I don't know how my mother managed, really, because both she and Dad taught full time, but she came home and cooked on a wood stove and did all the laundry by hand, boiling the clothes and sheets in a big copper kettle. The horse period was a time when my parents entered a 'let's-be-self-sufficient' phase, so we had a horse, but no electricity and all our water came from the rain tank.Īs well as the horse and dogs, we had 2 cows (Buttercup and Daisy and one of them always had a calf), a sheep (Woolly,) goats (Billy and Nanny) dozens of ducks, chooks, and a couple of geese, a pet bluetongue lizard and a huge vegie patch. In case you imagine we were a filthy rich horse-owning family, let me assure you we weren't.

I have to say, dogs and horses are great audiences, apart from their tendency to drool occasionally. Family legend has it that I used to spend hours playing in the sand pit, with a dog on either side of me and Rocka the horse leaning over me, his head just touching my shoulder, while I told them stories. And as his feelings for Charley grow, Ash is forced to face up to his own past and the reason he left England in the first place. Swept into a family Christmas with Max and Abby Davenham and Abby's 'sisters of the heart'-not to mention their imperious aunt, Lady Beatrice-Charley finds the friendship and support her lonely heart craves. Wounded, and helpless in the hands of this handsome stranger, Charley soon realizes her heart is in danger from him too. Ash can't leave her bleeding in the road, so he stays and tends her.Ĭharlotte Underwood, in hiding from an unscrupulous guardian, is battling to support herself and her little brother.

Shots are exchanged, and to Ash's horror, he discovers he's accidentally wounded a girl. Making his way to Devon on a freezing dark night, he's accosted on the road by a footpad. He has just one plan in mind-to show his face, then immediately return to his free and easy life in the Far East.

When Blake Ashton reluctantly returns to England for a business meeting-his first visit in ten years-he learns his partners are getting ready for a big family Christmas in the country. A chance meeting on a dark highway, a wounded heroine, a hero-in-waiting and Christmas.

The Christmas Bride by Anne Gracie