Jenny Proctor

She's merry and bright. He's...not. But something between them is warming up. Megan Sheridan just landed the perfect holiday job: a quiet week in the mountains house-sitting an event venue while the owners are away. Check the mail, answer the phone, keep the pipes from freezing-easy. The only trouble? No one told Megan she'd be sharing the farmhouse with a very grouchy, very handsome farmhand. Noah Hawthorne is a cousin of the owner, so she can't exactly ask him to leave. But if he scowls at her one more time, she's tempted to pack her own bags. She's not about to have her Christmas ruined by a grump, hot or not. But then a snowstorm knocks out the power, and Megan is forced to rely on her begrudging housemate. She quickly learns there's more to Noah than terse replies and guarded looks. But trusting a man with secrets is tough, and Megan isn't sure she's willing to gamble on someone who won't open up. When the magic of the holiday fades away, will she be holding her future? Or nursing a broken heart? How to Kiss on Christmas Morning is a standalone, grumpy/sunshine holiday novella connected to the How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother series. Read for forced proximity, snowed in at Christmas vibes and a closed door heat level with chemistry and tension but only kisses on the page.

In 2015 construction of a new road that bypassed the modern towns of Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar began. It was anticipated that an enclosure of pre-Roman date , lay on the route of the new road near Bedale, but the site of a hitherto unknown Roman villa near Aiskew was also located. Coincidentally, both the enclosure and the villa were situated alongside a routeway that ran on slightly higher ground above local floodplains; this was exactly the same route that the modern road took. The initial construction of the Bedale enclosure could be dated to the Middle Iron Age but well-preserved ditch deposits showed a number of substantial recuttings of the ditch. The final infilling deposits included Roman material dating up to the latter part of the second century. The adjacent routeway, as excavated, belonged to this later phase of activity but there was evidence for an earlier precursor. The Aiskew villa, dating mainly to the third and fourth centuries, was only partially examined; geophysics demonstrated that the complex covered a much larger area and included many other structures. The excavated rooms were very well-appointed, with good quality wall plaster. One heated room was added at a later date. Beyond the villa was perimeter ditch, the boundary of the villa complex itself, and field systems. Finds from these demonstrate a high-quality lifestyle befitting elite owners. Precisely who these elites were is open to debate but the proximity of contemporary military camps to the west and key settlements alongside Dere Street to the east place this villa in a most convenient location for access to both.