Of all the projects we had Kit working on in this book, the only one that can be seen today is the King’s Dining Room at Windsor Castle. In real life it was designed by architect Hugh May, who did extensive renovations for King Charles between 1675 and 1678. We chose this particular room for Kit not only because it was actually completed in the year of our story, 1677, but also because it’s the most intact example remaining of Charles’s rooms, including the original wall carvings by Grinling Gibbons and Henry Phillips and the whimsical ceiling painted by Antonio Verrio.
Windsor Castle is the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world. It has stood for over 900 years, since William the Conqueror chose the site a day’s march from the Tower of London. The castle has been inhabited continuously and altered by each sovereign. Some concentrated on strengthening the site against attack, while others, living in more peaceful times, helped create the palatial royal residence you can visit today.
Windsor Castle is open seven days a week year-round, but there are periods, especially in June and December, when the queen is in residence and the State Apartments are closed to visitors.
Trentingham Manor was inspired by the Vyne, a National Trust property in Hampshire. Built in the early sixteenth century for Lord Sandys, Henry VIII’s Lord Chamberlain, the house acquired a classical portico in the mid-seventeenth century and contains a grand Palladian staircase, a wealth of old paneling and fine furniture, and a fascinating Tudor chapel with Renaissance glass. The Vyne and its extensive gardens are open for visits April through October.
I hope you enjoyed The Gentleman’s Scandalous Bride! Next up in The Chase Brides series is Chrystabel and Joseph Ashcroft’s story in The Cavalier’s Christmas Bride, a special holiday prequel novel. Please read on for an excerpt as well as more bonus material!
Always,
EXPLORE THE CHASE FAMILY WORLD
Click here to see the Chase Family Tree much larger!
Visit Lauren & Devon’s website to learn about…
Real people in the books
Real places in the books
Historical recipes from the books
Connect with Lauren & Devon and other readers!
Sign up for Lauren & Devon’s Newsletter
Join the Chase Family Readers Group on Facebook
Friend Lauren and Devon on Facebook
Follow Lauren and Devon on Twitter
Pin with us on Pinterest
LAUREN AND DEVON’S NEXT BOOK IS…
The Cavalier’s Christmas Bride
The Chase Brides
Book Eight
Christmas has been outlawed by the new Commonwealth government—but that won’t stop Lady Chrystabel Trevor from embracing the holiday spirit. When she finds herself snowed in with handsome and intriguing Joseph Ashcroft, the Viscount Tremayne, merrymaking leads to mayhem. In a time of fear and oppression, can the magic of Christmas bring two hearts together?
Read an excerpt…
Grosmont Grange, England
December, 1651
LADY CHRYSTABEL Trevor adored Christmas.
Or at least she had until this year.
She frowned as her sap-sticky hands wove yet another wreath from the greenery she and her younger sister had collected. “Just five more days,” she said, thinking of all the decorating they still had to do.
Arabel meticulously measured two loops of red ribbon. “But just four days until Christmas Eve.”
“Yes, and we must be ready by Christmas Eve.” Chrystabel sighed as she eyed the enormous pile of boughs they’d cut and trimmed. “I cannot believe how long it took to make the garlands. This isn’t easy alone.”
“You’re not alone, Chrys.” Arabel sounded sweetly sympathetic. “I’m still here. Matthew’s still here.”
“Martha and Cecily aren’t here.” Martha and Cecily were their older sisters. “And neither is Mother.” Not that Mother had ever helped her girls prepare for Christmas, anyway. She’d been a rather uninvolved parent, leaving her children to be raised by nursemaids. But this was their first Christmas without her, and having her home and not participating had been better than not having her with them at all. “It makes me sad that we never see her.”
“Just pretend she’s dead,” Arabel suggested airily.
Arabel said everything airily. Pretty, fifteen-year-old Arabel was dark-haired and dark-eyed and statuesque—like Chrystabel and the rest of the Trevors—and she was the happiest person Chrystabel knew. Nothing ruffled her. She could find the good side of anything.
Unabated cheerfulness like that set Chrystabel’s teeth on edge.
“Mother is not dead,” she pointed out unnecessarily. “I could forgive her if she were dead.” Their father had died, after all—fighting for the king in the Civil War—and Chrystabel had never blamed him for leaving them. Death was sad but normal.
But there was nothing normal about being alive and not even an hour’s ride away—and ignoring your own children.
Especially at Christmas.
Chrystabel set her jaw. “I will never forgive her for marrying that…that man.”
That man was the Marquess of Bath, and he had no interest in the children of his second wife. The sorry and shocking thing was that Mother seemed similarly disinclined to spend time with her first family. She was too busy doting on her new husband and raising his children. Raising his children. Even though she’d barely deigned to notice Chrystabel and her brother and three sisters—the five children she’d given birth to—all the years they were growing up.
“You cannot let Mother’s selfishness ruin our Christmas,” Arabel chided. “We’re not children anymore. Let it go. I have. Martha and Cecily have.”
“Martha and Cecily are married with children of their own. They don’t need a mother anymore.”
“And neither do you. You’re nearly seventeen and have been running this household for over a year—to perfection, I might add.” Arabel handed her a neat red bow. “Here. Attach it, and that’s one more wreath finished.”
“Still twelve more to make,” Chrystabel said with a sigh.
Arabel’s laugh sounded suspiciously like a snort. “You’re the one who
