In Need of a Duke (The Heart of a Duke Book 1)

by Christi Caldwell

  “I can and I did. Consider it a gift for your upcoming nuptials.”

  Michael looked away, besieged by the same panic that had driven him to the Countess of Adamson’s doorstep. His brother could make the financial difficulties disappear. Michael himself could have done that, but neither of them could erase the scandal of Michael’s past.

  Aldora slipped her fingers into his hands and gave a firm squeeze. “I love you,” she whispered, when he finally returned his stare to her. “With you at my side, I feel like I can do anything.”

  Emotion filled Michael’s throat, making speech difficult. He knew what she spoke of. When Aldora was near, he was filled with a lightness that had been extinguished the day he’d dueled and been banished to Wales. He’d never imagined he’d feel alive and hopeful after those days. He’d never imagined he would smile again or laugh…or find love.

  “I love you,” he said, his voice rough to his own ears. He tipped her chin up. “Lady Aldora, if you wed me you’ll make me the most—”

  “If you don’t say yes, you are a daft ninny of a girl!”

  This time the interruption came from the three interlopers at the entrance of the doorway. Michael imagined the girl with tight brown ringlets and familiar brown eyes was in fact a sister.

  “She’ll marry you,” the other young lady, with honey blonde locks called out.

  Aldora choked back a laugh and touched her fingers to Michael’s chin in a like motion. “I do not need anyone to tell me that I want to wed you. You and only you. I thought I needed a powerful peer, Michael, but what I needed was more than a duke.” She leaned up and whispered close to his ear. Her breath fanned his cheek. “I needed you.”

  Epilogue

  Anne tugged at Aldora’s hand. “Do tell us again,” she fairly pleaded.

  Katherine snorted. “She’s already told us three times.”

  Anne frowned over at her twin sister. “If we are to land the heart of a duke, I want to be sure I understand exactly what we need to do.”

  Aldora laughed, and shoved her spectacles back on the bridge of her nose. “You don’t need a duke, Anne. I’d imagine my marriage to Michael would have shown you that only love is necessary.”

  Anne rose in a flurry of ivory ruffled skirts. She began to pace. “Oh, love would certainly be welcome, but a duke,” she slammed her fist into the palm of her hand in a very Machiavellian way. “Why, a duke is absolutely essential.”

  “I just want to avoid marriage to cousin Bertrand,” Katherine muttered.

  Aldora frowned at her suddenly somber sister. Her heart tugged at such practical marital goals for the young girl. Katherine should dream of love for herself, just as she’d dreamed of a grand love for Aldora. “There is no need to marry cousin Bertrand.”

  “Tell that to Mother,” Katherine said, and folded her hands primly on her lap. “Mother is forever saying someone needs to wed him, just in case something was to happen to Benedict…”

  “Nothing is going to happen to Benedict,” Aldora assured her.

  “Tell that to Mother, as well,” Katherine said on a beleaguered sigh.

  Anne snapped her fingers together in an unladylike fashion that would have appalled their dear mother. “We must focus on my need…er…our need for a duke.”

  From her spot at the window-seat, Aldora studied the eldest of the twin sisters. She chewed at her lower lip. She’d never taken Anne for a future title-grasping young lady. Instead, she appreciated Anne for her spirit and liveliness. With her beauty, the girl would be the toast of the ton when she made her Come Out. No, neither Anne nor Katherine would have to make a desperate match, but rather a match of her own choosing.

  “Well, then,” Anne stopped mid-pace. “Where is the pendant?”

  “The pendant?” Aldora repeated.

  Anne pointed her eyes to the ceiling. “Yes, the necklace, silly. I imagine one would need to wear the heart in order to…” Her words trailed off. “You don’t have it,” she breathed.

  “Oh, dear. Now comes Anne’s theatrics,” Katherine muttered to herself.

  Usually one to turn a frown on her younger sister, Anne ignored Katherine.

  Aldora opened her mouth.

  “Valera?”

  Aldora shook her head.

  “Alison?”

  “Charlo…”

  Katherine jumped out of her seat and walked over to Anne. “Obviously the pendant is now gone,” she interjected. Katherine looked to Aldora. “That’s right, isn’t it? After all, each of your friend’s wore the necklace and are now wed, and therefore there is no need for a single one of them to keep the item.”

  That was Katherine. The clear-headed, logical sibling. Sometimes, Aldora worried about Katherine’s calm practicality. She needed just a bit more of Anne’s romantic spirit.

  Anne collapsed into a nearby sofa amidst a flutter of ivory ruffles. She tossed her forearm across her brow. “You’ve gone and lost it. I shall never have a duke.”

  “You don’t need a duke,” Aldora felt inclined to point out.

  Anne glowered at her. “I most certainly do. A nice, wealthy, pleasant-looking one.” She paused. “Especially wealthy.

