The Duke's Brother

by Claudia Stone

  Her brother was misty eyed as he led the small group into the dining room, where a wedding breakfast was laid out, with the obligatory champagne for toasting.

  “It is hard for any brother to give his sister away,” Theo said, smiling down affectionately at Aurelia. “Particularly when we have been parted for so long. But when the man who is to be her husband has already taken a bullet for you, the job is much easier. I know that she will be well looked after.”

  Theo lifted his glass to Sebastian, who looked down humbly at the table. The Marquess of Sutherland, who was seated beside Lydia, gave a bark of amused laughter.

  “The next time he takes a bullet for you Epsom, make sure the shooter is more gifted, or you’ll never be rid of him!”

  The men descended into gales of laughter, much to Aurelia’s amusement. She saw a glance of affection pass between Sebastian and his oldest friend, and wondered at the mindset of the male of the species. To say perfectly horrid things to each other was how they expressed their love for each other, and to her it was utterly incomprehensible.

  After a few short hours, the meal was ended, and Aurelia was checking her luggage piled high in the entrance hall, preparing to leave Epsom Hall for the last time. It felt strange to think that she was now Mrs. Black, a fact she had forgotten about until a footman addressed her with her new moniker.

  “I like the sound of that.”

  Sebastian was standing in the doorway, having come to check on the travel preparations, and had overheard the footman referring to her as his wife.

  “It takes some getting used to,” Aurelia confessed. As did coming to terms with the fact that they were now allowed to be alone together. Just the sight of Sebastian in the doorway had her nervously checking to make sure that they would not be seen - until she remembered that married couples had no need of chaperones…

  “There are highway men on the main London road,” Sebastian said softly, walking towards her like a fox stalking its prey. “I will ride alongside you on one of your brother’s horses, I want you to arrive at St. James’ in one piece.”

  All the air had left Aurelia’s lungs, and her head felt dizzy as her husband gazed down at her. His hand was on her waist, and he was about to kiss her, when Lydia and the Marquess arrived in the entrance hall, squabbling like children.

  “Lady Beaufort will not allow me escort her to London,” Sutherland said dourly, casting the raven haired young woman a dark glance.

  “The last time someone in this group escorted someone on a long journey, they ended up married,” Lydia replied primly. “And I have to warn you Lord Sutherland, if you ever become my husband I shall put poison in your coffee.”

  “And if you ever become my wife I’ll gladly drink it,” Sutherland replied dryly.

  The two faced off, as though Sebastian and Aurelia were not there, almost nose to nose, anger radiating from their bodies.

  “We can bring Lady Lydia back to London,” Aurelia ventured, breaking the loaded silence.

  “Good,” Sutherland bit, turning his back on the woman who had vexed him so. “If you get stopped by highway men, you can tell them that they are welcome to the worlds most unromantic Romantic.”

  Before Aurelia could guess at what the Marquess meant, he left. The sound of clattering hoof-beats on the gravel driveway a few minutes later let the silent group know that he had departed for London ahead of them.

  “Well,” Aurelia said brightly, to a rather miserable looking Lydia. “I’m glad you’re to be the first lady I chaperone Liddy, for I am sure to do it wrong…”

  And with that she set about readying herself, her luggage and a miserable Lady Beaufort for the short trip to London, glad that she would have someone to distract her from the thoughts of what was to come…

  The St. James’ residence that Aurelia was now to call home, was similar in layout to the home of the Marquess of Sutherland, which was right next door. That was the only similarity that Aurelia could discern, as the housekeeper took her on a tour of the cavernous abode. Where Sutherland’s home had been filled with portraits of ancestors, and family history – Sebastian’s was almost like a museum. It was filled with beautiful objects and artworks, but the felt unloved, as though no one ever saw them. Which Aurelia soon learned was true.

  She was just dressing for dinner, when a knock on the door of her suite of rooms started her.

  “Oh,” she gasped, as Sebastian poked his head around the door. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  Which was the truth – she had been preparing for a night-time union, not a pre-dinner one. She looked at her husband nervously, certain that this was how deer looked at hunters. She was not ready for love making just yet – not when her husband had not even told her if he did love her.

  “I just came to check that everything was alright,” Sebastian said easily, stepping inside and seating himself on the ottoman by the fireplace – far enough away from Aurelia that she felt momentarily safe.

  “Oh,” she breathed, relieved to be able to discuss the mundane for a moment. “It’s such a lovely house Sebastian, the Duclaux painting in the drawing room is breath-taking.”

  “Oh is it? I didn’t even know that I owned it,” Sebastian replied sheepishly, embarrassed by his largess.

  “How can you not know what paintings you have in your house?” Aurelia asked incredulously.

