“You do make me happy, Will,” she said, feeling the tears prick at her eyes once more. “It is I who have been foolish beyond permission. If I had not feared your virility when first we met, we might have come to an agreement years ago.”
“Let’s assume this is the way it was meant to be, and not suffer from regrets, my love. We were meant to be older, and wiser, when we came together.”
“I’ve been thinking a great deal about our coming together,” she said, her cheeks flushing. “You mustn’t think that our physical intimacy is the only reason that I love you, though. I knew as soon as you showed up at Colwyck that my attraction to you in London had not been illusory. Like you, even the pressures on me would not have induced me to marry someone I did not wish to marry.”
“With your inheritance as a dowry, you could have had your pick of any number of eligible gentlemen.”
Prudence shrugged. “Possibly. Thank heaven you happened to be at the Rightons’.”
Ledbetter laughed. “I didn’t happen to be there, Prudence. Since I had learned of your fiancé’s demise, I’d angled for a way to bring myself to your notice again. And not because of your inheritance.”
“Did you?” His bride sighed. “I think perhaps it is time you brought yourself to my notice again, Will. There are parts of me that feel a little abandoned just now. They wonder when you plan to attend to them.”
“Ah, I stand corrected, my lady.” Ledbetter’s hand came to cup the swell of her breast. “Is this one of those parts?”
“Yes,” she said, “but there are others.”
“In that case, I think we had best adjourn to my bed. If it pleases your ladyship.”
“It pleases me very much.”
So Ledbetter lifted her in his arms and carried her across the room to their marriage bed, where he managed in short order to allay any fears that might have disturbed his new bride’s complete and total happiness.
About the Author
Laura Matthews is the author of twenty Regency romances and two Regency Christmas novellas. Writing as Elizabeth Neff Walker, she has also written numerous contemporary romances and women's fiction titles.
Ms. Matthews lives in San Francisco with her architect husband Paul and their two small dogs. She actively pursues her research interests (the Regency period and medical sociology) by membership in her local Jane Austen Society and by volunteering at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.
More information about Ms. Matthews is available on the Belgrave House website: www.belgravehouse.com/
Publishing Information
Copyright © 2000 by Elizabeth Rotter
Originally published by Signet (0451200705)
Electronically published in 2007 by Belgrave House
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No portion of this book may be reprinted in whole or in part, by printing, faxing, E-mail, copying electronically or by any other means without permission of the publisher. For more information, contact Belgrave House, 190 Belgrave Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94117-4228
www.BelgraveHouse.com
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This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.
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