by Sara Bennett
Still he couldn’t help but admire her ability to play the duchess. Was this the same girl he had met in the lane long ago? The girl who rode bareback, showing her legs, her curls tumbling about her?
That was why he loved her.
Because in a moment he could brush aside the elegant duchess and bring out that hoyden again. She was always there when they spent time on their narrow boat on the canals. Sinclair, painting in the sunlight, shoes off and trousers rolled up, while Eugenie paddled in the water or sat dreaming.
“Lucky old you.” His uncle was watching him, smiling with satisfaction. “You made the right choice, eh?”
“She’s been the making of me. Everybody says so.”
Eugenie had reached them and now she took his arm. The curve of her growing belly beneath her gown was only visible to him, and he felt a swell of pride. Their child. An heir to the dukedom, or perhaps a girl with wild curls? Whatever it was they would love it.
Sinclair was happy, and gazing into Eugenie’s emerald eyes he saw his happiness reflected. Even his mother had come around, now she knew there was a child on the way. Eugenie said the dowager duchess was lonely, without Annabelle to fuss over. His sister was happily married and reigning queenlike in London society.
Even having the Belmonts for in-laws was not quite as bad as he’d feared. The house he’d bought them was far enough away that he did not have to see them too often, although he was happy to have Jack stay at Somerton whenever he wished. Jack had always been his favorite Belmont.
Apart from Eugenie.
At night, when he closed the bedchamber door, he had her all to himself. Then they were simply Eugenie and Sinclair, wife and husband, together. No one to judge them with cynical eyes, no one to care about who they were or had been. They were perfectly matched.
“Sinclair,” she whispered, her breath warm against his skin, “I can read your mind.”
He smiled and lifting her hand, kissed her fingers, heavy with rings. “Can you now? What am I thinking then, Duchess?”
“You are wishing you were a wicked baron and could ride off with me into the night.”
She’d made him laugh. “You know me very well.”
Her green eyes glowed. “What if I dared you to abduct me?”
His eyebrows rose. “Here? Now?”
She thought he wouldn’t do it. She didn’t believe him capable of it. Sinclair grinned and reached for her. They were about to create another scandal and he was looking forward to every moment of it.
About the Author
SARA BENNETT has always had an interest in history, and to survive a series of mind-numbing jobs, she turned to writing historical romance. She lives in an old house with her husband and two children in the state of Victoria, Australia, where she tries to keep the house and garden tidy, but rarely succeeds—she’d rather be writing or reading. You can write to her at www.sara-bennett.com.
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Romances by Sara Bennett
To Pleasure a Duke
A Most Sinful Proposal
Led Astray by a Rake
Her Secret Lover
A Seduction in Scarlet
Mistress of Scandal
Rules of Passion
Lessons in Seduction
Kissing the Bride
Beloved Highlander
Once He Loves
The Rose and the Shield
The Lily and the Sword
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
TO PLEASURE A DUKE. Copyright © 2011 by Sara Bennett. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition NOVEMBER 2011 ISBN: 9780062096135
Print Edition ISBN: 9780061339189
FIRST EDITION
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