No Other Duke But You--A Playful Brides Novel

by Valerie Bowman

  “I’m afraid so,” Derek continued. “Huntley asked me personally to ensure he and Branville traded rooms. I obliged. Don’t you remember that you asked me where Branville’s room was that night? Did you ever wonder why Huntley was there instead of Branville?”

  Delilah pressed her fingertips to her lips. “I thought I’d mixed up the directions. I had no idea.”

  “You didn’t make a mistake.” Derek sat back in his massive chair, the satisfied smile still lingering on his lips. “I sent you there. On purpose. Of course, if I’d known I was the one you’d ask, he wouldn’t have needed to change rooms to begin with, but it worked out exactly as Huntley planned. All’s well that ends well, I suppose.”

  “You sent me to Thomas’s room?” she breathed, in complete awe of the information that was slowly sinking into her dazed mind. That night, she’d thought she was the one being sneaky. She’d had no idea. A slow smile spread across her face.

  “Yes,” Derek replied, “and at the risk of sounding too much like my lovely wife, I must tell you that you were so preoccupied with trying to manipulate true love that you failed to see it right in front of your face.”

  “That does sound like Lucy,” Christian replied. “But I daresay, it’s true.” He gave Delilah a sympathetic grin.

  Tears filled her eyes. She swallowed hard. “I’ve been a fool.”

  “Yes, you’ve been a fool,” Julian agreed, “but we’ve all been fools for love at one time or another. The good news is, it’s easily corrected. The man is madly in love with you, after all.” He grinned.

  “As for your mother,” Derek continued, “I wouldn’t give her or Lord Hilton a second thought.”

  “Say the word,” Cade Cavendish added, “and I’ll send Miss Adeline over to bite them both.”

  Delilah nipped the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the offer, but the men were right. Her mother was awful to her and had been all her life. Thomas had tried to tell her gently on more than one occasion. All these years, she’d made excuse after excuse, but she refused to allow one more day to pass without setting things to right.

  She stood and rushed to the door. When she grabbed the handle, she paused and turned back to the group. “Thank you. Thank you, all. You’ve no idea how much you’ve helped me. Truly.”

  “It’s our pleasure,” Derek said, with a nod of acknowledgment. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to find Thomas, of course, but first I have one stop to make.”

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Delilah flew up the stairs to the front door of her mother’s town house. As soon as Goodfellow opened door, she dashed inside. “Where is my mother?”

  “She’s in the gold salon with Lord Hilton, my lady.”

  Of course she was. Good, they both could hear this together.

  Delilah didn’t bother to deposit her bonnet and pelisse with Goodfellow. She wouldn’t be staying long. She didn’t bother taking three deep breaths either. Instead, she marched directly to the gold salon and shoved open the door hard enough to send it cracking against the far wall.

  Her mother glanced up. “Delilah, there you are. Good. We were just discussing what time we should all awake tomorrow morning. We want to be refreshed, but we mustn’t linger abed. We have much to do. What do you think?”

  “Decide for yourself, Mère. You always do. Though it’s cunning of you to pretend as if you care about my opinion in front of Lord Hilton.”

  Her mother’s eyes briefly flared. She pursed her lips. “I’ll thank you not to speak to me in that tone of voice, young lady.”

  Delilah crossed her arms over her chest and strode toward her mother. “I’d like to thank you too. I’d like to thank you for all the times you let me cry without a comforting hand. I’d like to thank you for all the occasions you pointed out my flaws and told me I wasn’t good enough to be your daughter. I’d like to thank you for all the nasty names you’ve called me and all the instances when you made me feel small. Most of all, I’d like to thank you for telling me that it was a good thing Papa died so he wouldn’t have to live to see what a disappointment I’ve been.”

  Mother straightened her shoulders and glanced at Lord Hilton uneasily. “Delilah, once again, you’re being dramatic.”

  She gave the other woman the same cold, hard stare that Delilah had suffered countless times from her mother. “Am I, Mère? Am I being dramatic? Are any of the things I said untrue?”

