“How can I not? You jumped out of a blasted moving train to tell me.”
“I would jump out of a balloon if I needed to.”
“You would splatter.”
Moving up against him, she wound her arms around his neck. “No, I wouldn’t, because you would catch me.”
Rising up on her toes, she kissed him. Yes, he would catch her, he would always catch her. He kissed her back because he had no choice. Cradling her face, he drew her back.
“I love you, Rose.”
“I don’t deserve your love, but I will take it because there is nothing in this world that I want more. I will be your mistress as long as you want me.”
He angled his head. “You don’t understand how much I love you.” He dropped to one knee, took her hand, pressed a kiss to it before looking up at her. “I want you with me for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
She blinked, her mouth opened slightly. “You’re a duke. You can’t marry me. That would be scandalous.”
He grinned. “I’ve told you before. I’m nothing if I’m not scandalous.”
She dropped to her knees, cradled his face. “I love you so much. I will be the best wife that any duke has ever had.”
Pulling her in close, he blanketed her mouth with his, kissing her deeply, thoroughly, not caring one whit that people were staring at them. He was going to kiss this woman as often as he could for the remainder of his life.
“Shall we head home now?” he asked when they broke away from the kiss.
“I would like that very much, but I told the others to wait for us at the next station.”
“Let’s go get them then.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Rose, the woman I love has agreed to marry me. I can’t wait to tell Merrick.”
She laughed. “I don’t think he’s going to object. I think he’s come around to you.”
“How could he not? After all, I’m a duke.”
“You’re much more than that,” she said, tightening her arms around his neck. “You’re the man I love.”
Epilogue
From the Journal of the Duke of Avendale
A dark secret shaped me into the man I am . . .
Another’s set me free.
In my youth I witnessed something that I wasn’t supposed to. Had I not disobeyed my mother and returned home that night, I’d have never seen her striking out and killing my father. I understand now it was an accident, but at the time, in my young mind, I saw villainy. When my mother married William Graves shortly afterward, I saw duplicity. Over the years, I held close these treacherous thoughts along with my father’s words that my mother wished me harm. They haunted me, conspired to separate me from my family.
My Rose carried burdens as well, but with far more dignity. She had a brother the world treated unkindly. To make amends to him for others’ sins, she turned to swindling. In some ways she was a female Robin Hood, taking from the wealthy to give to those Society had branded as curiosities, those that life had not treated fairly. While I fully comprehend that her actions were not commendable, I also understand how and why they came to pass. She wanted to create for her brother a better world than the one in which they lived, and she knew that time was not on her side, so she took a shortcut which eventually led her to me.
And she, along with Harry, changed my life.
Not a day goes by that I don’t consider the fortuitous night when I glanced out over a balcony and had my attention snagged by a lady in red. Two minutes later, two minutes earlier, and I might have never seen her. I might have simply wandered off for another game of cards, another journey into decadence.
Instead that night I stepped onto a path that would eventually reveal what I’d been searching for all along: a love so profound, so deep, so true that I would do anything to protect the woman who captured my heart. Because through her, I came to understand the unmeasured lengths to which one would go for someone he or she loved. Through knowing her I regained my family. Through loving her, I regained myself. Through marriage to her, I gained a life far richer than all the coins in my coffers.
Our first son, my heir, we named Harry. He was perfection when he was born. Rose worried that her brother’s affliction might visit our children, but it didn’t. To this day, they remain perfect in appearance. More importantly, they are perfect in heart.
Merrick, Sally, and Joseph found employment at the Twin Dragons. They stayed in London and often joined us for meals and holidays. Our children viewed them as family.
In my library, on a gilded stand, rest the pages that Harry so painstakingly filled with his story, with Rose’s, one that eventually became part of mine. I often read the final words of the story that Harry wrote:
My tale must come to an end now, but Rose’s will carry on. While I cannot see into the future, I do believe that Rose and her duke will live happily ever after.
Indeed we did.
Author’s Note
I have always been fascinated by the life of Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. The cruelty he suffered at the hands of some, the kindness bestowed upon him by others. It was 1884 before he came to the attention of the physician Sir Frederick Treves, ten years after this story takes place. It would be another two years before Treves took him in and began to study him more thoroughly. But it would be long after Merrick’s death that his condition would be diagnosed as neurofibromatosis, although there are some today who question the diagnosis.
Harry suffered from the same condition, but he had a sister who fought to protect him, would do anything to spare him facing the cruelty of the world. Even today there is no cure for the condition, so neither I nor physician extraordinaire Sir William Graves could save Harry. But he was loved, and in the end, by far more people than he ever expected. I hope you loved him as well.
About the Author
Photo by Kayla Marie Photography
LORRAINE HEATH always dreamed of being a writer.
After graduating from the University of Texas, she wrote training manuals, press releases for a publicist, articles, and computer code, but something was always missing. In 1990, she read a romance novel and not only became hooked on the genre, but quickly realized what her writing lacked: rebels, scoundrels, and rogues. She’s been writing about them ever since. Her work has been recognized with numerous industry awards, including RWA’s RITA®, a HOLT Medallion, and a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award.
Her novels have appeared on the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists.
www.lorraineheath.com
www.avonromance.com
www.facebook.com/avonromance
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By Lorraine Heath
THE DUKE AND THE LADY IN RED
ONCE MORE, MY DARLING ROGUE
WHEN THE DUKE WAS WICKED
LORD OF WICKED INTENTIONS
LORD OF TEMPTATION
SHE TEMPTS THE DUKE
WAKING UP WITH THE DUKE
PLEASURES OF A NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN
PASSIONS OF A WICKED EARL
MIDNIGHT PLEASURES WITH A SCOUNDREL
SURRENDER TO THE DEVIL
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND DESIRE
IN BED WITH THE DEVIL
JUST WICKED ENOUGH
A DUKE OF HER OWN
PROMISE ME FOREVER
A MATTER OF TEMPTATION
AS AN EARL DESIRES
AN INVITATION TO SEDUCTION
LOVE WITH A SCANDALOUS LORD
TO MARRY AN HEIRESS
THE OUTLAW AND THE LADY
NEVER MARRY A COWBOY
NEVER LOVE A COWBOY
A ROGUE IN TEXAS
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 b
e construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE DUKE AND THE LADY IN RED. Copyright © 2015 by Jan Nowasky. 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition MAY 2015 ISBN: 9780062276278
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062276261
FIRST EDITION
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