Azalea
Page 24
Christian thrust twice, thrice more, then arched his own back, shuddering, as he spent his own passion. Carefully, he lowered himself next to her, kissing her gently on the lips. She had been all that he had known he would be, and more —far more. Still deep inside her, cradling her to him, he felt that he could happily remain here with her for the rest of his life. He had never felt so complete.
But slowly, reality intruded. Loath as he was to move, he knew that he had to get Azalea back to Beauforth House if her reputation was not to be sunk beyond repair —at least, if they were to go along with Lady Beauforth's scheme.
"You realize that you will have to marry me now," he said softly, kissing a curl at her temple.
She looked up at him with those glorious green eyes and smiled. "If I had known what being your wife entailed, I would have told you my first day in England," she breathed.
"Let that be your punishment," he said with a tender grin. "You missed two months of pleasure for your silence."
After another quiet moment of contentment, Azalea asked him, "Didn't we come here to discuss our wedding trip?"
"Insatiable minx! That's not why I brought you here at all."
"Cousin Alice will wonder at our being gone so long," she prompted gently, though she had no desire to leave.
"As you say. I had another setting in mind for my surprise, anyway."
He would not answer her excited enquiries, but helped her to dress, then held the door for her to precede him out of the suite and down to the waiting carriage.
"Chris, you are driving me to distraction," she declared as they pulled up before the Beauforth house.
"Only fair," he replied. "You have been doing that to me since the moment I met you— again."
Once inside, he did not take her back to the parlour as she had expected, but led her through the house and out into the deserted gardens behind. The sunlight made it cheerful despite the fact that only the conifers were green. They stopped under the rose bower, covered now with gnarled grey canes awaiting the warmth of spring to bring them back to life.
"Happy as I am for your cousin and Mr. Plummer, I have no intention of sharing my wedding trip with them. It strikes me that we have a lot of catching up to do, old married couple that we are." His smile made her want to leap into his arms again. "But not necessarily in America."
She looked up at him questioningly.
"I thought we might tour the Continent," he said at last. "I hear the roses at Malmaison in June are well worth seeing."
Azalea gasped with delight at the prospect of having that botanist's dream fulfilled. How could he have known?
When she would have asked, he stopped her with a kiss at first gentle, then demanding.
"I made a promise nigh on seven years ago to make you happy," he murmured at length. "It is time I began to fulfill it, don't you think?"
THE END
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Turn the page for a note from the author.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Azalea is the very first book I ever wrote, though it was actually my seventh published (after quite a bit of much-needed revision!) It is set in the same "world" as all of my Regency-set books, both my traditional Regencies and my single title Regency historicals, with a few of the same (fictional) peripheral characters. As you may have noticed, with Azalea, I expanded a bit beyond the strict confines of traditional Regency— perhaps one reason it did not immediately sell.
While each of my books stands alone, complete in itself, some readers prefer to read them in order. My traditional Regencies, in order of original publication, are: Gabriella, The Cygnet (originally The Ugly Duckling), Lord Dearborn's Destiny, Daring Deception and A Christmas Bride. Azalea was originally published only as part of a two-in-one volume, Regency Diamonds, so I am delighted to finally give it the chance to stand alone. My Regency historicals, in order (both chronologically in the period and in order of publication), are: Scandalous Virtue, Rogue's Honor, Noble Deceptions (originally published as A Rebellious Bride), Innocent Passions and Saintly Sins (originally published as Wickedly Yours). These last four comprise my "Saint of Seven Dials" series. Linked to those, but not quite a part of the series, are also Tessa's Touch (originally published as Taming Tessa) and The Runaway Heiress. While preparing my traditional Regencies (including this one) for e-book release, I chose to keep the British spellings and more omniscient viewpoint of the originals, to preserve the classic feel of those books. For all of these reissues, I have taken the opportunity to clean up a few small errors of fact and proofing, and am delighted to again share my stories with you in this new format. Enjoy!
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For information on my other books, please visit http://brendahiatt.com or connect with me online at http://www.facebook.com/BrendaHiatt or http://twitter.com/#!/Brenda_Hiatt
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17