The Black Beast of Belleterre: A Victorian Christmas Novella

By Mary Jo Putney

The Beauty and the Beast: a haunted and hidden lord, a desperate young beauty, and a marriage of convenience between two people who yearn for more…

 

James Markland, Lord Falconer, knows that he is ugly, very ugly, and he lives a life of seclusion, wearing a heavily cowled mantle to conceal his face from the world. When he learns that a neighboring girl, the exquisite young Ariel Hawthorne, is about to be sold into marriage with a revolting lecher, he offers her the only protection he can: his name. Of course it will be a marriage in name only, because what woman could want him?

 

A talented artist, Ariel is cursed by her beauty and vulnerability.  Though she never sees her husband's face, she is drawn to his kindness and generosity, but he is determined to push her away.  Will he allow her to love him before it's too late?  Perhaps the magic of Christmas can bring them together…

 

 *This seasonal stand-alone Regency novella is also published in the author's Christmas Revels collection.

What readers say:

• "The Black Beast of Belleterre [is] the perfect Beauty and the Beast retelling with every detail wonderfully re-envisioned."
• "When I was a teen, I read this and fell in love with The Black Beast Of Belleterre. It is a Beauty and the Beast sort of tale. It pulls in everything we hope for in a love story!"
• "[The Black Beast of Belleterre] was an amazing story!"

About the Author
A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USAToday bestselling author, Mary Jo Putney's novels are known for psychological depth and intensity and include historical and contemporary romance, fantasy, and young adult fantasy. Winner of numerous writing awards, including two RITAs, three Romantic Times Career Achievement awards, and the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award from Romance Writers of America, she has had numerous books listed among Library Journal's and Booklist's top romances of the year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mary Jo Putney
• Release date: Dec 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393747437

Mary Jo Putney

Mary Jo Putney is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than sixty novels and novellas. A ten-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America RITA® award, she has won the honor twice and is on the RWA Honor Roll for bestselling authors. In 2013 she was awarded the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. Though most of her books have been historical romance, she has also published contemporary romances, historical fantasy, and young adult paranormal historicals. She lives in Maryland with her nearest and dearest, both two- and four-footed. Visit her at MaryJoPutney.com.

Book preview

The Black Beast of Belleterre

The Black Beast of Belleterre

A Victorian Christmas Novella

Mary Jo Putney

Pandamax Press

To Binnie Braunstein,

who has more Beauties and Beasties

than anyone I know!

Contents

Foreword

The Black Beast of Belleterre

Author’s Note

Also by Mary Jo Putney

About the Author

Foreword

This is a classic Beauty and the Beast story, since who doesn't love Beauty and the Beast? It's also my only Victorian Christmas novella, because it was for an anthology called A Victorian Christmas.

James Markland, Lord Falconer, knows how ugly he is, and he lives a life of seclusion, wearing a heavily cowled mantle to conceal his face from the world. When he learns that a neighboring girl, the exquisite young Ariel Hawthorne, is about to be sold into marriage with a revolting lecher, he offers her the only protection he can: his name. Of course it will be a marriage in name only, because what woman could want him? Little does he know!

This story is something of a Christmas miracle in its own right because I overcommitted when I agreed to write The Black Beast of Belleterre, and I found myself slammed up against a genuine drop-dead deadline. I had eight days to write the story–and for the first and only time in my writing life, I sat down at my computer every morning and wrote ten pages exactly.

Eight days later, I had a finished story that is one of the best and most loved novellas I've ever done. And if that wasn't a miracle, I don't know what is!

Happy Holidays!

Mary Jo Putney

The Black Beast of Belleterre

He was ugly, very ugly. He hadn't known that when he was young and had a mother who loved him in spite of his face. When people had looked at him oddly, he had assumed it was because he was the son of a lord. Since there were a few children who were willing to be friends with him, he thought no more about it.

It was only later, when his mother had died and accident had augmented his natural ugliness, that James Markland realized how different he was. People stared, or if they were polite, quickly looked away.

His own father would not look directly at him on the rare occasions when they met. The sixth Baron Falconer had been a very handsome man; James didn't blame him for despising a son who was so clearly unworthy of the ancient, noble name they both bore.

Nonetheless James was the heir, so Lord Falconer had handled the distasteful matter with consummate, aristocratic grace. He installed the boy at a small, remote estate, seen that competent tutors were hired, and thought no more about him.

The chief tutor, Mr. Grice, was a harsh and pious man, generous both with beatings and with lectures on the inescapable evil of human nature. On his more jovial days, Mr. Grice would tell his student how fortunate the boy was to be beastly in a way that all the world could see; most men carried their ugliness in their souls, where they could too easily forget their basic wickedness. James should feel grateful that he had been granted such a signal opportunity to be humble.

James was not grateful, but he was resigned. His life could have been worse. The servants were paid enough to tolerate the boy they served, and one of the grooms was even friendly. So James had a friend, a library, and a horse. He was content, most of the time.

When the sixth lord died–in a gentlemanly fashion, while playing whist–James had become the seventh Baron Falconer. In the twenty-one years of his life, he had spent a total of perhaps ten nights under the same roof as his late father.

He had felt very little at his father's death-not grief, not triumph, not guilt. Perhaps there had been regret, but only a little. It was hard to regret not being better acquainted with a man who had chosen to be a stranger to his only son.

As soon as his father died, James had taken two trusted servants and flown into a wider world, like the soaring bird of the family crest. Egypt, Africa, India, Australia; he had seen them all during his years of travel. He discovered that the life of an eccentric English lord suited him, and developed habits that enabled him to keep the world at a safe distance. Seeing the monks in a monastery in Cyprus had given him the idea of wearing a heavily cowled robe that would conceal him from casual curiosity. Ever after, he wore a similar robe or hood when he had to go among strangers.

Because he was young and unable to repress his shameful lusts, he had also taken advantage of his wealth and distance from home to educate himself about the sins of the flesh. For the right price, it was easy to engage deft, experienced women who would not only lie with him, but would even pretend they didn't care how he looked.

One or two, the best actresses of the lot, had been almost convincing when they claimed to enjoy his company, and his touch. He did not resent their lies; the world was a hard place, and if lying might earn a girl more money, one couldn't expect her to tell the truth. Nonetheless, his pleasure was tainted by the bitter awareness that only his wealth made him acceptable.

He returned to England at the age of twenty-six, stronger for having seen the world beyond the borders of his homeland. Strong enough to accept the limits of his life. He would never have a wife, for no gently bred girl would marry him if she had a choice, and hence he would never have a child.

Nor would he have a mistress, no matter how much his body yearned for the brief, joyous forgetting that only a woman could provide. Though he was philosophical by nature and had decided very early that he would not allow self-pity, there were limits to philosophy. The only reasons why a woman would submit to his embraces were for money or from pity. Neither reason was endurable. Though he could bear his ugliness and isolation, he could not have borne the knowledge that he was pathetic.

Rather than dwell in bitterness, he was grateful for the wealth that buffered him from the world. Unlike ugly men who were poor, Falconer was in a position to create his own world, and he did.

What made his life worth living was the fact that when he returned to England, he had fallen in love. Not with a person, of

Reviews for The Black Beast of Belleterre

[Kovács Viktória Jozefa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Egy tökéletesen megírt romantikus szép mese . Könnyű olvasmány amely elvarázsol rövid időre.

[Sandra Hernandez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely love this story
Even better than the original!!