  Katherine tugged at one of Anne’s golden curls. “Well, I for one do not need a duke. I need a reliable, comfortable gentleman who will treat me with affection and…”

  Anne snorted, and swatted at her hand. “That is what dogs are for.”

  Katherine bristled. “I’d have love, too,” she added a touch of defensiveness in her response. “I’m merely pointing out that I’d…”

  “It matters not,” Anne cut in. “Aldora still owes us an explanation.”

  Aldora’s lips twitched with Anne’s flourish for the dramatics. Her sisters couldn’t be more different in both appearance and temperament. “The necklace has been returned to the gypsy who first gifted it to us.”

  “Nooooo!” Anne exclaimed, before Aldora had even finished speaking. She jabbed a finger in her direction. “You must find it. Now.”

  Katherine glanced toward the window. “Er, it’s nearly nightfall.”

  “Not now, silly. I mean, now as in, well, tomorrow. Or soon. But you mustn’t wait, Aldora. We must have dukes. Both of us,” she said with a glance in her twin’s direction.

  The sisters shared a look, and Aldora felt a moment of separateness from the clear, apparent bond the two had always seemed to share—in spite of the many differences between them.

  Aldora stood and crossed over to her sisters. She claimed one of each of their hands, and gave a faint squeeze. “The locket is gone, girls. For now.” She looked to Katherine. “But the gypsy…”

  “Bunică?’”

  She nodded. “Yes, that’s correct. Bunică’ informed me the pendant would one day be passed on to a vendor on the coldest day in many, many years, when the Thames freezes over…”

  Katherine laughed. “That’s preposterous. The Thames does not freeze.”

  “It’s frozen before,” Aldora reminded her.

  “A long time ago.”

  “Do hush, Katherine. We will wait. And we will find it. Even if we have to wait for the world to freeze over.”

  Aldora’s lips twitched. “You don’t need to wait until the world freezes over. Just the Thames,” she said.

  “Frozen Thames, indeed,” Katherine muttered. “Well, then. It seems you will simply have to wait, Anne.”

  A wistful smile stole over Anne’s heart-shaped face. “And it will be ever so worth the wait, will it not, Aldora?”

  Aldora touched a hand to her swollen belly, and thought of her husband Michael who’d shown her more joy this past year than all other years of her life combined. “It certainly will, Anne. It certainly will.”

  Biography

  Christi Caldwell is the best-selling author of historical romance novels set in the Regency era. Christi blames Judith McNaught's "Whitney, My Love," for luring her into the world of historical romance. While sitting in her graduate school apartment at the Univer
sity of Connecticut, Christi decided to set aside her notes and try her hand at writing romance. She believes the most perfect heroes and heroines have imperfections and rather enjoys tormenting them before crafting a well-deserved happily ever after!

  When Christi isn’t writing the stories of flawed heroes and heroines, she can be found in her Southern Connecticut home chasing around her feisty five-year-old son, and caring for twin princesses-in-training!

  Visit www.christicaldwellauthor.com to learn more about what Christi is working on, or join her on Facebook at Christi Caldwell Author, and Twitter @ChristiCaldwell

  Other Books by Christi Caldwell

  Winning a Lady’s Heart (A Danby novella)

  Author's Note: This is a novella that was originally available in A Summons From The Castle (The Regency Christmas Summons Collection). It is being published as an individual novella.

  For Lady Alexandra, being the source of a cold, calculated wager is bad enough...but when it is waged by Nathaniel Michael Winters, 5th Earl of Pembroke, the man she's in love with, it results in a broken heart, the scandal of the season, and a summons from her grandfather–the Duke of Danby.

  To escape Society's gossip, she hurries to her meeting with the duke, determined to put memories of the earl far behind. Except the duke has other plans for Alexandra...plans which include the 5th Earl of Pembroke!

  A Season of Hope (A Danby novella)

  Five years ago when her love, Marcus Wheatley, failed to return from fighting Napoleon’s forces, Lady Olivia Foster buried her heart. Unable to betray Marcus’s memory, Olivia has gone out of her way to run off prospective suitors. At three and twenty she considers herself firmly on the shelf. Her father, however, disagrees and accepts an offer for Olivia’s hand in marriage. Yet it’s Christmas, when anything can happen…

  Olivia receives a well-timed summons from her grandfather, the Duke of Danby, and eagerly embraces the reprieve from her betrothal.

  Only, when Olivia arrives at Danby Castle she realizes the Christmas season represents hope, second chances, and even miracles.

  Forever Betrothed, Never the Bride

  Hopeless romantic Lady Emmaline Fitzhugh is tired of sitting with the wallflowers, waiting for her betrothed to come to his senses and marry her. When Emmaline reads one too many reports of his scandalous liaisons in the gossip rags, she takes matters into her own hands.

  War-torn veteran Lord Drake devotes himself to forgetting his days on the Peninsula through an endless round of meaningless associations. He no longer wants to feel anything, but Lady Emmaline is making it hard to maintain a state of numbness. With her zest for life, she awakens his passion and desire for love.