  “I don’t spend that much time here,” Sebastian said with a shrug. He blush a little, and stared at his boots before speaking again. “When I was a child growing up in St. Giles, I used to dream about owning a house like this.”

  Aurelia nodded silently, not wishing to interrupt him, for she had never heard him speak of his childhood.

  “But once I owned it,” Sebastian continued; “I came to see that an empty house is only that Aurelia – a house. What I was longing for was a home.”

  He stood and moved closer to her, softly and slowly – as one might approach a frightened rabbit.

  “Will you help me make this house a home Aurelia?” he asked, his handsome face wearing a look of vulnerability.

  “Of course I will,” Aurelia whispered, allowing him to take her hands in his.

  “I am sorry that I have no title to give you my love,” he continued, his eyes holding hers as he spoke. “But I will try to give you everything else that you desire. For I love you, and I would do anything for just a smile from you.”

  “Oh Sebastian,” Aurelia smiled, her eyes misting with tears. “I don’t want a title, I never have. All I wanted was to hear you say that you loved me.”

  “Really?” Sebastian looked dubious, as though he did not believe her.

  “Really,” she replied firmly, looping her arms around her husband’s neck and drawing him into a deep, passionate kiss. “For I love you too, you silly fool.”

  Sebastian’s arms encircled her waist, and soon the newly married couple were tugging at each other’s clothes, in a race to appease their desire. Aurelia had never felt so womanly and delicate, as Sebastian worshiped each patch of skin as it was revealed, layer by layer - their clothes ending up in a forgotten heap on the floor. Her husband crooned her name softly as he took her, his eyes filled with both love and desire, and Aurelia felt as though she would break, such was the pleasure of knowing him like this. Knowing him as a wife.

  Afterward, as Aurelia lay in his arms, she cast her husband a happy smile.

  “I am glad I met you Mr. Black,” she said as she snuggled into his arms. “I’m glad that it was you who saved me and not anyone else.”

  “And you have saved me too,” Sebastian whispered, peppering her cheek, neck arm and ears with delightful little kisses as she fell asleep, his arms wrapped around her as she spent her first night in their home.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  .

  “It’s a girl!” Sebastian cried, looking at his wife with delight.

  In one hand, he held a letter covered in a looping scrawl, and in the other he held an open envelope which bore the Ducal Cr
est of the Duke of Blackmore.

  “Michael said that she’s the first girl to be born into the Blackmore line in nearly a century,” Sebastian read aloud, his eyes dancing. “But not to think that she takes after any of her hideous male ancestors. She is, in fact, the most delicate flower that ever existed and as such they have decided to name her Flora.”

  Sebastian finished reading with a chuckle of appreciation for his half-brother’s rhapsodising description of his first child.

  “How wonderful!” Aurelia smiled. She was still slightly terrified of Michael Linfield, the Duke of Blackmore – even though she was now related to him through marriage. To hear the huge, mountain of a man in raptures over a tiny baby girl made her smile. The beautiful Flora would be spoiled rotten by her Papa, of that she was sure, though Isabella was sure to prevent him from spoiling her rotten.

  “Come, sit beside me for a while,” Aurelia said to her handsome husband, who stood leaning against the door frame.

  A late-autumn illness had struck, and she had been temporarily bed bound for the past week. An overly anxious Sebastian had sent for a physician – even though Aurelia had insisted it was naught – who had left just a few minutes ago.

  “Are you feeling better love?” Sebastian asked tenderly, as he sat at the edge of the bed. He took her hand in his and began to massage it idly. “Are you sure it’s not the country air that’s making you feel ill?”

  “Of course it’s not!” Aurelia laughed. After their marriage, Sebastian had purchased her a stately home outside Chessington, in the rolling green Surrey countryside. Chessington being close enough to Epsom so that she could call on her brother whenever she wished.

  A London boy through and through, it had taken Sebastian a few months to adjust to being a Lord of the Manor, as he disparagingly called it – and he blamed any ills that befell them as being the countryside’s fault.

  The chandelier in the entrance hall cracked.

  That’s because we’re in the countryside, he’d said sagely.

  The footman contracted the chickenpox.

  Wouldn’t have happened in London, had been his reply.

  Runaway cows ate all Aurelia’s rosebushes.

  That’s country living for you, he had laughed.

  I suppose I have to give him the last one, Aurelia thought wryly to herself; she had never seen any cows in Belgravia during her time there. And Sebastian had begun to love the life they led in Surrey – hours walking the woods and fields, caring for their tenants and the farm lands. He did still slip off to London, to check on his business there for a day or two, but he always raced home to be with her.

  “Well if you’re sure it’s not Surrey making you ill, I suppose we’ll stay,” he said with a smile, lifting her hand to his lips.

