A countess with a wounded heart… When the recently widowed Lady Katherine Colworth returns to her childhood home for a Christmas house party, she is prepared for many things. Vicious rumors. Slanderous lies. Gossip abounds that she was responsible for her cruel husband's death. What she is not prepared to face, however, is falling in love. A young man who is much more than he seems… Ashley Spencer has been conscripted from the stables to the manor as a temporary footman. When he spies the Countess of Colworth, he admires her beauty, little knowing he is about to be forced into a web of lies and intrigue that will lead him straight to her bed. A love that defies differences… and can overcome any danger. This Christmas, two very unlikely individuals are about to realize they are one another's ideal match. And once mutual desire has been sparked, they will never be parted, no matter the price they must face. This Christmas novella is a prequel to USA Today bestselling author Fenna Edgewood's new BLAKELEY MANOR series. The novella was previously published in the Holiday Anthology: Naughty or Nice. The novella can be read as a standalone book.