  The one woman Drake has spent the better part of his life avoiding is now the only woman he needs, but he is no longer a man worthy of his Emmaline. It is up to her to show him the healing power of love.

  Never Courted, Suddenly Wed (Book 2-Scandalous Seasons Series)

  Christopher Ansley, Earl of Waxham, has constructed a perfect image for the ton–the ladies love him and his company is desired by all. Only two people know the truth about Waxham’s secret. Unfortunately, one of them is Miss Sophie Winters.

  Sophie Winters has known Christopher since she was in leading strings. As children, they delighted in tormenting each other. Now at two and twenty, she still has a tendency to find herself in scrapes, and her marital prospects are slim.

  When his father threatens to expose his shame to the ton, unless he weds Sophie for her dowry, Christopher concocts a plan to remain a bachelor. What he didn't plan on was falling in love with the lively, impetuous Sophie. As secrets are exposed, will Christopher’s love be enough when she discovers his role in his father’s scheme?

  Always Proper, Suddenly Scandalous(Book 3-Scandalous Seasons Series)

  Geoffrey Winters, Viscount Redbrooke was not always the hard, unrelenting lord driven by propriety. After a tragic mistake, he resolved to honor his responsibility to the Redbrooke line and live a life, free of scandal. Knowing his duty is to wed a proper, respectable English miss, he selects Lady Beatrice Dennington, daughter of the Duke of Somerset, the perfect woman for him. Until he meets Miss Abigail Stone...

  To distance herself from a personal scandal, Abigail Stone flees America to visit her uncle, the Duke of Somerset. Determined to never trust a man again, she is helplessly intrigued by the hard, too-proper Geoffrey. With his strict appreciation for decorum and order, he is nothing like the man' she's always dreamed of.

  Abigail is everything Geoffrey does not need. She upends his carefully ordered world at every encounter. As they begin to care for one another, Abigail carefully guards the secret that resulted in her journey to England.

  Only, if Geoffrey learns the truth about Abigail, he must decide which he holds most dear: his place in Society or Abigail's place in his heart.

  Uninterrupted Joy: Memoir: My Journey through Infertility, Pregnancy, and Special Needs

  The following journey was never intended for publication. It was written from a mother, to her unborn child. The words detailed her struggle through infertility and the joy of finally being pregnant. A stunning revelation at her son's birth opened a world of both fear and discovery. This is the story of one mother's love and hope and...her quest for uninterrupted joy.

  Coming Soon by Christi Caldwell

  September 15, 2014

  Book 4 in the Scandalous Seasons Series

  Always a Rogue, Forever Her Love

  Miss Juliet Marshville is spitting mad. With one guardian missing, and the other singularly uninterested in her fate, she is at the mercy of her wastrel brother who loses her beloved childhood home to a man known as Sin. Determined to reclaim control of Rosecliff Cottage and her own fate, Juliet arranges a meeting with the notorious rogue and demands the return of her property.

  Jonathan Tidemore, 5th Earl of Sinclair, known to the ton as Sin, is exceptionally lucky in life and at the gaming tables. He has just one problem. Well…four, really. His incorrigible sisters have driven off yet another governess. This time, however, his mother demands he find an appropriate replacement.

  When Miss Juliet Marshville boldly demands the return of her precious cottage, he takes advantage of his sudden good fortune and puts an offer to her; turn his sisters into proper English ladies, and he’ll return Rosecliff Cottage to Juliet's possession.

  Jonathan comes to appreciate Juliet’s spirit, courage, and clever wit, and decides to claim the fiery beauty as his mistress. Juliet, however, will be mistress for no man. Nor could she ever love a man who callously stole her home in a game of cards. As Jonathan begins to see Juliet as more than a spirited beauty to warm his bed, he realizes she could be a lady he could love the rest of his life, if only he can convince the proud Juliet that he's worthy of her hand and heart.

  October 15, 2014

  First Full-Length Book in the Heart of a Duke Series

  For Love of the Duke

  After the tragic death of his wife, Jasper, the 8th Duke of Bainbridge buried himself away in the dark cold walls of his home, Castle Blackwood. When he’s coaxed out of his self-imposed exile to attend the amusements of the Frost Fair, his life is irrevocably changed by his fateful meeting with Lady Katherine Adamson.

  With her tight brown ringlets and silly white-ruffled gowns, Lady Katherine Adamson has found her dance card empty for two Seasons. After her father’s passing, Katherine learned the unreliability of men, and is determined to depend on no one, except herself. Until she meets Jasper…

  In a desperate bid to avoid a match arranged by her family, Katherine makes the Duke of Bainbridge a shocking proposition—one that he accepts.

  Only, as Katherine begins to love Jasper, she finds the arrangement agreed upon is not enough. And Jasper is left to decide if protecting his heart is more important than fighting for Katherine’s love.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Th
ree

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Biography

  Book List