I do confess that since I left you later that afternoon I’ve been atwitter, hoping against hope you might favor me by calling upon me. Alas, you have not. But I excuse you readily. Of course I do. I put your reluctance down to your desire to conclude the year of mourning for your wife. That formal period ended last week.
After much thought on the matter, I can understand other reasons why you’ve not approached me. You were shocked by your quick affections. I was surprised by my own. After all, it had been five years since last we met and enjoyed our conversation and the recognition of like minds. Our accidental meeting in Margate kindled flames of passion which I daresay are usually assigned only to youth. Yet for me, I will declare our interlude was a unique rapture. If my heart palpitated with exquisite delights that afternoon we dallied in the throes of madness, my mind since then has relived a thousand times the ecstasy we shared.
Might you not come to my party? Might we not rekindle the fires of a glorious interlude rolling as God made us upon those downy linen sheets?
Yes, you may call me bold. Yes, you may refuse me a response.
But I ask you, Your Grace, is not life for the living?
My husband has long since departed this world.
Your wife, gone less time, but nonetheless, cannot share her wit with us in coming days.
My step-son is grown. A man about to take a wife. My other responsibilities for my dearly departed sister’s three daughters will soon cease as they go to their own marriage beds. My days spread before me and I wish for another marvelous taste of true love before I grow too mature to revel in its physical pleasures…and its ethereal rewards.
Won’t you join me and my guests for Christmas?
Let us hail Christmas with reverence. Hail my nieces’ engagements with joy. And ring in the New Year, the two of us in a cocoon of our mutual desires for each other.
Darling Harlow, let us not to the marriage of true minds find impediments. We are too old to worry that society would ridicule us. We two are free, unburdened by family responsibilities. Your three children are settled and prospering. My charges soon will be, too. You are a duke alone, and I am a widowed countess who has slept alone—and laughed alone—for more years than I care to recall.
May we not, my dear, revel in the Season and in each other?
I long to kiss you and I invite you to cavort with me!
Let this be a happy Christmas! Come to my party! We’ve much to enjoy!
Yours affectionately,
Gertrude
Countess of Marsden, Gertrude Marsden
Who is Cerise DeLand?
Cerise DeLand
Cerise DeLand loves to write about dashing heroes and the sassy women they adore. Whether she’s penning historical romances or contemporaries, she has received praise for her poetic elegance and accuracy of detail.
An award-winning author of more than 50 novels, she’s been published since 1991 by Pocket Books, St. Martin’s Press, Kensington and independent presses. Her books have been monthly selections of the Doubleday Book Club and the Mystery Guild. Plus she’s won nominations and awards for Best Historical of the Year, Best Regency and scores of rave reviews from Romantic Times, Affair de Coeur, Publisher’s Weekly and more.
To research, she’s dived into the oldest texts and dustiest library shelves. She’s also traveled abroad, trusty notebook and pen in hand, to visit the chateaux and country homes she loves to people with her own imaginary characters.
And at home every day? She loves to cook, hates to dust, goes swimming at least once a week and tries (desperately) to grow vegetables in her arid backyard in south Texas!
Also by Cerise DeLand
Regencies
Lady Starling’s Stockings
The Stanhope Challenge, Regency Quartet, box set
Regency Romp Series:
Lady Varney’s Risque Business, #1
Rendezvous with a Duke, #2
Masquerade with a Marquess, #3
Interlude with a Baron, #4
Christmas Belles, Romantic Comedy Series:
The Earl’s Wagered Bride, #1
The Viscount’s Only Love, #2
The Duke’s Impetuous Darling, #3
The Marquess’s Final Fling, #4
The Butler’s Forbidden Fancy, #5, November 2019
Aunt Gertrude’s Red Hot Christmas Beau, #6 in SNOWED IN WITH A ROGUE, Box set, October 7, 2019
Delightful Doings in Dudley Crescent, Romantic Comedy Series:
Her Beguiling Butler, #1
His Tempting Governess, #2
His Naughty Maid, #3
Erotic Regency Romances:
His Delectable Cook
Sense and Sensibility
Victorian Romances
Those Notorious Americans Series:
Wild Lily, #1
Daring Widow, #2
Sweet Siren, #3
Scandalous Heiress, #4
Ravishing Camille, #5, Winter 2019
Medievals
Swords of Passion Series:
At Her Service, #1
For Her Honor, #2
With Her Kiss, #3
* * *
Military Romances
7 Brides for 7 SEALs Series:
You Were Always Mine, #1
No Getting Over You, #2
SEALs Going Hot, box set
Burning for Nero
Conquering Zeus
A Long Time Comin’ (erotic romance)
Hard Drivin’ Man (erotic romance)
Contemporaries
Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? (erotic comedic suspense)
Tall, Hard and Trouble, box set
Tall, Hard and Mine, box set, Coming Soon!
Tall, Hard and Fierce, box set, Coming Soon!
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The Marquess's Final Fling: Christmas Belles, Book #4 Page 10