TWO WEEKS LATER
“Iwasn’t wrong, was I?”
Vivi was seated at the mirror in her bedroom, removing her earrings, as Court approached her, looking sinfully handsome in his evening finery. She took a moment to admire her husband’s dashing form before answering.
“Wrong about what, darling?” The diamond-and-pearl earrings he had brought her from New York City were returned neatly to their case as she watched him.
He had gifted them to her earlier that evening before the house party’s final ball, along with the matching necklace that was still clasped at her throat. Court reached her and settled warm hands atop shoulders revealed by the cut of her beaded silk evening gown, the connection sending a frisson of desire through her. Vivi couldn’t control her response to her husband; each day that passed only served to draw them closer and make her want him more.
“That the fortnight would be deuced interesting,” he said, bending down to deliver a kiss to her nape.
She couldn’t suppress her hum of pure pleasure at the sensation of his sensual lips caressing her skin.
“More interesting than either of us could have ever supposed,” she agreed. “I daresay our house party will be the talk of Society for some time to come.”
He feathered openmouthed kisses along her neck, working his way to her ear, and she shivered with delight.
“Do you suppose that love and happiness are catching?” he asked, his lips grazing the shell of her ear as he spoke.
“One must wonder after everything that has transpired over the last two weeks,” she agreed, reaching back to thread her fingers through Court’s thick, dark hair.
All five of her closest friends had managed to find themselves engaged by the house party’s conclusion. If anyone would have told Vivi a mere two weeks ago, she wouldn’t have believed it. But there was something undeniably romantic in the air at Sherborne Manor. Their little coterie was expanding to include the men who loved them, and she couldn’t be more pleased, particularly since it meant that support for the Lady’s Suffrage Society was effectively doubling.
Court’s lips found the sensitive hollow behind her ear.
“You told me Lady Clementine was the matchmaker, but I begin to wonder,” he murmured, kissing down her throat now. “You are, after all, the architect of this gathering. Did you plan it?”
She tilted her head back, giving him more access, still sifting her fingers through his hair. “I merely invited gentlemen I felt would be amenable to our cause and best positioned to help us. Dukes were most wanted, of course. There is nothing so influential as a duke.”
He stopped at the place where her neck and shoulder met, delivering a nip that made liquid heat pool between her thighs. “Is that all we dukes are adept at, being influential?”
As he finished the question, he moved his left hand with wicked intent, sliding it down her accommodating bodice and inside her corset to cup her breast. Her nipple tightened in instant gratitude, and she arched her back.
“I cannot speak for all dukes,” she managed breathlessly, “but the duke I love is also incredibly talented with his hands, his lips, and his tongue.”
He bit her shoulder, slowly caressing her nipple. “You disappoint me. You’ve forgotten what I’m most proficient at.”
She hadn’t, of course. But she certainly did enjoy teasing him. She and Court had fallen into a blissful state, the past not forgotten but where it belonged—behind them. Letting go of pain and hurt had left them both free to revel in their love and in each other. Percy would always be a part of them, but some promises, they had discovered, were meant to be broken.
“What is it you’re most proficient at, dearest husband?” she asked coquettishly, watching the erotic picture they presented in the mirror, Court’s big hand down her bodice and his mouth devouring her bare skin.
He rubbed his beard lightly against her cheek, and heaven help her, but she was thinking of how wonderful that beard felt on her sex and her inner thighs. “If you don’t recall, I’ll just have to show you.”
Desire pulsed through her. “Please do, my duke.”
“Your duke,” he repeated, his voice low and deep and sultry. “I like the sound of that.”
She turned toward him, so close their noses brushed. “Forever my duke.”
And then she kissed him, and her duke proceeded to fulfill his promise of showing her just where his greatest talent of all lay—in loving her.
* * *
Thankyou for readingForever Her Duke. I hope you loved Vivi and Court’s second chance romance and that, like me, you’re looking forward to a return to the beloved world of my Notorious Ladies of London. As the house party unfolds, reader favorites and a cast of new bold, independent ladies will collide. Read on for an excerpt from Clementine’s happily ever after,Forever Her Marquess. I hope you’ll adore this thoroughly revised version of her and Dorset’s story.
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Chapter One
