Lily and the Duke (22 page)

“You will. I’ll help you.”

“I know. I can do anything as long as I have you.” He pressed his lips to her chin. “But I want to tell you what I did on the continent.”

“You don’t—” The distress on his face stopped her. “All right.”

“I don’t remember much about the first two months. I was drunk most of the time, and I spent my nights in an expensive Paris brothel. Not my finest hour.” He took a few deep breaths. “One day I woke up and decided to go to the Louvre. Walking around, looking at the works of the great masters, I decided I wanted more from my life. The next day I traveled to the Orient and spent three months at a Buddhist temple studying and praying. I thought about my father and Morgan, and what they would think if they could see what a mess I had made of everything. But you were right, Lily. I didn’t mourn for them. I couldn’t. I turned off my feelings for them long ago, when I was sent away from Laurel Ridge as a boy, to keep from pining for them. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get those feelings back.”

Lily kissed his cheek and rubbed his shoulders. “Have you mourned for them yet, Daniel?”

“Yes, I’ve started to, love. They both meant a great deal to me, especially Morgan. He and I were very close as lads.”

“I’ll help you if you need me.”

“I always need you. This is helping me right now, talking to you.” He cleared his throat. “When I left the temple, I traveled to Florence to see more art, and then I spent several months on the beaches of Nice, reading philosophy, sketching, and thinking. Around that time, I sent my mother a letter, apologizing to her for leaving and vowing to be a better person and a better duke. Then I made my way home.”

Lily kissed his mouth chastely, urging him to continue.

“I got home and found my mother and Aunt Lucy planning this house party. Suddenly I was overwhelmed again, unable to bear the thought of being the Duke of Lybrook. I would be the host of the house party, in charge of everything. I would have to make small talk and make everyone feel welcome. My father and Morgan were good at that sort of thing, but not me. Never me. I was still ignorant in the affairs of the estate as well. I wanted an escape, just for a little while. So I sent Amelia an invitation to the house party.”

Lily sighed. None of this mattered now, but she couldn’t help a little jolt of jealousy.

“Are you all right, love?”

“Yes, yes,” she said. “I just can’t abide the mention of her. But do go on.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not proud of my association with her, but I don’t want to have any secrets from you, Lily. I don’t.”

“I know. Go ahead.”

“Amelia came to the house party and I made arrangements to meet her clandestinely on the side of the main house the night of the ball. You’ll never know how glad I am that I caught you instead of her. You changed everything for me. You made me want to be the duke, the best duke I can be. I want to make my father and Morgan proud.”

“You will, Daniel, you will.”

“Amelia came to my chamber that night, but I couldn’t make love to her. I told her to go. All I could think about was you. Your innocent sharpness, the way you felt in my arms when I kissed you, when I danced with you. I felt as though my arms were created to hold you, Lily. I couldn’t sleep that night or eat breakfast the next morning. I was consumed with thoughts of you. No woman had ever affected me like that before.”

“So you and Amelia never…”

“Not since before my father and Morgan died. In fact, after my two months of debauchery in Paris, I was celibate until you.”

Lily choked back a sob.

“No one ever mattered until you. It wasn’t the most romantic way for us to meet, and I never should have taken you to my bed the next day, but it worked out, thank God.” He caressed her cheek. “I’m sorry you had to deal with Amelia. You’ll never know how sorry. I don’t know what she said to you, but if I could make it all go away, I would.”

“It’s all right.” Lily threaded her fingers through his hair and massaged his scalp lightly. “She told me bunches of lies and said if I didn’t back away from you, she’d seduce Thomas. She did try to bed him, he told me, but he resisted her, thank God.”

“He’s a better man than I.” Daniel sighed.

“No, just one who knows what his future holds. You never felt you had a future, did you? I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but I can’t help but blame your father for doing that to you.”

“My father was a good man, Lily, and a great duke. He just made a few mistakes in parenting along the way.”

“A few mistakes? You’re very forgiving. We’ll do better by our children, I promise.” Lily touched her abdomen, her insides aching with loss. “I’m so sorry about our child. I wish he were still growing in me.”

“We don’t know if there ever was a child, love.” Daniel closed his large hand over Lily’s. “But not to worry. We’ll have more, as few or as many as you want.”

“All I want is a little boy with blond hair and incredible green eyes like his papa.”

He reached up and stroked her cheek with his thumb. “We’ll have to have two then, because I want a little girl with dark hair and piercing cognac eyes that can heal a person’s heart.” He moaned softly, kissing the silky skin above her breasts. “I do wish we could start on them now.”

“So do I,” Lily said, “but in the meantime…” She fumbled with the buttons on his trousers and slid off his lap to kneel before him.

“Lily, you’re still weak. You don’t have to…”

“Hush,” was all she said, before her lips were otherwise engaged.

S
ix Weeks
Later

After she changed into her new sheer green nightdress and brushed her long dark hair until it shone, Lily waited in her bedchamber for Daniel to come to her. He appeared in a silk dressing robe, his hair glittering around his shoulders, his green eyes filled with smoke.

“Good evening, wife,” he said huskily.

“What took you so long, husband?” she asked innocently.

“In a hurry are you?”

“Not so much,” she said coyly. “We have a lifetime.”

Daniel removed his dressing robe and lay down next to her on the bed. “I think you’re even more beautiful now that you’re my wife.” He eased the sheer gown off her shoulders. “I wouldn’t have thought it possible.”

“I want you to do something for me,” Lily said, as he cupped her full breasts, massaging them and teasing her nipples with his thumbs.

“Anything.”

“Put your babe in me tonight, Daniel. I want to have your child.”