  “I’m most certain,” Aurelia said firmly her eyes dancing with happiness. “The doctor said that my sickness will pass in a week or two, and that the rest of my pregnancy should be smooth sailing.”

  “Your w-w-what?”

  Aurelia laughed aloud at the look of incredulity on her handsome husband’s face.

  “We’re going to have a baby Sebastian,” she said, her eyes misting with tears of happiness. They were finally going to start their family together, and if the intense rush of love Aurelia felt for this minuscule bump was anything to go by, this would be the first baby of many.

  “A baby!” Sebastian echoed, his eyes full of wonder. He reached out and gathered her in his arms, as tenderly as if she was made out of glass, and showered her with kisses. His embrace soon went from tender to passionate, and an hour later Aurelia was lying in her husband’s arms, basking in the afterglow of love.

  “What shall we call it?” Sebastian asked in a whisper, picking up the thread of conversation from earlier. “What do you think it shall be, a girl or a boy? I have no preference, but I’m rather afraid if it’s a girl, that she’ll inherit my shoulders - that wouldn’t be in her best interests.”

  Aurelia laughed at the look of abject concern on her husband’s face for his unborn broad-shouldered child. She had never seen him so worried about anything - it was rather endearing. The warm contentment which had filled her since the physician had confirmed her suspicions had pushed all her usual fears away; for once Aurelia was the confident and relaxed person when it came to the unknown.

  “I suspect that if we pick a name, that we’ll change our minds the moment that we see them,” she said with a yawn, snuggling in closer to her husband’s warm form. “We’ll worry about it when it happens dear, we don’t need to decide today.”

  “My wife is not only beautiful but wise,” Sebastian said in a soliloquy to the ceiling, a grin on his face. He rolled over onto one arm, so he was facing her, his eyes teasing. “Now tell me this oh wise one - are you sad that your potential son might not be a viscount?”

  “Not this again,” Aurelia said, though laughter softened her words. “I do not care, not an inch. Just as I don’t care that you’re not a Lord.”

  “Well, not technically,” Sebastian said, as an offhand aside, as he pulled his wife closer to him.

  “What do you mean not technically?” Aurelia asked, looking up at him in confusion.

  “Well,” Sebastian began slowly, perhaps realising that he was about to tell his wife something she ought to have known. “Prinny was handing out honours left, right and centre at the end of the war. He bestowed on me a peerage, as thanks for using my ships in service of King and country.”

  “And what peerage did he bestow on you exactly?” Aurelia squeaked, staring at her husband in dumbfounded amazement.

  “Oh, I think I’m Lord Black, Viscount Black or some such nonsense,” Sebastian said with a shrug, settling down to sleep, unperturbed.

  “And did you not think to tell me this before we married?” Aurelia asked, holding back laughter. All his fuss about not being an aristocrat and the man had been a Viscount all along.

  “Well it’s not like it’s a real title,” Sebastian said with a shrug, his eyes twinkling. “It’s only a courtesy title love, nothing to get excited about.”

  “Sebastian Black,” Aurelia said a bemused smile on her face. “You are the biggest snob that ever lived.”

  “Thank you my Lady.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  .

  Thank you so much for purchasing a copy of The Duke’s Brother, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  The Regency Black Heart series will continue in July with the release of A Lady Like No Other, which will tell Lydia’s tale.

  If you would like to read an excerpt from the forthcoming book, please sign up for my newsletter:

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  Thank you again for taking an interest in the Regency Black Heart series. If you would like to get in touch about any of my books, you can follow me on GoodReads or email me:

  claudiastonesuthor@mail.com

  God bless,

  Claudia Stone

  Book One in the Regency Black Hearts Series:

  Proposing to a Duke

  At the age of five and twenty, confirmed spinster Isabella Peregrine is given an unexpected ultimatum by her new step-mother: find a husband or I'll find one for you.

  Thoroughly in a tizz, Isabella proposes a marriage of convenience to the nearest male to her - who just so happens to be the brooding, intimidating Duke of Blackmore. When he rebuffs her clumsy advances, Isabella leaves for London, determined to find the man of her dreams and soothe her bruised ego.

  Michael Linfield, Duke of Blackmore is a legendary, fearsome, war hero; famous for reducing debutantes and their mothers to floods of tears with just one glance. The brooding, giant of a man is hiding a secret however - a debilitating stammer that has haunted him since childhood. When the delightful Miss Peregrine proposes a marriage of convenience to him - with no benefits - Michael is so startled that his stammer reappears and all he can manage to reply is "N-n-no".

  When news of Isabella's success in Londo
n soon reaches his ears, Michael is determined to go to town and win her as his own, if only she'll give him a second chance at love.

  This sweet and clean Regency Romance is a stand alone novel with a guaranteed HEA.

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