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Two Years Later
“Liza and Captain Everleigh are returning to England for good!” Violet exclaimed. She stood arranging a bouquet of flowers on the nearby table. “Isn’t that wonderful?”
Leo, who sat in the settee near the table, smiled. “That is wonderful. It will be good to see them again.”
“And Liza says that she will be arriving with a surprise,” Violet said conspiratorially. “I strongly suspect that she is expecting her own child. I can hardly wait to see if my suspicions are correct!”
Leo hummed. “And I suppose you intend to meet Liza as soon as she arrives in London.”
“We will be in London for the season anyway,” Violet pointed out. “It would only require a little effort.”
“Will it?” Leo asked. “You appear to have more obligations in London than I do already, and you keep adding more.”
After the ton realized that Leo truly was blameless in Lydia’s death, they had been eager to accept him into their clubs and events once more. This meant that Violet, as the Duchess of Farnham, was also a desired guest at the ton’s functions. She had found a group of bluestockings, and together, they had all resolved to improve women’s lives throughout Britain. Violet had also found a couple of ladies who were helping her found a seminary for women like Lady Priscilla.
“No one will accuse me of neglecting my duties as your duchess,” Violet said, smirking.
“Indeed,” Leo replied. “Why, you are so excited to change the world that you no longer have time even to make love to me anymore.”
Violet laughed. She turned around, putting her back to the table and fixed him with an amused expression. “I will always have time for that.”
“Oh?”
In three strides, Violet crossed the space between them. She pressed her lips against her husband’s, savoring the familiar scent of his cologne and his mouth, which tasted of cherries and brandy. Violet tilted her head back and smiled, as warmth curled inside her.
“Have I proven my point?” Violet asked.
Leo stood, his expression thoughtful. “Not quite. I feel as though I may need some more persuasion before I am thoroughly convinced.”
“Do you?”
Leo closed the doors to the drawing room and turned to her, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Do you really have time to make love to me? I feel as though I must press you on that answer.”
Violet’s heart beat quickened. “I agree.”
She pulled herself onto the table, carefully avoiding the vase of flowers. Violet curled her fingers into the fabric of her skirts, slowly hitching them up past her thighs. She spread her legs, and Leo stood between her thighs. He stroked the soft skin of the inside of her thighs and placed a kiss on her lips.
Violet wrapped her arms around his neck and let him deepen the kiss. She pressed her hips forward and rubbed against the fabric of his jacket. “See?” she asked. “I have more than enough time for an amorous congress with you.”
“We have yet to reach the amorous portion of the congress,” Leo replied.
She unbuttoned his jacket and smiled. “Perhaps, if you were wearing less clothing, we could reach that part more quickly.”
He laughed and removed his jacket, tossing the garment carelessly to the floor. Leo reached into the bodice of her dress, freeing her breasts, so they rested above her stays and chemise. He lowered his head and drew one nipple between his lips. Violet moaned, as he pressed his lips tightly against her. She curled her hands into his hair and pulled herself nearer to him.
Violet lowered her hands, grasping handfuls of Leo’s shirt, as he gave her other nipple the same treatment. Heat coiled in her core, and she bucked her hips insistently against his trousers. Wetness gathered between her thighs, and she felt Leo grow hard against her.
“We appear to be getting nearer to an answer,” Violet said.
He drew his head back and kissed her throat. When Violet hummed deep in her throat, Leo worried the skin over her collarbone. A dull, throbbing pain mingled with the pleasure of her core. Violet wrapped her legs around his waist and reached for his trousers. In a second, she released his manhood. It sprang forth, and Violet stroked his tip gently. Leo growled and tossed his head back. “Violet,” he said, his voice heavy and husky with need.
“Perhaps, it is time that we had that daughter,” Violet breathed against his neck.
Leo chuckled and guided her hand to his manhood. Violet curled her hand around his hard shaft, stroking the underside of him with her thumb. Leo guided her with his hand, and Violet stroked him. His breathing grew quicker, and his face reddened. Violet moved her hand more quickly, so Leo drove himself against her hand.
