Lilias grinned up at Nash. “Well, when you told me how you suspected someone else held Miss Balfour’s affections entirely and that she, too, had been forced to appear for supper the night you joined them, I simply knew we had an ally in her.”
“Yes, you did, my dear, and you handled it brilliantly.”
“Wedid,” Lilias replied, thinking of how Miss Balfour truly had been the one to stop her father’s blackmail. She’d threatened to cut the man from her life, and it seemed everything he had done had been an attempt to ensure his daughter had the best life possible. When he’d realized what he was doing would cause him to lose his daughter, he ceased immediately. “I wish, though, that we had not lost Owen as a friend and that Kilgore had not been so horribly injured.”
“I do, too, darling,” Nash replied, running his hands over her bottom and cupping her buttocks.
When he squeezed her, her entire core tightened. One of the astonishing advantages of being wed was the marriage bed. She had never read aboutthosepleasures in any of her Gothic romances.
“I cannot say what the future holds for either of those men,” he said, “except if my own life is any guide, I know it cannot hold true happiness until they face the pain and secrets keeping them in the darkness. For Owen, I do believe it all starts with his mother’s leaving him, and though I don’t like it because you are mine, he did truly think himself in love with you.”
She nodded, swallowing. “If I had known, I would have dissuaded him much sooner. I was yours from the moment I saw you standing there in that kilt.”
“And to think I took to wearing it in an effort to get my mother to show some emotion,” Nash said with a chuckle.
She pressed a kiss to her husband’s muscled chest. “I’m very glad you are such a devil.”
“And I’m very glad that you have such a love for Gothic romances,” he replied, claiming her mouth. “Otherwise, you might not have had the notion that I was your hero and waited for me.”
“I would have waited,” she assured him. “It was always you for me, Gothic romances or not.”
“And it was always you for me,” he agreed, hugging her tightly and pressing a tender kiss to the top of her head. “You are mine to cherish, mine to love, mine to protect. You are my free-spirited duchess.”
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed Nash and Lilias’s story. The next book in this series is the story of Lady Constantine and Lord Kilgore—Lady Constantine and the Sins of Lord Kilgore. If you have read the series from the beginning, you know that these two have a very complicated past, and that Lord Kilgore has many secrets that need to be unraveled. You’ll be surprised to discover that Lady Constantine has some secrets of her own!
Pre-order ofLADY CONSTANTINE AND THE SINS OF LORD KILGOREis coming soon!
If you are a fan of Scottish romances set in the medieval period, I think you will love myHighlander Vows: Entangled Heartsseries. You can read a bit about book 1 below.
Not even her careful preparations could prepare her for the barbarian who rescues her.Don’t miss the USA Today bestsellingHighlander Vows: Entangled Heartsseries, starting with the critically acclaimed When a Laird Loves a Lady. Faking her death would be simple, it was escaping her home that would be difficult.
CLICK HERE TO READ WHEN A LAIRD LOVES A LADY, NOW>
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Excerpt of When a Laird Loves a Lady
One
England, 1357
Faking her death would be simple. It was escaping her home that would be difficult. Marion de Lacy stared hard into the slowly darkening sky, thinking about the plan she intended to put into action tomorrow—if all went well—but growing uneasiness tightened her belly. From where she stood in the bailey, she counted the guards up in the tower. It was not her imagination: Father had tripled the knights keeping guard at all times, as if he was expecting trouble.
