indian War. Three sons of an exiled Highlander grow up on the colonial frontier, and when coerced into fighting on behalf of the Crown, it’s not as traditionally trained soldiers, but a new sort, the Ranger. The special forces of the eighteenth century, their stories play out in a tumultuous time in a newly emerging world.
It’s not, however, only kings and battles that make for historical verisimilitude. Some stories take a quieter but no less effective approach, concentrating on the very real effects brought about by the choices we make.
Hot Wallpapers Free Biography
While getting ready for the holiday season, Team H&H found this previously released story from Kieran Kramer's House of Brady Series, originally featured at Not Another Romance Blog. We hope you enjoy it!
First, a special message from Kieran:
Holiday greetings, everyone! When I decided to write this vignette involving an off-key carol singer within the Brady household, I laughed out loud imagining it unfold—because I’m from a family of extreme singers! What does that mean? Well, we all love to sing, and we harmonize together so well that people often say we’re like the Von Trapp family from The Sound of Music, and they wonder why we didn’t have stage parents who made us form a group like the Osmonds. But my family just enjoyed singing for singing’s sake, especially around the holidays. Christmas Eve was a big deal because we’d all pile on a wagon that my dad pulled behind his tractor, and we’d go down the dirt road from house to house in the country neighborhood we lived in and sing carols.
I still remember being twelve and sitting in that wagon on a pile of hay. I remember looking up at the starry night sky and seeing one special star twinkling—I was sure it was the Christmas star. It was such a wonderful feeling, knowing that we were all together and singing and that the next morning, Christmas would be there…
Next thing I knew years passed, and I married a man who can’t sing his way out of a box! He’s so cute, though, when he does sing, and it makes me realize listening to him that the best singing is heartfelt. It doesn’t matter if you don’t sound real purty—just sing! Let your heart express in song what words can’t always do alone.
And that’s what I love most about music. It says things words can’t—and as a writer, that’s a pretty big thing for me to admit. But I’m glad to—I love music, and without it, my life would feel incomplete. And that’s a fact. Especially around the holidays, I want my Thanksgiving songs and my Christmas carols!
Now that you know where I’m coming from, I hope you’ll enjoy this scene I wrote from the heart (and I played Christmas carols while doing it):
Enjoy this story from Kieran Kramers's House of Brady Series, Caroling Off-Key on Christmas Eve. And look for the newest book in the House of Brady Series, The Earl is Mine, available Febuary 26, 2013.
Everyone at Ballybrook should be as happy at Christmas as I am, thought Marcia Lattimore, Lady Chadwick, and said a quick prayer that each resident, from the lowliest stable boy to the wine steward to her parents, the Marquess and Marchioness of Brady themselves, felt as loved as she did at that moment.
She finished fastening the pearl earring bobs her new husband Duncan had just presented her and sat back from her looking glass to admire her appearance. She couldn’t help it—she was so madly in love with her man that she knew she looked the best she ever had.
What you do in bed with him has everything to do with it, a naughty voice in her head reminded her. She gave a little giggle. They were spending an awful lot of time away from the Christmas festivities, weren’t they? Ballybrook was filled to the brim with family and good friends. Her parents’ estate in Ireland was never prettier than it was around Christmas, and there was so much to do, every single minute.
But at least three times in the past two days alone—since they’d arrived there with their son Joe, his nurse Aislynn, and a few other beloved servants from their London home—Marcia and Duncan had sneaked out of the charades, the decorating, and the sipping of hot chocolate to rendezvous for a few stolen moments of intimacy: once in their bedchamber, on the rug before the fire; once in the greenhouse, which was warm and cozy; and once outside, in the bright, clear sunlight against the trunk of a tree in the woods behind the estate.
She couldn’t resist Duncan. And it made her heart melt even more with love for him to realize that he couldn’t resist her, either. Together, they were a fire that was almost dangerously out of control. But it was thrilling—and oh, so right—to let herself surrender completely to passion with the man she loved.
“I get so tired of being proper all the time,” she said to her reflection.
With Duncan, she needn’t be.
Which was why her cheeks glowed so pink, why her eyes were the clearest blue they’d ever been, and why her lips felt soft and plump and looked red as raspberries.
The earrings swayed on her earlobes, and she stood.
It was time to sing. It was her favorite part of Christmas, how on Christmas Eve the whole family gathered with friends and sang carols around the pianoforte. And of course, that family included Alice, their housekeeper. She sang louder than everyone else. This was her house and her family, and no one dared argue with her on either point! And on Christmas Eve, Alice wanted everyone to sing their very best. She couldn’t stand a bit of squeakiness or a note sung off-key.
Marcia was so excited when downstairs, all the out-of-town friends staying with the family were gathered, and all the family’s local friends—the shopkeepers, the vicar, and various neighbors from the nearby village—had arrived. Indeed, everyone was already crowding about the pianoforte, where Marcia’s beloved Duncan sat. He would play the Christmas carols this year instead of Alice, giving the housekeeper even more time to ensure that the gathering went off famously.
Marcia blew Duncan a kiss and felt butterflies in her stomach when he sent her a look that she knew was meant only for her. It promised lots of kisses—and more—after midnight, when the house was quiet, awaiting Christmas. But she had to put aside those warm, fuzzy thoughts of Duncan for now. It was time to sing!
She had to restrain a giggle when she saw Alice lift an eyebrow and glance around the company. Was there anyone there who needed some coaching? Alice wasn’t averse to that. Oh, no. In fact, she found great pleasure in taking poor singers aside and conducting an impromptu practice with them, if needs be. But no one had ever objected in the past, as being asked to spend any time at all with the august housekeeper was considered quite an honor by all—such an honor, in fact, that some people even faked being bad singers. They knew that after practice, Alice—if she were in an extra jolly holiday mood—would wink at the lucky person she’d singled out and tell him that she’d sneak him her own special whisky cake—an entire one—to carry home with him when they left!
But Alice saw through the phony awful carol singers every time. No, she was after only genuinely bad ones. Her mission on Christmas Eve was to ensure that everyone at Ballybrook, which was a little piece of heaven, sang like true angels.
My favorite kind of historical romances have heaping helpings of both history and romance; when the history shapes the romance, I am one happy camper. Sometimes this combination comes in the form of actual historical figures making an appearance, or the fictional characters engaging in actual events recorded by history. Cynthia Wright’s website offers pictures of the real life locations that inspired her recently reissued classic, You and No Other, where the hero and heroine are closely linked to King Francois I of France.
Pamela Clare’s MacKinnon’s Rangers trilogy couldn’t possibly take place at any other time or in any other place than the French and Indian War. Three sons of an exiled Highlander grow up on the colonial frontier, and when coerced into fighting on behalf of the Crown, it’s not as traditionally trained soldiers, but a new sort, the Ranger. The special forces of the eighteenth century, their stories play out in a tumultuous time in a newly emerging world.
It’s not, however, only kings and battles that make for historical verisimilitude. Some stories take a quieter but no less effective approach, concentrating on the very real effects brought about by the choices we make.
Hot Wallpapers Free
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