If she did, her past shame and humiliation would be nothing more than fodder for the gossip mill. She would never again make herself so vulnerable to a man that he might control every aspect of her life and treat her as cruelly as he desired.īut Aurora didn’t say that. She would never subjugate herself to anyone under the yoke of marriage. Are you considering that it might be time to acquire another husband for yourself? It has been six years since your first husband passed, after all.” “After all, if one cannot depend upon the gallantry of one’s husband, there isn’t much point in having one is there?” Apparently Viscount Holland is both quick and eager to defend his wife from such slights… especially when those slights are uttered by the one he holds responsible for his wife’s disgrace.” If you were to be overheard there could be consequences. I wouldn’t bring up her prior disgrace too loudly.

Dunne these days? And his sister? Quite a coup for her… managing to ensnare Lord Holland despite her status.” “You do not ride,” Aurora pointed out, “nor do you travel far enough from London these days to require any trunks.” “Do you find him so? Really? I rather think he looks like someone who ought to be unloading my trunks or tending to the horses.” “He is quite handsome,” Aurora pronounced. Of course, it would be difficult to feel at ease when the whole of society was waiting on bated breath for one to drink from the wrong cup or to use the wrong fork. He looked uncomfortable in them, as if he felt very much out of place. Tall and broad in his shoulder, the evening clothes-well tailored though they were-did not suit him. “Though he does look a bit… rough.”Ĭurious, in spite of herself, Aurora glanced toward the doors of the Trumbles’ ballroom and found herself taking her own measure of him.

“He’s very well turned out,” Lady Habersham remarked. She knew what it was to be the object of gossip, and she didn’t care for it. “Well, he hardly looks like he’s half bear,” Lady Deerfield murmured to the cadre of ladies assembled about her.Īurora didn’t smile or smirk as the others did. Everyone in society had been curious to get a look at him, this new duke who had spent the better part of his life in the wilds of America. “His grace, Lord Gavin Barreten, Duke of Westerhaven.”Ī hush fell over the assembled crowd, the room beccoming so quiet that a pin drop would have sounded like cannon fire. The Pirate’s Bluestocking (A Pirates of Britannia World Novella)

Purrfect Santa (A Howl’s Romance) co-written with Jessie LaneĪ Midnight Clear: A Lost Lords Holiday Novella

The Late Husband by Chasity Bowlin