Her mere presence will cause a man to yearn to know the intimacy of her thoughts, her secret desires, her touch. Like the finest of wines, she is bold, full-bodied, and tantalizing. Never disappointing. Yet never the same, always offering another aspect to be discovered. A lifetime in her company will never be long enough. She is a complicated, complex creature worthy of any man’s heart. I have little doubt that in time, you will willingly place yours into her keeping.
You would be a fool, Kingsland, to let her get away. Trust me on this: there is no woman in all of Christendom who would serve better as your duchess.
Respectfully,
Lord Griffith Stanwick
She clutched the letter to her breast, careful not to crush or crinkle it because she intended to keep it with her forever. Kingsland had the right of it. It did belong with her, as did the man who had written it.
“What did Kingsland have to say?”
Turning, she watched her husband take the final few steps toward her. Then his hands were on her hips, and he was drawing her in close.
“He gave me your letter.”
He sighed deeply. “Ah, that poppycock.”
With a smile, she draped one arm around his neck and flattened the other against his chest, right where his heart beat, beat for her. “A year ago, I might have believed that it was all lies, but now I know the truth of it. There is no man in all of Christendom who would serve better as my husband.”
With a low growl, he claimed her mouth as he had claimed her heart, wildly and passionately.
As the sun bade its final farewell to the day, he lifted her into his arms and began carrying her toward the cottage, where memories to be made awaited and dreams would be seized.
Epilogue
Windswept Cottage
Some years later
Standing at the cliff’s edge, with the late morning sunlight bearing down on him, Griff watched as his wife and three young daughters, the eldest eight, waded about in the blue water—wearing naught but their undergarments. But there was no one to see.
His wife gave a little screech, raced back to shore, and the wind carried her laughter up to him. A series of squeals from the girls followed as they all rushed out of the water, lifted their arms to the sun, rose up on their tiny bare toes, and began swaying, like saplings caught in a high wind when a rainstorm was coming. Only no storm was on the horizon. The sun had chased away the morning haze and promised a bright day of reflection off the sparkling sea. As one, they took to twirling, a ritual during which they laughed, smiled, and sometimes sang.
He’d never known such peace or contentment. His angels were all without cares or worries, and he was glad of that. He would do anything to ensure it. For his daughters, he’d already set up trusts. At five and twenty, each would be independent. They could marry if they wished but wouldn’t have to in order to have anything they desired. No conditions would be set upon them.
Even with the best of intentions, Kathryn’s grandmother had nearly damned her to a loveless existence. No, not a loveless existence, merely a marriage. For she would have had his love, if not his name. Always she would have possessed his love. But now she had both.
Glancing up, she held a hand to her brow, shielding her eyes from the sun at his back, and waved. “Come join us!”
He hadn’t needed the invitation, had planned to do so, but first he’d wanted a moment to simply enjoy what he now held, what he’d never hoped to attain.
After striding over to the well-worn path that led down to the sea, he made his way along it until he reached the shore. The girls rushed ahead of her to his side, grabbed his hands, not at all bothered by the scars, and smiled up at him with Kathryn’s eyes and her hair, and more of her than of him in their features. He’d have not wanted it any other way.
“Papa, will you carry us into the deep?” the eldest asked, their term for the area where the water went to his waist, where they could splash about and create a ruckus while holding on to him.
“Please?” pleaded the middle.
“Pretty please?” asked the youngest.
“I will, but I need a word with your mother first.”
“Kiss her, you mean.” The eldest was a sharp one and not shy about voicing her opinion.
He grinned. “Well, that, too.”
“Go on, girls,” Kathryn said. “Work on your castle while I greet your father.”
“Kiss him, you mean,” the eldest said, then giggled, her sisters joining in, before they all dashed off.
His wife came into his arms and kissed him as though they hadn’t made love just a few hours ago, as though he hadn’t kissed her thoroughly then. Not that he minded as he pulled her in close. If he lived to be a hundred, he’d never have enough of this, enough of her.
She drew back and searched his features. “So what was in the post?”
