Heiress in Red Silk (Duke's Heiress #2) - Madeline Hunter Page 0,116
her skin. Her eyes blurred as happiness spilled through her, and her heart released its love. It touched her that he had declared himself like this. He hadn’t even asked her to return to him. He just wanted her to know this, no matter what she did or where she went.
She kissed his crown. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I could not bear pretending I was not in love. Not speaking of it and accepting pleasure and friendship, but denying this other emotion that overwhelms me. If you love me too, I won’t have to.”
He looked up. The relief in his expression twisted her heart.
“You will never have to.” A moment’s hesitation. A flicker of caution. “Will you come home?”
She nodded.
He smiled, then glanced at the bed. That smile turned wicked.
Laughing and crying, she plucked at the tie of his cravat. “You may be too good to demand your marital rights, but I am not.” She worked at the knot. “What will you do without the enterprise to occupy you? Pipes?”
“And other things.” He shed his frock coat, then eased her feet out of her shoes. “I will leave the resulting practicalities to you. We are a good match, Rosamund. Perhaps the duke guessed we might be.”
His hands slid up beneath her dress and sought her garters. She squirmed when they got high enough to remind her of what awaited.
Her fingers trembled while she went to work on the buttons of his waistcoat. “Did you know that there are men in the City who would purchase a share of any invention you had, sight unseen and ignorant of its purpose?”
“That is ridiculous.”
His shirt occupied part of her attention. She made quick work of his upper garments, so his naked chest was available to her gaze and her hands. “You must have impressed some people even while you insulted most of them.”
He rolled down her stockings and cast them aside. “I can’t imagine how. However, it is good to know that if we ever want to defraud dozens of shareholders, the means are at hand.” He stood and lifted her into his embrace.
How like Kevin to be indifferent to the perfectly legal possibilities those investors might present. She would explain it to him eventually.
Their first kiss made her heady and so grateful for the warmth and love encompassing her.
The power of her arousal awed her. “It has not been very long, but I . . .”
“I know. Me too. No games or lessons this time. I want to hold you in my arms and against my heart.”
No words either, except those of devotion spoken again and again while they reclaimed each other within a loving union.
Don’t miss the next Duke’s Heiress Romance
from Madeline Hunter . . .
THE HEIRESS BRIDE
As the new Duke of Hollinburgh, Nicholas Radnor is handsome, titled, charming, and land poor. The last quality might change soon, because a portion of his uncle’s personal estate is about to become available to him and his cantankerous extended family. At the eleventh hour, however, Iris Barrington, the last of the three mysterious women to whom the last duke made substantial bequests, inconveniently turns up on Nicholas’s doorstep. He finds her story suspicious and her history ambiguous, and her person both flamboyant and . . . fascinating. Duty calls, however, and he needs to discover if she is indeed the heiress his uncle favored, or a charlatan with secrets that can endanger them both.
Complete independence has allowed Iris Barrington to become an unusual woman. A rare book dealer, she travels the world and has a sophisticated life. She also has a taste for handsome men, of which Nicholas is one.
Too bad he is also very curious about her, and his attentions are suspicious as well as amorous. Since she has secrets he must never know, she should probably keep him at arm’s length, but his seductive skills make that hard to do, no matter her resolve . . .
Coming in Spring 2022
from Kensington Publishing Corp.
Photo credit: Studio 8
Madeline Hunter is a New York Times bestselling author with more than six million copies of her books in print. She has thirty-one nationally bestselling historical romances in print, including most recently, Never Deny a Duke, A Devil of a Duke, and The Most Dangerous Duke in London. A member of RWA’s Honor Roll, she has won the RITA Award twice and been a finalist seven times. Her books have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly, and have been translated into thirteen languages. She has a PhD in art history, which she has taught at the university level. Madeline loves to hear from her readers, and can be reached through her website at: