Winning Back His Duchess
Escape to beautiful Venice for this Victorian marriage reunited story…
An invitation to Venice…
To save their marriage!
Suggesting divorce to her estranged husband, Jamie, Duke of Byson, takes all of Rose Wilkins’s courage. Years of distance and heartbreak have taken a toll—she needs a new start. But Jamie won’t hear of divorce, because of the scandal alone. His counteroffer is a trip to Venice… Might discovering Venice’s delights together rekindle the still-simmering desire that drew Rose to Jamie as a starry-eyed young American heiress?
Rose stretched her stockinged feet out before her on the striped blanket, beyond the shade cast by her parasol, to let the sun warm her toes during the afternoon picnic by the lake. Her satin shoes were cast to one side. It felt naughty, delicious, and for a moment she let herself merely bein the day. The moment. She had a surprisingly deep sleep after their dinner last night, deeper than she had enjoyed for a long time. Now that all the cold ham and chicken salad, the cakes and lemonade and champagne, had been consumed, the day had turned lazy and somnolent all around them.
She closed her eyes, and for a moment she was sitting by another river, when Jamie held her hand for the very first time, and she dared trust, for the first time in her life. How sweet it was, how perfect.
How had it all gone so wrong?
Rose opened her eyes and studied Jamie, carefully tilting her parasol so her interest wouldn’t be noticed. He sat with Beatrice under the shade of a tree, Bea chatting merrily as he smiled up at her, lounging on his elbow beside her. It was not the way he usually smiled at Rose, intent and questioning, but filled with amused light, at ease, careless. Young and carefree, in a way she hadn’t seen him in so very long.
He turned his face up to the sun, his smile widening with delight as if he was greedy for that warmth. The light behind him, the shadows cast around the sharply-carved angles of his face, made him look like a god or a saint, gilded and unearthly beautiful, and her heart ached and yearned for him as it once had, when she had feared she would burst if he did not smile at her.
Lady Madewell sat down next to her, her large straw hat concealing her face, her bracelets jingling. “The sun does agree with you, Rose dear! You look very content.”
Rose wondered wryly if she often looked discontent these days, and she smiled and wriggled her toes. “I always feel happy at Pryde.”
“And you are always most welcome here. But I meant what I said—perhaps some time away could do you some good. I always feel invigorated by travel. The London Season is most wearying, to even the most hardy souls among us, and city air is so unhealthy.”
“I will certainly consider it. But I enjoy the distractions of London.” And so she did; at a party, the theater, a gallery, she had no time to think. But travel was sounding more tempting all the time.
“Yes, my dear, do. I should not recommend Baden with the royals. Your sister is truly worthy, of course, but it all sounds so dull.”
They were silent for a moment, listening to the breeze rustle through the trees like whispers, the laughter of the others, the splash of oars in the waters of the lake drifting lazily past. Paul claimed Beatrice for a game of boules, leaving Jamie alone.
“Oh, Byson, why don’t you take your wife for a row on the lake?” Lady Madewell called. “I’m sure the water breezes would do her good, it’s become such a warm day.”
Rose, shocked by Lady Madewell’s suggestion (had she turned to matchmaking like Lady Heath?), glanced at Jamie, sure he would protest. After their kiss last night, the glory and regret, surely he would not want to be alone with her in a tiny boat, adrift in the middle of the lake, only the two of them. What would they say? What would she do? Grab him again?
But he just shrugged, and kept smiling. “Of course, I should enjoy that very much, if Rose agrees.”
“I don’t think…” Rose began. She looked the lake, the shiver of the breeze on the water, the couples laughing close together in the boats…
She gasped at a sudden vision, a memory, of another summerhouse, a kiss that led to desperate lovemaking against the wall...
Purchase Links –
US - https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Back-Duchess-Dollar-Duchesses/dp/1335407758/
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Winning-Back-Duchess-Dollar-Duchesses/dp/1335407758/
Author Bio – Amanda wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen--a vast historical epic starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not her strongest subject...)
She's never since used algebra, but her books have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA Award, the Romantic Times BOOKReviews Reviewers' Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion. She lives in Santa Fe with a Poodle, a cat, a wonderful husband, and a very and far too many books and royal memorabilia collections.
When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network--even though she doesn't cook.
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