The Winter Wife

Published by
Anna Campbell

Copyright 2010, 2012
Anna Campbell

Cover design and eBook design by Karrie Mathews

Published by Anna Campbell at Smashwords

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems - except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews - without permission in writing from the author,
Anna Campbell.
This book is a work of fiction.
The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of

the author’s imagination and are either fictitious
or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

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Will
a
chance
meeting
on
Christmas
Eve…

Alicia
Sinclair,
Countess
of
Kinvarra,
cannot
believe
that
fate
has
been
so
cruel
as
to
strand
her
on
the
snowy
Yorkshire
moors
with
her
estranged
husband
as
her
only
hope
of
rescue.
During
their
rare

encounters,
the
arrogant
earl
and
his
countess
act
like
hostile
strangers.
Now
that
Alicia
has
fallen
into
Kinvarra’s
power,
will
he
seek
revenge
for
her
desertion?
Or
does
the
dark,
passionate
man
she
once
adored
have entirely
different
plans
for
his
headstrong
wife?

..deliver
a
second
chance
at
love?

Sebastian
Sinclair,
Earl
of
Kinvarra,
has
spent
ten
wretched
years
regretting
the
mistakes
he
made
with
his
young
bride,
but
after
long
separation,
the
barriers
between
them
are
insurmountable.
Until
an
un-
expected
encounter
one
stormy
night
makes
him
wonder
if
the
barriers
of
mistrust
and
thwarted
desire
are
so
insurmountable
after
all.
When
winter
weather
traps
Sebastian
and
his
proud,
lovely
wife
in
an
isolated inn,
could
the
earl
and
his
headstrong
countess
have
a
Christmas
miracle
in
store?

To
my
dear
Readers,

Thank
you
so
much
for
picking
up
The
Winter
Wife:
A
Christmas

Novella.

I’ve
had
a
yen
to
do
a
Christmas
story
for
a
long
time.
I
love
the
hope
and
joy
that
are
part
of
this
time
of
year
and
I
think
the
festive
season
makes
a
wonderful
background
for
a
romance.

The
Winter
Wife
was
originally
published
in
shorter
form
in
2010
as
“Upon
a
Midnight
Clear”
in
The
Mammoth
Book
of
Regency
Romance.
It
was
my
first
reunion
romance
and
I
loved
the
characters.
I’ve
always

wanted
the
chance
both
to
expand
the
story
and
to
share
it
with
a
wider
audience
as
a
stand-alone
novella
rather
than
as
part
of
an
anthology,
much
as
I
love
anthologies.
This
Christmas,
I
thought,
“Why
not?”

So
I
hope
you
enjoy
this
chance
to
meet
or
revisit
my
Scottish
hero,
Sebastian,
Earl
of
Kinvarra,
and
his
estranged
countess,
Alicia,
who
meet
one
Christmas
Eve
in
the
middle
of
a
Yorkshire
snowstorm.

Thanks
to
the
people
at
Mammoth
Anthologies
who
gave
me
the
op-
portunity
to
write
“Upon
a
Midnight
Clear”,
and
to
my
writing
friends
Vanessa
Barneveld,
Annie
West
and
Christina
Brooke
for
their
help
in
bringing
The
Winter
Wife
to
publication.

Best
wishes!

Anna
Campbell,
December
2012

Chapter One

North
Yorkshire, Christmas Eve, 1825

THE CRASH OF shattering wood and the terrified
screams of horses

pierced the frosty night like a knife.

Sebastian Sinclair, Earl of Kinvarra, swore, brought his restive mount under control, then spurred the animal around the turn in the snowy road.
With icy clarity, the full moon lit the white landscape, starkly revealing the disaster before him.

A
flashy
black curricle lay on its side in a ditch, the hood up against the weather. One horse had broken free and wandered the roadway, harness dragging.
The other plunged wildly in the traces, struggling to escape.