  “They may be true,” Mother replied, “but you’re making far too much of them, as usual.”

  Delilah turned her attention to Lord Hilton, who was watching with a hard look in his eye. “What do you think, Lord Hilton? Do you think I’m making too much of my mother’s words?”

  Lord Hilton tugged on his lapels and glanced away. “I’m not about to insert myself in a difference of opinion between a mother and her daughter.”

  “Delilah,” Mother snapped. “Stop calling me mère. Take off your wrinkled bonnet and your dirty gloves and sit down. We have wedding details to discuss.”

  Delilah lingered close to the door, refusing the old habit to escape. “There’s not going to be any wedding, Mère. At least not for me. I wouldn’t marry Clarence if he were the last man in London.”

  Her mother’s eyes flared. “He may just be the last man in London who’ll have you.”

  Delilah clenched her jaw and lifted her chin. “See, that’s exactly what I’m speaking of. I never thought I was worthy of love before. You taught me that from an early age. As long as I wasn’t perfect—and I will never be perfect—then I didn’t deserve your love or your attention. Or anyone’s attention, for that matter. But I know better now. I’m perfectly right, exactly as I am. Thomas loves me and I love him.”

  Her mother’s sharp bark of laughter followed, shattering the room’s thick atmosphere. “Huntley? Are you mad? He might be amused with you, but he’ll never marry you.”

  “He is going to marry me. And I’m going to marry him. But you’ll never see your grandchildren, and you won’t be welcome in our home. I’m leaving this house now, and I won’t be back. You’ll have to take out your vitriol on someone else. Perhaps Lord Hilton will put up with it.”

  Lord Hilton gave her mother a sideways stare that clearly indicated he was concerned by that statement.

  Mother lifted her chin. Her voice was filled with ice. “Delilah Montebank, if you leave now, you’ll never be welcome under this roof again.”

  “I can only hope that’s a promise,” Delilah tossed over her shoulder as she marched into the foyer and said good-bye to Goodfellow.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Delilah pounded on the door to Thomas’s town house. The butler opened it and his jaw fell.

  She’d never arrived alone at Thomas’s door before. It was improper. She’d been here for parties before, of course, but always accompanied by a chaperone. Either Lucy or her mother.

  “My lady?” the butler said as she moved past him and strode into the foyer.

  Voices sounded in the nearest salon, and she rushed inside to see Lavinia and Lord Stanley sitting together on the settee, sipping tea. “My apologies,” she said, blushing and trying to back out of the room as quickly and gracefully as possible.

  Lavinia had a smile on her face, a genuine smile. “You might as well be the first to know, Lady Delilah. Lord Stanley has proposed, and I have accepted.”

  Delilah smiled too. This was a surprise, but they both looked so happy. “Best wishes to both of you,” she said. “I’m trying to find your brother to ask him the same question.”

  She didn’t pause long enough to explain that loaded statement. Instead, she turned and hurried through the foyer and down the corridor in search of Thomas’s study. When she arrived, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. Thomas sat behind a large wooden desk in the center of the room, bent over some paperwork. He started when he saw her.

  “Delilah?” His jaw was clenched and his expression hard. “What are you doing here?”
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br />   She quickly made her way over to the side of the desk and fell to one knee beside him, tears in her eyes, blurring her vision. She grasped his hand in hers. “Thomas Marcus Devon Peabody Hobbs, will you and all of your ridiculous names marry me?”

  “What?” His brow furrowed and confusion played across his handsome features.

  “Madame Rosa told me I had to let you go. I think she meant you’d have to come back to me, but now I realize that I always needed to come to you. I’ve been a fool for a long time, Thomas, but I promise I see everything clearly now. And I love you too.”

  His gaze searched her face for a breathless, heart-pounding moment, and then, to her abject relief, the hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her cheek. “Why do you love me?”

  She gave him a half-grin. “Because you’re kind, intelligent, funny, and extremely handsome and kissable. I can only hope you’re also forgiving.”

