A
Lion Is Not Just For Christmas
by
Henriette Gyland
Is
there life after the circus has left town?
Circus performer Justine Belmont works with big cats, but when the circus is
disbanded and the old lion is sold to a private menagerie at a stately home in
Norfolk, she is asked to spend a few weeks settling him into his new
environment. When she arrives at the estate, however, she receives a mixed
welcome.
The
groundsman Tom Yates resents her presence as he doesn’t feel he needs her help
with the lion. He revises his opinion when he sees the bond between her and the
big cat, and she and Tom grow closer, although Justine remains torn about her
feelings for him. The lady of the house, Priscilla - who is married to the
reclusive owner, Lord Brooks’s, grandson - is not so easily convinced. She
perceives Justine as a threat for the male attention and her plans for the
manor. And her two young daughters are a little too curious about the lion for
their own good.
When
unsettling events occur, Justine begins to wonder if there is more to
Priscilla’s animosity than meets the eye. Can Justine keep herself and everyone
else safe until it’s time for her to leave again and start a new life
elsewhere?
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Excerpt
A Lion Is Not Just For Christmas
Justine
and Rexus have been at the stately home for a few days now when she catches the
baronet’s two granddaughters teasing the lion in his cage.
The
next morning was slightly hazy, and the air had the kind of dampness to it that
seemed to seep into a person’s bones. Nevertheless the weather had never
stopped Justine from doing what she needed to do, and she went to collect the
bucket of meat for Rexus, which she’d left to defrost overnight in one of the
old garages which was being used as the café’s food storage.
A
frustrated roar greeted her when she was halfway across the lawn. The youngest
of Henry’s two daughters, the one named Cordelia, had climbed through the
spectator barrier and was teasing Rexus by running a stick along the fencing
creating a deafening clatter while the other girl looked on.
Justine
dropped the bucket of meat and in a few strides she reached the enclosure and
snatched the stick out of the girl’s hand, then bundled her back onto the other
side of the barrier.
‘What
do you think you’re doing?’ she shouted. ‘This is a lion!’
‘I
just wanted to play with him.’ Cordelia’s lip wobbled at Justine’s harsh words.
‘You
have no right to talk to my sister in that way,’ said the older girl Portia,
her pert little nose in the air. ‘You’re nothing but the hired help.’
‘The
hired help, huh? If it comes to teaching two rude children a well-deserved
lesson, I can certainly help with that!’
‘You
can’t teach us anything. We go to a private school. I bet you can’t even read
or write.’ Portia’s nose stuck further in the air so the girl was in danger of
toppling backwards. Her cut-glass accent, so like her mother’s, grated on
Justine’s ears.
This
was too absurd, and Justine laughed. ‘Is that so? Well, I’d wager I know a
thing or two they don’t teach you at your fine school.’
‘Done.’
Portia’s haughty expression was replaced by a cheeky grin, and she stuck out
her hand. ‘A fiver, and we shake on it.’
‘I can
do better than that.’ Justine spat in the palm of her hand and presented it to
Portia. The girl hesitated for a moment, then she did the same, and they shook
hands.
‘But
I still think I might be cleverer than you,’ she said.
‘Oh,
I don’t doubt it.’ Justine’s tone was dry. ‘I only went to school during the
winter when the circus season ended.’
‘Only
in the winter?’ Cordelia cut in. ‘That’s so unfair!’
‘Guess
I was lucky. Now, about Rexus, you can’t play with lions, not the way you play
with a cat.’
~ ~ ~
Henriette Gyland grew up in Northern
Denmark but moved to England after she graduated from the University of
Copenhagen. She wrote her first book when she was ten, a tale of two orphan
sisters running away to Egypt, fortunately to be adopted by a perfect family
they meet on the Orient Express.
Between that first literary exploit and now, she has worked in the Danish civil service, for a travel agent, a consultancy company, in banking, hospital administration, and for a county court before setting herself up as a freelance translator and linguist. Henriette recently began to pursue her writing in earnest winning the New Talent Award in 2011 from the Festival of Romance and a Commended from the Yeovil Literary Prize.
Between that first literary exploit and now, she has worked in the Danish civil service, for a travel agent, a consultancy company, in banking, hospital administration, and for a county court before setting herself up as a freelance translator and linguist. Henriette recently began to pursue her writing in earnest winning the New Talent Award in 2011 from the Festival of Romance and a Commended from the Yeovil Literary Prize.
Henriette lives in London.
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