Pierce Waverly, the Earl of Devonmont, is estranged from his mother. When his mother's new companion, Mrs. Camilla Stuart, writes to tell him that his mother is seriously ill, he goes home. But when he learns that the lovely widow tricked him in order to effect a holiday reconciliation, he refuses to stay.
New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries's "exceptionally entertaining" (Booklist) Hellions of Halstead Hall series offers a charming gift of a romance about an unexpected Christmas reunion that's sparked by a clever ruse.

Pierce Waverly, the Earl of Devonmont, has never forgiven his parents for inexplicably abandoning him to distant relatives as a child. Nevertheless, when he receives word that the stranger he calls "Mother" is gravely ill, the unabashed rogue makes a rare return to Montcliff, his country estate.

There he finds that the woman is perfectly healthy--and that he has fallen for a cunning ruse crafted by her lady's companion, Mrs. Camilla Stuart. The lively vicar's widow, too bright and beautiful not to arouse the scoundrel in Pierce, is determined to reconcile the Earl and Lady Devonmont. None of them can predict the secrets, both heartening and shocking, divulged between a mother and son, or between two lovers, each haunted by their pasts, that will make this Christmas night at Montcliff one to remember--and the glorious night after, one to treasure for a lifetime in this "sharply witty, deliciously sexy" (Library Journal) romance.