  “You forgot healthy.” He nudged her temple with his nose.

  “That too.” She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and trailed a finger along his jaw. “I think I’ve always loved you. Only I didn’t realize what love felt like until now.”

  “What about your engagement to Clarence?” he asked, his expression turning thunderous.

  “I may have told my mother I wouldn’t marry Clarence if he was the last man in London.”

  Thomas’s eyebrows rose. “You didn’t.”

  “I did.” She nodded and laughed.

  “What about the elixir?” he asked.

  She winced. “Derek told me you knew about that all along.”

  His fingers played with the satin lining of her bodice. “Yes, I was awake that night. I switched rooms with Branville. I knew what you were going to do.”

  “You did it on purpose,” she said. “But you didn’t need to.”

  “I’ve loved you for years, Delilah,” he admitted. “Only I couldn’t figure out a way to show you that would make you believe. Your silly potion gave me the perfect excuse.”

  “If you knew, I suppose that means…”

  “The potion doesn’t work?” He grinned. “I suppose we’ll never really know, will we? Because I am madly in love with you, and you did sprinkle it on me.”

  She threw back her head and laughed. “Whether it worked or not, Madame Rosa was right about one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “She told me true love was in my future.”

  “Indeed.”

  “But I don’t understand.” She brushed the hair back from his temple. “If you were in love with me all these years, why did you constantly say you had no interest in marriage?”

  “So you and your meddling friend Lucy wouldn’t matchmake me, of course. I needed an excuse to remain a bachelor until you were ready to find a match. Only, I had no idea you’d set your sights on someone so quickly and without warning.”

  She pressed her nose to his neck and breathed in his familiar scent. “I suppose I was impetuous.”

  “Impetuous and determined. It gave me quite the conundrum.”

  Delilah laughed and hugged him harder. “Do you know I tried to find an antidote to that silly elixir? Madame Rosa refused. She said, ‘Verus amor nullum facit errata.’”

  Thomas sat up straighter and blinked at her. “What did she say?”

  “‘Verus amor nullum facit errata,’” Delilah repeated more slowly. “Or something like that.” She waved a hand in the air.

  “You know what that means, don’t you?”

  She shook her head. “You know I didn’t pay attention in my Latin classes. Or any classes, for that matter.”

  He gently tugged at one of the curls that had come loose from her coiffure. “It means: True love makes no mistakes.” He brushed his fingertips along her cheek.

  Tears filled Delilah’s eyes, and she leaned her head against his. “It’s true. Madame Rosa was right all along. My mother never truly loved me. She’s been nothing but awful to me my whole life.”

  Thomas nodded. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s true,” he said softly. “But you have friends who love you dearly. And you’re about to have a husband who couldn’t love you more.”

  A sly smile curled Delilah’s lips. “I also may have told Mother that I intend to marry you, and that she’ll never see our children or be welcome in our home.”

  His eyes widened. “Truly?”

  “Yes, you and Lucy tried to tell me for years how awful Mother was to me. I didn’t want to believe it. But now I see you were right. You were always right, Thomas, and you and Lucy are the ones who’ve always been there for me. Family isn’t always the people who you were born with.”

  He tipped up her chin with a finger and kissed her. “I’m glad you’ve finally realized that. You’ve been my family for years. Now we’re simply going to make it official.” His lips descended to hers again and the kiss deepened.

  “Thomas?” she asked a few moments later, breathing heavily.

  “Yes?”

  She hid her smile against his shoulder. “If Miss Adeline lives in a duke’s household and belongs to a duchess, does that make him a lady?”

  Thomas rolled his eyes. “I suppose this means Miss Adeline is coming to live here eventually.”

  “Of course he is,” Delilah replied brightly.

  “You’re going to have to tell him he’s not allowed to bite me.”

  “On the contrary.” She wagged a finger in the air. “You’re going to have to have a talk with him. Perhaps you can convince him that your intentions toward me are honorable.”

