The Duke and the Lady in Red (35 page)
Read The Duke and the Lady in Red Online
Authors: Lorraine Heath
“How could he not? After all, I'm a duke.”
“You're much more than that,” she said, tightening her arms around his neck. “You're the man I love.”
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From the Journal of the Duke of Avendale
A dark secret shaped me into the man I am . . .
Another's set me free.
In my youth I witnessed something that I wasn't supposed to. Had I not disobeyed my mother and returned home that night, I'd have never seen her striking out and killing my father. I understand now it was an accident, but at the time, in my young mind, I saw villainy. When my mother married William Graves shortly afterward, I saw duplicity. Over the years, I held close these treacherous thoughts along with my father's words that my mother wished me harm. They haunted me, conspired to separate me from my family.
My Rose carried burdens as well, but with far more dignity. She had a brother the world treated unkindly. To make amends to him for others' sins, she turned to swindling. In some ways she was a female Robin Hood, taking from the wealthy to give to those Society had branded as curiosities, those that life had not treated fairly. While I fully comprehend that her actions were not commendable, I also understand how and why they came to pass. She wanted to create for her brother a better world than the one in which they lived, and she knew that time was not on her side, so she took a shortcut which eventually led her to me.
And she, along with Harry, changed my life.
Not a day goes by that I don't consider the fortuitous night when I glanced out over a balcony and had my attention snagged by a lady in red. Two minutes later, two minutes earlier, and I might have never seen her. I might have simply wandered off for another game of cards, another journey into decadence.
Instead that night I stepped onto a path that would eventually reveal what I'd been searching for all along: a love so profound, so deep, so true that I would do anything to protect the woman who captured my heart. Because through her, I came to understand the unmeasured lengths to which one would go for someone he or she loved. Through knowing her I regained my family. Through loving her, I regained myself. Through marriage to her, I gained a life far richer than all the coins in my coffers.
Our first son, my heir, we named Harry. He was perfection when he was born. Rose worried that her brother's affliction might visit our children, but it didn't. To this day, they remain perfect in appearance. More importantly, they are perfect in heart.
Merrick, Sally, and Joseph found employment at the Twin Dragons. They stayed in London and often joined us for meals and holidays. Our children viewed them as family.
In my library, on a gilded stand, rest the pages that Harry so painstakingly filled with his story, with Rose's, one that eventually became part of mine. I often read the final words of the story that Harry wrote:
My tale must come to an end now, but Rose's will carry on. While I cannot see into the future, I do believe that Rose and her duke will live happily ever after.
Indeed we did.
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I
have always been fascinated by the life of Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. The cruelty he suffered at the hands of some, the kindness bestowed upon him by others. It was 1884 before he came to the attention of the physician Sir Frederick Treves, ten years after this story takes place. It would be another two years before Treves took him in and began to study him more thoroughly. But it would be long after Merrick's death that his condition would be diagnosed as neurofibromatosis, although there are some today who question the diagnosis.
Harry suffered from the same condition, but he had a sister who fought to protect him, would do anything to spare him facing the cruelty of the world. Even today there is no cure for the condition, so neither I nor physician extraordinaire Sir William Graves could save Harry. But he was loved, and in the end, by far more Âpeople than he ever expected. I hope you loved him as well.
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Photo by Kayla Marie Photography
LORRAINE HEATH always dreamed of being a writer.
After graduating from the University of Texas, she wrote training manuals, press releases for a publicist, articles, and computer code, but something was always missing. In 1990, she read a romance novel and not only became hooked on the genre, but quickly realized what her writing lacked: rebels, scoundrels, and rogues. She's been writing about them ever since. Her work has been recognized with numerous industry awards, including RWA's RITA®, a HOLT Medallion, and a
Romantic Times
Career Achievement Award.
Her novels have appeared on the
USA Today
and
New York Times
bestseller lists.
www.lorraineheath.com
www.avonromance.com
www.facebook.com/avonromance
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE DUKE AND THE LADY IN RED.
Copyright © 2015 by Jan Nowasky. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition MAY 2015 ISBN: 9780062276278
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062276261
FIRST EDITION
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