Today, my guest is another author participating in the Christmas at Castle Keyvnor anthologies. Please welcome Kate Pearce!

Having enjoyed writing the Halloween story for our previous Keyvnor collection I was delighted to be given the opportunity to write another one. This time I was a little late starting, which means that as all the stories happen concurrently, I had to be careful not to tread on anyone else’s already conceived and in action plots.

A lot of Regency romances focus on the nobility, and, as we have a whole castle full of aristocrats at Keyvnor, I decided to write a romance about what’s going on below stairs. Who’s taking care of all those wedding preparations, feeding and caring for the guests, and organizing the ball? And when one of the aristocrats is mistaken for his valet, how is he going to explain himself?

I recently visited the city of Bath in England, and spent a happy hour touring Number 1 The Royal Crescent. The rooms that struck me most were the gloomy kitchens where all the glamor of the upstairs drawing rooms and bedrooms were stripped away to bare walls, tiled floors and blackened chimneys. Servants were a huge part of Regency life, but are often ignored when we tell our stories.

The other inspiration for my novella was the Tom Stoppard play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, which concerns two characters off stage in Hamlet trying to make sense of what’s going on. My novella is a bit like that. My characters only deal with the parts of the Keyvnor stories that directly impact them, and have no idea of the complexities of the romantic struggles going on directly above their heads.

If you ever get the opportunity to go to Bath, take a moment to tour the house at The Royal Crescent and think about those poor servants in that dark kitchen. I suspect that’s why we all enjoy reading about the nobility so much!

NYT and USA Today bestselling author Kate Pearce was born in England in the middle of a large family of girls and quickly found that her imagination was far more interesting than real life. After acquiring a degree in history and barely escaping from the British Civil Service alive, she moved to California and then to Hawaii with her kids and her husband and set about reinventing herself as a romance writer.

She is known for both her unconventional heroes and her joy at subverting romance clichés. In her spare time she self publishes science fiction erotic romance, historical romance, and whatever else she can imagine. You can find Kate at her website at www.katepearce.com, on Facebook as Kate Pearce, and on Twitter as Kate4queen.

Tempted at Christmas includes

Kate Pearce’s And a Pigeon in a Pear Tree
When stuffy Benjamin Priske, Baron Saxelby, heir to the Earl of Widcome arrives at Castle Keyvnor, he not only falls in love at first sight, but is accidentally mistaken for his valet. As he spends time with Henrietta, the witty, beautiful, and self-assured granddaughter of the castle housekeeper, he’s increasingly reluctant to reveal his true identity and spoil the most remarkable days of his life. Can Benjamin overcome his rigid nature, embrace the magical nature of Keyvnor castle, and maybe indulge in a fairytale romance all of his own?

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