He looked up at her, his eyes blazing. He opened his mouth to speak, but she placed her fingers on his soft lips.

“And after that, I’d like to try the…
other
entrance.”

“God, are you sure?”

“Very sure. I want to experience everything with you.”

Daniel moaned softly as he took her mouth, his capable hands ridding the rest of her body of the gown. He showered her face and neck with light fluttery pecks, pausing at her ears to suck on her lobes and tease her ear canals with his tongue. Lily shivered, running her fingers through his blond locks and moaning his name softly. Daniel made his way down to her breasts and ravished them, tugging on her nipples until she arched off the bed, her fingernails digging into the hard muscle of his shoulders.

“God, how I’ve missed you, Lily,” he rasped, kissing and biting her inner thighs.

He pushed his tongue into her pussy and tugged on her swollen flesh, sucking it into his mouth. Lily grabbed his head and laced her fingers through his silky hair, grinding into his face harder and harder.

“Daniel,” she moaned. “Now, Daniel, I need you!”

He kissed her belly, her breasts, her mouth. She reached down and clutched his cock, his breath blowing short puffs against her neck. She led him to her opening, which was warm and wet, ready to receive him.

From the wall opposite the bed, the serene face of St. Praxedis watched over them.

J
ohannes or Jan Vermeer van Delft
, born in 1632, was a Dutch genre painter. His most famous painting is
Girl with a Pearl Earring.

When Vermeer married Catherina Bolnes in 1653, he converted to Catholicism, which might explain his interest in the subject of
St. Praxedis
. The painting may be Vermeer’s earliest surviving work. It was only recently conclusively attributed to Vermeer.

The Duke of Lybrook is a fictional character, so of course he never owned
St. Praxedis
. It was discovered in 1943 in a small New York auction room and was most recently sold in 2014 at Christie’s in London on behalf of the Barbara Piasecka Johnson Collection Foundation. Who knows where it was in 1853? Perhaps it was hanging in a ducal residence near Bath.

After his death in 1675, Vermeer was overlooked by most art collectors for nearly two hundred years, until a French critic re-discovered him in 1866. However, I like to think that a young lord might have purchased one of his works around 1850, and that a young lady, enamored with art, might have discovered his talents and become fascinated with his life and work.

D
ear Reader
,

Thank you for reading
Lily and the Duke
. If you want to find out about my current backlist and future releases, please like my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/helenhardtauthor
. I often do giveaways, as well.

If you enjoyed the story, please take the time to leave a review on a site like Amazon or Goodreads. I welcome all feedback.

I wish you all the best!

Helen

S
ex and the Season
:

Lily and the Duke

Rose in Bloom

Lady Alexandra’s Lover
(coming soon)

Sophie’s Voice
(coming soon)

Bakervsille Saga:

Cowboy Heat

Cowboy Lust

Cowboy Passion

Daughters of the Prairie:

The Outlaw’s Angel

Lessons of the Heart

Song of the Raven

Snow Creek Series (coming soon):

Craving

Obsession

Possession

1
. The theme
of a story is its central idea or ideas. To put it more simply, it’s what the story
means
. How would you characterize the theme of
Lily and the Duke?

2
. Discuss
the relationship between Lily and Rose, and compare and contrast it with what you know about the relationship between Daniel and Morgan.

3
. How do
you suppose Daniel’s life would have differed had his father and Morgan lived? Do you think he and Lily would have found each other and married? Why or why not?

4
. Discuss Lily’s personality
. Why do you think she finds such magic in the mundane? Discuss what she might have found fascinating about a cricket chirping and a weed in the garden. And what about Daniel’s hair and eyes? Do you think they’re truly as amazing as Lily suggests? Or is she looking through the eyes of love?

5
. Helen Hardt
calls this series of novels
Sex and the Season
, a Victorian version of
Sex and the City
. Draw parallels between Lily, Rose, Alexandra, and Sophie and Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda of
Sex and the City
. Which characters are similar and in what ways?

6
. Get
online and pull up an image of Vermeer’s
St. Praxedis
. What do you think Lily sees in this painting? Knowing her, why does she enjoy Vermeer’s work so much? Why do you think Daniel purchased the painting?

7
. Who defies
convention and authority more, Lily or Alexandra? How so?

8
. What did
you think of Lily’s decision to sleep with Daniel? When did you first realize that Lily had feelings for Daniel? And vice versa?

9
. How did
you feel when Lord Ashford told Lily she was marrying the duke? What did you think of Lily’s reaction at a time when most young ladies of the peerage would have been thrilled with such a match? Discuss arranged marriages. Some countries still practice arranged marriage today. What would you do if you were forced into marriage?

1
0
. Discuss the relationship between Daniel and his mother. Maggie seems like a loving person, yet she sent her younger son away when he was seven because her husband thought it best. Taking into consideration the era, what might have gone through her mind at that time? What might have gone through Daniel’s mind? Do you feel Daniel has forgiven his mother? Why or why not?

1
1
. Lily mentions that she and Rose suffered advances by Lord Ludley when they were young, yet they never told anyone. Why do you think they stayed silent? Do you think they are scarred by these encounters? Why or why not?

1
2
. Do you think Lily and Daniel’s marriage will be successful? Why or why not?

1
3
. How are Lily and her mother alike? How are they different? What kind of relationship do you think Lily and her mother had while Lily was growing up?

1
4
. This book is full of colorful supporting characters: Lord Evan Xavier, Thomas Jameson, Cameron Price, Lady Ashford, and Lady Amelia Gregory, to name a few. Discuss the roles of these characters. What is their purpose in the story?

1
5
. Rose and Cameron have a story coming next. What do you foresee in their future? What do you think will happen to Lord Evan?