The Christmas Conquest is Free!

The Christmas Conquest, book one of the Ladies’ Essential Guide to the Art of Seduction series of Regency romances, is free through the end of May. If you haven’t begun this series yet, now’s the perfect opportunity – book six, The Duke’s Desire, will be published in May.

I’ve changed the price in my online store as well as at the retailers. Although I added the epilogue, Upon a Midnight Clear, into the book file a year and a half ago, it appears that Amazon is still delivering the original file. (People are still downloading the epilogue.) So, if you’d like both book and epilogue in one file, get the copy for your Kindle from my online store.

Also, I’m learning how to do cool things in the store – for example, if you put The Christmas Conquest in your cart, then go to your cart, you’ll see an offer to buy the rest of the series to date at a discounted price. This bundle will be delivered as individual books, but they’ll all be delivered at the same time. I really like this and will set up more of these offers in future.

The store is set up in Canadian dollars. It also detects the location of your ISP and will invite you to change the displayed currency based on that location. Instead of me setting territorial prices, they’ll be converted in real time. I’m curious to see how well that works out or whether it will need a tweak.

The Christmas Conquest, book one of Claire Delacroix's Regency romance series the Ladies' Essential Guide to the Art of Seduction, is a free read for a limited time
The Christmas Conquest, a Regency romance novella by Claire Delacroix

Love was not part of the plan when this marriage was arranged…

Rhys Bettencourt, Baron Trevelaine, had every intention of avoiding his family’s curse. An arranged marriage to a plain bluestocking of fortune should have ensured the provision of at least one heir. After all, it was beloved Bettencourt wives who always died in childbirth. But practical Catherine undermined her husband’s scheme by stealing his heart. The only way for Rhys to protect her is to deny them both physical satisfaction, against his own desires.


Catherine Carruthers was content to wed for practical considerations and accept an arranged marriage to please her family. Two years later, though, Catherine is certain that her dashing aristocrat of a husband regrets his choice and that her marriage will never be more. She accepts an invitation to Rockmorton Manor for Christmas to decide whether to leave Rhys and return to her father’s house. Upon arrival, though, Catherine discovers pages of sensual advice left in her room—as well as Rhys determined to convince her to stay. Can their marriage be saved?


Armed with information and with little to lose, Catherine embarks upon a campaign of seduction that Rhys is powerless to resist—even as he fears for Catherine’s fate if he surrenders to temptation. Caught between love and the wretched curse, can Rhys find a way to keep his cherished wife safely by his side?

Buy the ebook:

Buy directly from the author at Hazel & Honeysuckle Press and have your ebook delivered via BookFunnel

Upon a Midnight Clear, bonus epilogue to The Christmas Conquest, book one of The Ladies' Essential Guide to the Art of Seduction book one, by Claire Delacroix

Rhys and Catherine’s story has a bonus epilogue, which was originally available to my newsletter subscribers, called Upon a Midnight Clear. On September 28, 2023, the bonus epilogue was added into the ebook of The Christmas Conquest.

If you bought The Christmas Conquest after that date, you’ll get both.

If you bought The Christmas Conquest before that date, your portal of choice might offer an updated version, or you can download if from BookFunnel using the link below.

If you have the older version or the newsletter signup version, that link should still work.


Buy The Christmas Conquest in mass market paperback.

This edition includes Upon a Midnight Clear.

Buy directly from the author at Hazel & Honeysuckle Press and get your book signed

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