AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"You need not worry about them." Anthony shook his head. "The Comte and Lady Cecily have been taken care of."
Penelope's stomach clenched as she suddenly remembered the last time she had seen Lady Clara in the parlour at the duke's manor.She called me sister!
"What of Lady Clara?" Penelope asked, instinctively jumping to her feet. "I must find her."
Anthony stood and gripped hold of her shoulders. "Now is not the time."
Yet Penelope couldn't help feeling sick at the thought of what Lady Clara must have gone through. They had been so close as children, friends even. She had never understood how that could change so dramatically after the Comte's death. Now it all finally made sense.
"She must have felt so betrayed," Penelope thought aloud, a single tear rolling down her cheek as she imagined all she might have had if there had not been so many secrets in her life.I am the daughter of a Comte!
"Penelope, you mustn't think about the St Clairs right now," Anthony insisted. He took hold of her face in both his hands and urged her to look at him.
"Thanks to you and the dowry that the Comte paid to be rid of you for his own gains, we have gained so much more. I have paid off a huge portion of debt left me by the previous duke, and not only that but the tenants of my estate claim to be the most content they have ever been."
"What are you saying?" Penelope asked. She could feel the rising excitement coming from the duke.
"I took your advice, and it has paid off," the duke insisted; he squeezed her cheeks gently and inched closer as if he meant to kiss her. "The estate and all its tenants are safe and well, thanks to you! They have missed their lady almost as much as I have, and I have promised them your return."
Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming,Penelope thought, yet when she slipped her fingers beneath the sleeve of her gown and pinched her arm, she realised she wasn't, biting the inside of her lip to stop from whimpering out loud.
At that moment, the duke planted a passionate kiss upon her lips, and she felt herself melting into him.
"Penelope, return to England with me," he whispered when he pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against hers, "Be my duchess once more. I cannot live without you."
If I am dreaming, then I do not wish to wake up,Penelope realised and thought that even if she were dreaming, she would enjoy it right up until she woke up. "Yes," she breathed, not protesting the moment that Anthony grabbed her wrist and began to urge her back towards the door.
"Penelope! Where are you going?" she heard Mr Finn yelling after her as they hurried back down the hall towards the front door.
"Mr Finn, please take care of Lady Argyll!" she called over her shoulder, terrified that if she stopped, the dream might fade, "Tell her I shall write and tell her everything."
The next thing she knew, her face was drenched with the heavy downpour still going on outside, and moments after that, she found herself being herded into the duke's carriage. Everything was happening in such a rush that she barely had time to think about anything, least of all the fact that she was the daughter of a French Comte.
"Take us to the nearest docks!" Anthony informed the coachman before he clambered into the carriage and slammed the door shut behind him. He turned to her, where he sat on the bench beside her, and said, "I wish to take my wife home."
Penelope was overwhelmed with love for the duke the moment he kissed her again.This is my husband!she realised with relief,my husband! Not Clara's husband, mine!
And she offered no protest when she felt the duke ruffling up the skirts of her dress. Having dreamt almost every night of his touch, she realised that nothing could compare to the real thing. His hand slipped between her thighs, finding her bare beneath her skirts, and she gasped when his finger slipped deep inside her.
"Penelope, I have missed you more than the moon would miss the stars!" the duke gasped in a moment of catching his breath before he kissed her again.
Penelope had no will to protest. Instead, she found her hands travelling to the ties of his breeches, tearing at them in her effort to undo them. Her fingers could not move fast enough, and soon the duke's free hand came down to help her.
In the next moment, the duke was on his knees on the carriage floor, urging her legs open so he could slip between them, her skirts ruffled up to her waist.
Wrapping her arms around his neck to steady herself on the edge of the bench, she opened her legs wide and welcomed his manhood inside her.
He made love to her then, ravishing her as though he wished to show her how much she had been missing since she fled England.
"Ahh, Penelope!" He gasped in her ear, his pleasure evident in his breathless groaning. It felt so good to hear him say her true name that her insides tightened so violently she could not hold back her pleasure. Her climax came so suddenly that she threw her head back and screamed his name, "Anthony!"
All she could hope was that the coachman would not be able to hear her over the pounding rain that hammered on the carriage's roof.
Epilogue
One Year Later …
Had he not been so intent upon sharing his news with her, Anthony might have been able to stand in the shadows outside the drawing room doorway all afternoon just to watch Penelope. She was sitting beside the fireplace, her feet raised on the stool with a book in one hand and her other upon her swollen belly.
