A Lion Is Not Just For Christmas
Is there life after the circus has left town?
Circus performer Justine Belmont works with big cats, but when the circus is disbanded and the old lion is sold to a private menagerie at a stately home in Norfolk, she is asked to spend a few weeks settling him into his new environment. When she arrives at the estate, however, she receives a mixed welcome.
The groundsman Tom Yates resents her presence as he doesn’t feel he needs her help with the lion. He revises his opinion when he sees the bond between her and the big cat, and she and Tom grow closer, although Justine remains torn about her feelings for him. The lady of the house, Priscilla - who is married to the reclusive owner, Lord Brooks’s, grandson - is not so easily convinced. She perceives Justine as a threat for the male attention and her plans for the manor. And her two young daughters are a little too curious about the lion for their own good.
When unsettling events occur, Justine begins to wonder if there is more to Priscilla’s animosity than meets the eye. Can Justine keep herself and everyone else safe until it’s time for her to leave again and start a new life elsewhere?
Purchase Links:
US - https://www.amazon.com/Lion-Christmas-Norfolk-Mysteries-novella-ebook/dp/B0782X1QHV
Excerpt
Excerpt
The
circus has been disbanded, and the various animals are taken to their new
homes. At Stonybrook the groundsman, Tom, is there to receive the old lion who
will live out its days in the private menagerie there.
<
>
The
lion arrived in the early morning on a rainy day. It was still dark, and a
slight mist hung in the air, which even the bright fairy lights covering the
topiary laurel bush in the centre of the drive couldn’t chase away. Tom stood
on the steps next to Lord Brooks who had insisted, in his usual cantankerous
manner, that he wanted to be there to welcome the beast, despite the chill of
the morning.
‘Stop mollycoddling me!’ Richard grumbled when Tom had
tried to persuade him to stay indoors in the warmth.
Tom shrugged. There was no point in arguing with
Richard once he got an idea in his head. Instead he made sure the old man wore
a thick overcoat and waited far enough back to be sheltered by the portico.
Smiling to himself, Tom smelled the freshness of the
air as the raindrops bounced upwards and caressed his face like microscopic
butterflies.
A day of promise.
The driver had called ten minutes previously and asked
for directions from the main road, and now the large transit van pulled up on
the circular gravelled forecourt leaving deep tyre impressions in the neatly
raked gravel.
Tom grinned as he imagined Patricia’s face; she
wouldn’t be happy about that. Not that she’d done any of the raking herself.
Three people jumped out of the cab, energetically and
seemingly unfazed by the wet weather. Elijah Belmont and his wife Beth, whom
Tom had already met, and a young man whom he took to be a relative of Elijah’s
judging by the vague family resemblance. Then the back of the van opened, and a
girl climbed out.
Young woman, he corrected himself. Very much a woman.
He recognised her as the lion tamer’s assistant when he went to Ireland in the
summer with Richard and Henry’s family, and he, Priscilla and the old man had
taken the girls to the circus while Henry conducted some business. He
remembered how he’d caught her eyes, and she appeared to miss a step. Back then
he’d imagined it was because he’d had some sort of effect on her, but that was
probably his mind playing tricks on him.
A warm feeling stole over him. Without all her circus
glitter and heavy makeup she appeared younger somehow, vulnerable even. Which
was probably his imagination as well.
He swallowed hard, refusing to allow his head to be
turned, and stepped forward to shake Elijah’s hand, then his wife’s. Mrs
Belmont had an uncustomary firm grip for a woman, or at least like the kind of
women Tom usually met.
‘Welcome to Stonybrook,’ he said. ‘I’m Tom Yates. I
work on the grounds here.’
The young man stepped forward to shake his hand as
well.
‘My nephew, Gabi,’ Elijah explained. ‘And this is my daughter,
Justine.’
Tom moved to greet her but she kept her hands in her
pockets of her hoodie and stared at him with undisguised hostility. He dropped
his hand but kept a cooler smile in place and tried to make a joke of her
rudeness.
‘What did I do?’
‘Rexus belongs with us,’ she replied without preamble.
Author Bio –
Henriette Gyland grew up in Northern Denmark but moved to England after she graduated from the University of Copenhagen. She wrote her first book when she was ten, a tale of two orphan sisters running away to Egypt, fortunately to be adopted by a perfect family they meet on the Orient Express.
Between that first literary exploit and now, she has worked in the Danish civil service, for a travel agent, a consultancy company, in banking, hospital administration, and for a county court before setting herself up as a freelance translator and linguist. Henriette recently began to pursue her writing in earnest winning the New Talent Award in 2011 from the Festival of Romance and a Commended from the Yeovil Literary Prize.
Henriette lives in London.
Between that first literary exploit and now, she has worked in the Danish civil service, for a travel agent, a consultancy company, in banking, hospital administration, and for a county court before setting herself up as a freelance translator and linguist. Henriette recently began to pursue her writing in earnest winning the New Talent Award in 2011 from the Festival of Romance and a Commended from the Yeovil Literary Prize.
Henriette lives in London.
Social Media Links –
Twitter: @henrigyland
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