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“Yes, I know dear, and when I had my sons I felt fine as well, but to keep my husband happy I stayed in bed for weeks. Longer than three, it seems to me.” She tapped her lips with her index finger. “Or maybe it just seemed so much longer.”
“Miss Merry we decided to stay with you instead of skating.” Lady Clare skipped into the room.
Lord Brandon followed. “Can I tell you, dear sister, how happy I am to be forced to stay in the nice warm house instead of freezing my—“
“Brandon!” the duchess warned.
“Sorry, Mother. But I wouldn’t have said what you think.” He winked and took the seat across from Merry. “Feeling lonely, were you?”
“A bit,” she sighed.
“Perhaps we can have a game of charades later. Watching Penrose make a fool of himself will certainly entertain you.”
“Well, look who we have here.” Penrose strolled through the doorway with a small bundle wrapped in a soft white blanket. “I found this tyke lying around up in the nursery. Thought I would put him to good use.”
Merry held her arms out, her fingers flexing to hold her child.
Penrose placed the baby gently in her arms. “Here you are, Your Grace. Just as you requested. William Thomas, the Marquis of Burlington.” Penrose settled alongside his family. His large finger traced the softness of the newborn’s skin. “Merry Christmas, my son.”
“This is such a wonderful Christmas,” Merry choked. Then the tears fell as she hugged her baby close.
The End
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If you enjoyed reading these stories, you might enjoy For the Love of the Viscount, book 1 in the Noble Hearts Regency Romance series.
Bluestocking Lady Elise Smith is a very content spinster. She holds intellectual gatherings and attends poetry readings, mind-improving lectures, and art shows. She runs her father’s household with quiet and determined efficiency, which is why she is absolutely stunned when Papa informs his three daughters that until Lady Elise is happily settled with—gasp—a husband, he will not consider offers for his two younger daughters.
Lord Simon St. George has happily watched one friend after another become leg-shackled, taking pride in the fact that his title is secured by a brother and nephew, so there is no reason to seek a wife for himself. When he sees a woman previously unknown to him at a ball, who seems to be hiding from the rest of the attendees, he is intrigued enough to introduce himself.
Simon sees a lovely, intelligent woman to pass the time with. Elise sees a man who can help her thwart her father by pretending they are courting. But even the best plans can go awry…
If you’ve already read For the Love of the Viscount, you can find a list of all my books on my website: http://calliehutton.com/
Excerpt from
For the Love of the Viscount
Prologue
March, 1818, London, England
The Right Honorable, the Earl of Pomeroy, sat at the head of his dinner table and smiled at his three lovely daughters, who smiled back at him. Three unmarried lovely daughters. Each one was charming and pretty in her own way. And each one needed to find a husband and remove herself from his benevolence before he went broke.
The bills continued to pile up on the desk in his study. Bonnets, gowns, gloves, slippers, ribbons. The list was endless. While he had no doubt his two youngest daughters, Lady Juliet and Lady Marigold, would one day find their way to the altar, he had no expectations that his eldest, Lady Elise at three and twenty, would ever wander in that direction. Without a little push, that was.
Which he was about to give.
“My dears, I would like your attention, if you please.” He smiled at the loves of his life. Obedient as ever, they all gave him their utmost attention. One pair of blue eyes, two hazel.
“Yes, Papa?” Elise, one of the pair of hazel eyes, said.
He cleared this throat. “It has come to my attention that perhaps I have been remiss in assuring all of you secure the best in life. Everything that your blessed mother—“ he made the sign of the cross “—and I, had together. Love, marriage, children.”
Julie and Marigold continued to smile, but Elise stiffened and a frown marred her comely face. Ah, yes. That was expected.
“Of course we wish that for ourselves as well,” his youngest darling, Lady Marigold, said. A true treasure, and the image of her exquisite mother.
