Free A Mummers' Play by Jo Beverley Page A

your picture, and wonder why Lucky Jack was not nearly as lucky as he. In fact,” he said, releasing her, “it seems wrong for me even to hope . . .”
    She caught his hand, his scarred hand. “No. It isn’t wrong. If you are tired of disguises, then so am I. Who else can I be honest with but you?” She searched his eyes. “You will not mind me speaking of him?”
    “Never.”
    She chose her next words with care. “You understand that I might never feel for you as I still do for him?”
    “Yes.” His look was direct and undefended. “I never want to drive Simon out of your heart. But I don’t think he would mind if we shared the space there one day. We shared many another billet.”
    Justina echoed his wistful smile, holding the miniature in her hand. “No, he wouldn’t mind.” She looked out again at the peaceful estate lit by the moon and starlight, considering it all. “I think perhaps this is Simon’s Christmas gift to us. The traditional one of peace and joy. I have the peace already. It is strange to my heart, but very sweet. Even the dreadful conde can enjoy his estate, for I’ll wound myself no more with hate. And I can believe in the possibility of joy, here, with you.”
    “And so can I.” He put his arm around her as they looked out at the star. “Go in peace, Simon.”
    “Amen,” said Justina, though with the tiniest ache in her heart. She knew it came from a healing wound, however, not a festering one. She turned to smile at the man beside her. “And I will marry you, your grace of Cranmoore, and do my best to make you think of yourself as Lucky Jack every day of your life.”
    She saw tears start in his eyes before he gathered her into his arms with a strength that almost crushed her. “Thank God. Thank God. And thank you, Simon. No man has ever received a Christmas gift as precious as this.”

 
    Hello,
    It’s such a delight to have so many novellas coming out as individual eBooks. I’m sure many of you are like me and often reluctant to buy an anthology if I’m only really interested in one story. Now, we can have just what we want, when and how we want it. What an interesting world we live in!
    My publisher has previously put out two of my novellas as eBooks—
The Demon’s Bride
and
The Demon’s Mistress
. The confusion of titles is completely accidental. They were originally published ten years apart.
The Demon’s Bride
is a Georgian story that was originally in an anthology called
Moonlit Lovers
, and
The Demon’s Mistress
is a Regency that originally appeared in
In Praise of Younger Men
. (Yes, Lord Vandeimen is nearly ten years younger than the widow who becomes his lover.)
    Now, three more novellas are coming this winter as individual eBooks.
A Mummers’ Play
(released in 12/13) features a vengeful Regency Lady;
The Dragon and the Princess
(2/14) a vengeful dragon lord of Dorn; and
The Raven and the Rose
(3/14) a quest to end the bloody twelfth century civil war called the Anarchy.
    I’m delighted that you’ve read and enjoyed
AMummers’ Play
. Please think about sharing the pleasure by leaving a review on your eBook retailer’s web site.
    If you want to explore my other fiction, you can visit me online at www.jobev.com. Nearly everything is now available for eReaders.
    If you want to keep up to date with my new and reissued work, you can sign up there for my occasional newsletter and/or click on the link to “like” my Facebook author page.
    Here’s some information about the other two novellas that are coming out this winter:
    The Dragon and the Princess
was titled
The Dragon and the Virgin Princess
in the anthology
Dragon Lovers
in 2007. This is set in a fantasy middle ages with, of course, dragons.
    Rozlinda of Saragon is the official SVP—the Sacrificial Virgin Princess—and she can’t wait for a dragon to arrive so she can do her duty. After all, she’ll only have to sacrifice a cup of blood and then at last, at long last, she’ll no longer need to