“Enough or I will be unable to last for you,” he said.
Violet uncurled her fingers from his shaft and instead gripped his shoulders. He plunged inside her, and Violet shouted in delighted surprise. “Oh, Leo!” she exclaimed. “Leo!”
He dove hard inside her, pulling himself in and out with such pleasant ferocity that Violet’s muscles trembled. She achieved her release, and stars formed in her eyes. Her vision blurred. Leo drove himself into her, so eagerly that Violet’s muscles tightened once again.
“You are still so tight!” Leo exclaimed through clenched teeth.
“Am I?” Violet asked, laughing.
Leo grunted, and Violet arched her back. She felt as though she could never have enough of him, even as he continued to drive his manhood inside her. Violet felt so full inside, and every motion of her hips and his sent waves of pleasure coursing through her body. Leo tensed against her. Warmth and liquid burst inside Violet, and Leo let out a satisfied sigh.
For a heartbeat, Leo remained inside her. Violet’s inner walls tightened and loosened around him, and she found her release once more. She tossed her head back and groaned. Her arm swept out and struck something. Dimly, Violet was aware of porcelain colliding with the floor.
“I think I broke the vase.”
Leo leaned over her. His chest brushed against her still exposed breasts, her nipples hard and aching to be touched. “I can purchase another.”
Violet smiled. Leo kissed her again—her lips, her cheekbone, and finally the side of her neck. Warmth surged through Violet, and she let herself lay back against the table. She propped herself up on her forearms and gazed at him. Violet curled a hand in his hair. “Did I prove my point?” Violet asked.
“For the moment,” Leo replied. “I might need some reassurance later, however.”
Violet laughed. She sat upright and adjusted her skirts. “I have the feeling that you will need a lot of reassurances in the future.”
“The most pleasant reassurances,” he replied.
Leo buttoned the front of his trousers, sheathing his softened manhood. Violet let her weight rest on her forearms and watched, as her husband dressed himself. After a moment, she reached for her own breasts and tucked them back inside the bodice of her gown.
Her eyes fixed upon the door. “Even though you closed the doors, we are fortunate that no one stumbled upon us.”
“I imagine that our staff knows of our habits by now,” Leo replied.
Violet hummed. “Do you know that I always think of Lancelot and Guinevere when we make love outside of our bedchamber? I imagine them sneaking around the castle with King Arthur unaware.”
“If memory serves, King Arthur is sometimes aware.”
“I have a point,” Violet said. “I think of them, and it is strange. Their story ended so tragically, but ours did not. Will not.”
She lifted herself up and fixed her skirts, so she appeared the proper lady once more. At least, she looked as proper as she possibly could given the circumstances. Violet strongly suspected that her hair was disheveled and her face red from the exertion of their encounter.
“It is the tragedy that makes them a great romance,” Leo said, retrieving his jacket from the floor. He pulled it on and adjusted it over his shoulders. “I do not imagine that we would remember them—that their story would have been recorded so widely and enthusiastically—if their story was without any complications.”
“Are you saying that we will never be a great romance?” Violet asked.
“Not like them,” Leo replied. “However, I am not certain that matters. I think, outside of the books, it is best to simply love and be loved.”
“Maybe so,” Violet replied.
She tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow, considering the idea that love in novels was not meant to reflect the way that love really was. Violet had not quite considered her marriage to Leo like that before, but between the stories she adored and her life, she knew which she preferred.
Leo stroked her knee beneath the fabric of her gown. His eyes were soft with affection, so deep that it took Violet’s breath away. “I am content with our love,” Leo said. “I adore you more than I ever thought possible. Sometimes, I still find myself surprised by the depth of my affection for you. Before our meeting, I did not know that I was even capable of feeling something so powerful.”
“Leo…” Violet murmured, her face softening. “I am sure that such breadth of feeling was always inside you.”
