Mistletoe Christmas

The Duke of Greystoke hosts a Christmas house party each year, and the whole of the British Isles knows it. Guests come for the plays, the dancing and the magical grotto. They also come for the scandals, which end with the duke handing out marriage licenses by the dozen.

Four women attend with no wish to meet Cupid. Lady Cressida, the duke's daughter, is busy running the entertainments, and her father has called her dowdy. Her cousin, Lady Isabelle Wilkshire, is directing a staging of Cinderella and has no interest in marriage.

Lady Caroline Whitmore is already married, and unhappily. She and her estranged husband must pretend to be a couple for the length of the party, and she dreads every day of it. Miss Louisa Harcourt faces a different pressure: her mother tells her bluntly that this is her last chance to avoid spinsterhood.

Eloisa James, Christi Caldwell, Janna MacGregor and Erica Ridley each contribute an original story, four historical romances in all, set at the same gathering. The house is so crowded that mothers lose track of their daughters, which leaves plenty of room for stolen moments and comic scandal.