  He trailed kisses along the side of her neck, sending gooseflesh scattering across her skin. “But what if my intentions aren’t honorable? I can take you straight to Gretna Green if you like,” he murmured against her ear.

  Delilah tipped back her head and smiled. “Oh, no. I think we should make Mother and Lord Hilton pay for an elaborate wedding worthy of a duchess. Derek told me they wanted me to marry Clarence so they could keep my dowry.”

  Thomas cursed under his breath. “Don’t give them another thought. I’ll marry you whenever and wherever and however you’d like. And money is no object.”

  She sat up straight and faced him again, both arms wrapped over his wide shoulders. “There is someplace I’d like to go now, however.”

  He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “Your wish is my command, my lady. Where to?”

  She bit her lip and glanced up at him from beneath her lashes. “Your bed.”

  His brows shot up. “Truly?”

  “Yes, truly,” she whispered. “Can you make that happen?”

  “With all due haste.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Thankfully, Lord Stanley had taken Lavinia and her maid riding in the park, while Thomas’s mother was out shopping for the afternoon. They only had to dodge the servants to make it upstairs to Thomas’s bedchamber.

  They peeked their heads out of the study and looked both ways in the corridor before sneaking toward the foyer. They hid against the wall while the butler walked through the foyer, then they dashed across the marble floor for the staircase. Thomas grabbed Delilah’s hand and led her up the stairs to the second floor and down the long corridor to his bedchamber at the end of the row of doors.

  He closed the door behind them and locked it while Delilah turned in a wide circle taking it all in. His bedchamber was as unfussy as he was. The space consisted of a large bed in the center with dark blue linens atop it. It was decorated in hues of blue and gray with a painting of a hunting dog on the wall. Blue-and-white curtains adorned the windows, and two comfortable-looking leather chairs rested in front of the fireplace. It smelled like him too, soap and spice. She closed her eyes and breathed it in.

  Thomas lit two candles on either side of the bed, then went to the windows and pulled the curtains closed. The room descended into mostly darkness, and a thrill shot through Delilah’s middle and settled in her core. She’d wa
nted to do this with him at least since the night at Vauxhall, and perhaps even since their first kiss. She had no trepidation. No confusion. This was exactly how it was meant to be.

  He turned back to her and pulled her into his arms.

  “I’ve … never done this before,” she murmured. That was her only apprehension. She would die if he was disappointed in her performance.

  “Neither have I,” he admitted, kissing her again.

  “What?” She pulled back to search his face, not certain he was serious.

  “It’s true,” he said with a small laugh.

  “Why?” The word flew from her mouth, and she clapped her hand over it. “I’m sorry. Perhaps that’s none of my business.”

  “I told you once. I’ve been saving myself for the woman I’m madly in love with.”

  Tears rushed to her eyes. “Me?”

  He rubbed the underside of her chin with his finger. “Of course you, Delilah. It’s always been you.”

  “Then I feel as if we need an instruction manual or something,” she said with a nervous laugh.

  “I am confident I can manage without one. For instance, I’m almost certain the first thing we should do is take off our clothes.”

  Delilah nodded amiably. “I agree. That sounds right to me. You go first.”

  He laughed. “With pleasure.”

  She kicked off her slippers and sat on the bed, watching while Thomas sat next to her and removed his boots and stockings. Then he stood in front of her and began unraveling his cravat. She held her breath, mesmerized by the sultry look in his eyes. She swallowed. They were truly going to do this. Make love. Be each other’s first lovers. She’d never wanted anything more.

  “You can help if you’d like,” he offered, stepping closer to her so she could touch him.

  Delilah tentatively reached up and helped him with the cravat. Once it was free of his neck, he tossed it to the floor. Then he shrugged out of his coat. His waistcoat was next, and she helped him unbutton the thing. Next, he pulled his shirt over his head with two hands. All that was left were his breeches. Delilah helped with those buttons too. Her fingers nimbly opened them while her eyes never left his. When the breeches were completely unbuttoned, she held her breath.