“And I did not realize it until I met you,” Leo said. “You have changed me. You have made me more aware of myself, Violet, and I will be forever grateful for that.”
“You have done the same for me,” Violet confessed. “I have become so many things because of you—a wife, a duchess, and a mother—and I never thought that I would be more than a villager’s wife. If nay man would have me, that was.”
“Those villagers were fools,” Leo said.
“I did not make myself amenable to their affections,” Violet said. “Perhaps, if I had, I would have been wed already. I am not unhappy with how my life played out, however, for if the village men had loved me…why, I might have never met you.”
“Indeed,” Leo replied.
He kissed her again. His lips were so sweet and gentle against hers that Violet’s toes curled within her slippers. If she could only spend the rest of her years doing a single thing, it would be having these intimate moments with her husband. She would spend every breath kissing her husband and making love to him.
“And you,” Violet said. “You have experienced such tragedy in your life, and I am sorry for it.”
“But I would not trade those experiences for anything,” Leo replied quietly. “They all led me to you. I suppose it is true what the Bard says. The course of true love never did run smooth.”
Violet clapped her hands together and smiled at him. “Shakespeare!” she exclaimed. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
“I love that you know that.”
Leo kissed her again, and Violet’s face warmed. She cupped his face between her hands and smiled brightly.
“Do you know what I have always wondered?” Violet asked. “What do you imagine happened in all those stories after true love was found?”
“I imagine it was much like our lives,” Leo said. “Do you not agree?”
“I do.”
They shared another kiss, and Leo slowly stepped away. He opened the doors to the drawing room once more, and Violet stood. It had taken them a very long time to find their love, but at last, they had it. Perhaps, that love was not as dramatic or as poetic as Violet had thought, but it was nonetheless the perfect love for her. It was a love worth fighting for and a love that she never wanted to let go.
Violet looked ruefully at the broken vase and disheveled flowers. It was not the perfect love she imagined but even better.
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OFFER: A BRAND NEW SERIES AND 2 FREEBIES FOR YOU!
Grab my new series, "Lust and Longing of the Ton", and get 2 FREE novels as a gift! Have a look here!
Hello there, my dear readers. I hope you enjoyed the book and this Extended Epilogue! I will be waiting for your comments. Thank you! 🙂
I enjoyed the extended epilogue, and was happy that Leo and Violet could get to have th3ir story book ending !
So glad you enjoyed the story, dear Shelby! Thank you so much for your support and review!
I did enjoy the book and the story of the reclusive Duke returning to society.
However, I kept waiting for an incident with the final box of poisoned chocolates. They clearly were poisoned because Priscilla was so very surprised to see her the following day. A loose end to be tied up.
Otherwise a good story.
Thank you so much for your kind words and support, dear Carol!
I thought she would give her maid or the housekeeper the chocolate and someone bad would have happened to one of them. I so enjoyed the story.
Thank you so much for your kind feedback and support, dear Grany!
It was a lovely story. I was surprised that Violet did not recognize or at least suspect Leo because she knew his general build and the color of his hair and eyes. The suspense regarding the murderer and motive was something I figured out early enough but that was ok. Overall it was an enjoyable book
So glad you enjoyed the story, dear Madhu! Thank you so much for your support and review!
Such a beautiful story, loss and love and friendships ..just as the snake that had bitten the Duke, Lady Priscilla was the snake who hid in plain sight(yes I knew it was her , the why I guessed, the how needed to be cleared up).
My first book written by you but certainly not my last.
Thank you for such a lovely read.
So glad you enjoyed the story, dear Dalhia! Thank you so much for your support and review!
A beautiful and interesting story with enjoyable characters and mysterious story line. Love the extended epilogue. I caught on to the mischievous part of Lady Priscilla since the chocolates gift to Violeta. However it was fun reading the whole story. Beautiful happy ending to the Duke Leo and his Duchess Violet. Great read!!
Thank you so much for your support and review, dear Lourdes+Nunez!