In this collection:
THE PLUCKY MISS RUTH by Laura Rollins:
Laura Rollins has always loved a heart-melting happily ever after. It didn’t matter if the story took place in Regency England, or in a cobbler’s shop, if there was a sweet romance, she would read it.
Life has given her many of her own adventures. Currently she lives in the Rocky Mountains with her best friend, who is also her husband, and their four beautiful children. She still loves to read books and more books; her favorite types of music are classical, Broadway, and country; she loves hiking in the mountains near her home; and she’s been known to debate with her oldest son about whether Infinity is better categorized as a number or an idea.
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Annette Lyon is a USA Today bestselling author, a 9-time recipient of Utah’s Best in State medal for fiction (three times for novel-length works and five times for short fiction), and a Whitney Award winner for BAND OF SISTERS. She's the author of over a dozen novels, at least that many novellas, a cookbook, a popular grammar guide, and over a hundred magazine articles.
She’s a founder and regular contributor of the Timeless Romance Anthologies line of sweet romance stories, which she served as editor for its first three years. She's also one of the four co-authors of The Newport Ladies Book Club series. She graduated cum laude from BYU with a degree in English.
I write clean and wholesome romances in the Victorian era and sweet contemporary romances. My books have been nominated for Swoony, RONE, and Whitney awards.
I taught Middle School English and History for seven years before pursuing screenwriting and writing. I currently live between a canyon and a lake in Utah with my husband, two cats, and two rambunctious children.
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Timeless Victorian Collections:
SUMMER HOLIDAY
A GRAND TOUR
THE ORIENT EXPRESS
THE QUEEN'S BALL
A NOTE OF CHANGE
A GENTLEWOMAN SCHOLAR
AN AUTUMN KISS
Timeless Regency Collections:
AUTUMN MASQUERADE
A MIDWINTER BALL
SPRING IN HYDE PARK
SUMMER HOUSE PARTY
A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS
A SEASON IN LONDON
FALLING FOR A DUKE
A NIGHT IN GROSVENOR SQUARE
ROAD TO GRETNA GREEN
WEDDING WAGERS
AN EVENING AT ALMACK'S
A WEEK IN BRIGHTON
TO LOVE A GOVERNESS
WIDOWS OF SOMERSET
A CHRISTMAS PROMISE
A SEASIDE SUMMER
THE INNS OF DEVONSHIRE
TO KISS A WALLFLOWER
A LADY'S WAGER
An Autumn Kiss is a Timeless Romance Anthology® book
Timeless Romance Anthology® is a registered trademark of Mirror Press, LLC
The Plucky Miss Ruth, by Laura Rollins
Chapter One
England, 1895
Time, it seemed to Ruth Hughes, had stopped in the gardens at Gildredge Manor.
The autumn leaves hung on brown branches, but never dropped. The muggy weather had cooled, bringing one brisk day after another but never truly turning cold. The pink aster and deep red dianthus peered up at her, rich and bright, but never fewer in number than the day before.
If she didn’t know better, Ruth would say she was stuck in a continuous loop.
Such a delightful notion, a continuous loop. She couldn’t quite remember where she’d first read that term, but it had stuck with her all the same. To relive a single day, over and over again . . . only breaking free when a lesson was learned, or a goal accomplished. When she’d first come across the term, she’d thought on little else for days.
Walking alongside her cousin, Nettie, Ruth couldn’t help but keep an eye out as they turned off the street, walked through the gate, and into the gardens. Here she always found a little bit of calm, a break from the busy Eastbourne. There, just inside the gates was the gardener, Mr. Harrison, same as he always was.
“Good afternoon,” Ruth called to him, repeating the words she always said. “The flowers look beautiful today.”
“Thank you, miss,” he replied. “I can take credit for the fine soil and proper placement.” As he spoke, Ruth mouthed along with the words, she’d heard them so many times. “But it’s the Good Lord who you ought to give credit to for the brilliant blooms.”
They walked over the well paved path, deeper into the gardens. Each bed was perfectly planned, boasting blooms and greenery native to both England and abroad; truly some of the most exquisite blooms Ruth had ever seen. Short yellow violas were planted just in front of a stunning pink clematis variety she’d never seen anywhere else. When she’d asked the gardener about it several days ago, he’d called it Rooguchi clematis.
Beyond that was a vibrant purple butterfly bush and then some stunning white Japanese anemone—again, another name she only knew due to her asking the gardener. She hadn’t a mind for botany; she’d much prefer spending her time studying science, new engineering feats, or even the inexplainable, yet wholly familiar, attributes of Time itself.
Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t thoroughly enjoy the beauty around her. And these gardens were nothing short of lovely. Colors covered every corner—yellows, pinks, purples, and even blues—all resting against a variety of greens. Reminding her of an artist’s palette, it was a rainbow of life and vibrancy. And the smell . . . heavenly. Sometimes light, sometimes heavy. Sometimes floral, sometimes woody.
All in all, not a terrible place to be stuck in a continuous loop.
Of course, if this truly was a continuous loop, next up they would see—
“Good afternoon,” Ruth called out as a nanny walked by them, going the other direction, pushing her charge in a white baby carriage. Miss Gates, right on cue.
Nettie silently nodded her greeting as the woman passed.
The small movement on her cousin’s part put Ruth in mind of a summer they’d spent together as young girls. Then, Nettie had been as openly spoken as Ruth; only, when Nettie spoke up it rarely went without censure from one of her parents or her governess. Though Ruth and her parents had visited for over a month that summer, it had only taken Ruth three days to see that her cousin’s life was far different than her own, no matter they were of equal standing among society.
They visited Nettie’s family again two years later, and Ruth found her cousin quiet and demur, and she’s remained such ever since.
Ruth shook the sad memory away and instead chose to focus on the lovely sights around them.
“This garden is exquisite, is it not?” she asked Nettie.
“Nothing was ever more so,” Nettie replied in her soft voice. “I especially love the view of the sea up ahead.”
“I must confess, if Mother must banish us from home every afternoon, this is not a bad place to be sentenced to.”
Nettie was silent a moment longer than Ruth expected before saying, “I do hope my presence is not a burden.”
Ruth pulled her cousin to a stop. “Nonsense, we all love having you.”
