Winning
Back His Duchess
Escape
to beautiful Venice for this Victorian marriage reunited story…
An invitation to Venice…
To save their marriage!
Suggesting divorce to her estranged husband, Jamie,
Duke of Byson, takes all of Rose Wilkins’s courage. Years of distance and
heartbreak have taken a toll—she needs a new start. But Jamie won’t hear of
divorce, because of the scandal alone. His counteroffer is a trip to
Venice… Might discovering Venice’s delights together rekindle the still-simmering
desire that drew Rose to Jamie as a starry-eyed young American heiress?
Rose stretched her stockinged feet out before her on the
striped blanket, beyond the shade cast by her parasol, to let the sun warm her
toes during the afternoon picnic by the lake.
Her satin shoes were cast to one side.
It felt naughty, delicious, and for a moment she let herself merely be
in the day. The moment. She had a surprisingly deep sleep after their
dinner last night, deeper than she had enjoyed for a long time. Now that all the cold ham and chicken salad,
the cakes and lemonade and champagne, had been consumed, the day had turned
lazy and somnolent all around them.
She closed her
eyes, and for a moment she was sitting by another river, when Jamie held her
hand for the very first time, and she dared trust, for the first time in her
life. How sweet it was, how perfect.
How had it all
gone so wrong?
Rose opened her
eyes and studied Jamie, carefully tilting her parasol so her interest wouldn’t
be noticed. He sat with Beatrice under
the shade of a tree, Bea chatting merrily as he smiled up at her, lounging on
his elbow beside her. It was not the way
he usually smiled at Rose, intent and questioning, but filled with amused
light, at ease, careless. Young and
carefree, in a way she hadn’t seen him in so very long.
He turned his
face up to the sun, his smile widening with delight as if he was greedy for
that warmth. The light behind him, the
shadows cast around the sharply-carved angles of his face, made him look like a
god or a saint, gilded and unearthly beautiful, and her heart ached and yearned
for him as it once had, when she had feared she would burst if he did not smile
at her.
Lady Madewell sat
down next to her, her large straw hat concealing her face, her bracelets
jingling. “The sun does agree with you,
Rose dear! You look very content.”
Rose wondered
wryly if she often looked discontent these days, and she smiled and
wriggled her toes. “I always feel happy
at Pryde.”
“And you are
always most welcome here. But I meant
what I said—perhaps some time away could do you some good. I always feel invigorated by travel. The London Season is most wearying, to even
the most hardy souls among us, and city air is so unhealthy.”
“I will certainly
consider it. But I enjoy the
distractions of London.” And so she did;
at a party, the theater, a gallery, she had no time to think. But travel was sounding more tempting all the
time.
“Yes, my dear,
do. I should not recommend Baden with
the royals. Your sister is truly worthy,
of course, but it all sounds so dull.”
They were silent
for a moment, listening to the breeze rustle through the trees like whispers,
the laughter of the others, the splash of oars in the waters of the lake
drifting lazily past. Paul claimed
Beatrice for a game of boules, leaving Jamie alone.
“Oh, Byson, why
don’t you take your wife for a row on the lake?” Lady Madewell called. “I’m sure the water breezes would do her
good, it’s become such a warm day.”
Rose, shocked by
Lady Madewell’s suggestion (had she turned to matchmaking like Lady Heath?),
glanced at Jamie, sure he would protest.
After their kiss last night, the glory and regret, surely he would not
want to be alone with her in a tiny boat, adrift in the middle of the lake,
only the two of them. What would they
say? What would she do? Grab him again?
But he just
shrugged, and kept smiling. “Of course,
I should enjoy that very much, if Rose agrees.”
“I don’t think…”
Rose began. She looked the lake, the
shiver of the breeze on the water, the couples laughing close together in the
boats…
She gasped at a sudden vision, a memory, of
another summerhouse, a kiss that led to desperate lovemaking against the
wall...
Purchase Links –
US - https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Back-Duchess-Dollar-Duchesses/dp/1335407758/
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Winning-Back-Duchess-Dollar-Duchesses/dp/1335407758/
Author Bio – Amanda wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen--a vast historical epic starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not her strongest subject...)
She's never since used
algebra, but her books have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA
Award, the Romantic Times BOOKReviews Reviewers' Choice Award, the Booksellers
Best, the National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion. She
lives in Santa Fe with a Poodle, a cat, a wonderful husband, and a very and far
too many books and royal memorabilia collections.
When not writing or reading,
she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and
watching the Food Network--even though she doesn't cook.
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