He’d received a letter that morning from Althea, had wanted to read it, and had delayed his coming to the shoreline with her and their girls. The postponement had given him a chance to watch them from afar. He enjoyed basking in the sight of them, to be reminded of how close he’d come to not having any of this. “She’s invited us to join her and the family in Scotland for a couple of weeks.”
“That will please the girls. They always have fun visiting with their cousins.”
Lowering his head, he nibbled on that soft spot just below her ear. “Will it please you?”
“You please me.”
“Do I?”
“Mmm. Are you pleased?”
Drawing away, he held her gaze. At that moment the shade of her eyes matched the sea. “How can I not be? For a man who was merely to be held in reserve, I think I’ve done quite well for myself.” His club was an immense success. Over the years, he’d made investments that had paid off handsomely. “I have as a wife a woman that a duke had once wanted to wed.”
She grinned. “Why would I prefer a duke to a scoundrel? Especially when that scoundrel is all I desire, the scoundrel of my heart.” She braced her palms on either side of his jaw. “I love this cottage, but not more than I love you.”
“You are everything to me, Kathryn. You and the girls.”
He captured her mouth once more, knowing he had a long way to go to being deserving of her, but not being foolish enough to let her go. She completed him, made him whole.
As the breeze blew around him, the seagulls squawked, and the waves lapped at the shore, he lifted her into his arms and swung her around. Her laughter, the sweetest of sounds, echoed around him.
After he’d taken each of his girls into the deep, he was going to take his wife back to the cottage she treasured and to the bed where he could show her how much he treasured her. With her, nothing about his birth or his past mattered. All that mattered was their love.
Author’s Note
In the early part of the nineteenth century, until at least the 1850s, cock and hen clubs existed throughout the less affluent sections of London, providing a place for unattached men and women to meet, pair up, go off somewhere, and spend an intimate evening together. A singles club, as it were. Eventually they began to fade away, the sexual aspect turning more toward a socializing bent, where people simply enjoyed music and other entertainments.
While it is unlikely that Griff would have found one to visit in his wild youth, literary license is a wonderful thing—and it’s possible the rare one might have still been around to serve as inspiration for his club.
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THE DUCHESS HUNT
The Duke of Kingsland is still in need of a duchess. But what if the perfect woman for him is the one he can’t have?
About the Author
LORRAINE HEATH always dreamed of being a writer. After graduating from the University of Texas, she wrote training manuals, press releases, articles, and computer code, but something was always missing. When she read a romance novel, she not only became hoo
ked on the genre, but quickly realized what her writing lacked: rebels, scoundrels, and rogues. She’s been writing about them ever since. Her work has been recognized with numerous industry awards and her novels have appeared on the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists.
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By Lorraine Heath
Scoundrel of My Heart
Beauty Tempts the Beast
The Earl Takes a Fancy
The Duchess in His Bed
The Scoundrel in Her Bed
Texas Legacy (novella)
When a Duke Loves a Woman
Beyond Scandal and Desire
Gentlemen Prefer Heiresses (novella)
An Affair with a Notorious Heiress
When the Marquess Falls (novella)
The Viscount and the Vixen
The Earl Takes All
Falling into Bed with a Duke
The Duke and the Lady in Red
The Last Wicked Scoundrel (novella)
Once More, My Darling Rogue
The Gunslinger (novella)
When the Duke Was Wicked
Deck the Halls with Love (novella)
Lord of Wicked Intentions
Lord of Temptation
She Tempts the Duke
Waking Up with the Duke
Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman
Passions of a Wicked Earl
Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel
Surrender to the Devil
Between the Devil and Desire
In Bed with the Devil
Just Wicked Enough
A Duke of Her Own
Promise Me Forever
A Matter of Temptation
As an Earl Desires
An Invitation to Seduction
Love with a Scandalous Lord
To Marry an Heiress
The Outlaw and the Lady
Never Marry a Cowboy
Never Love a Cowboy
A Rogue in Texas
Texas Splendor
Texas Glory
Texas Destiny
Always to Remember
Parting Gifts
Sweet Lullaby
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
scoundrel of my heart. Copyright © 2021 by Jan Nowasky. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins Publishers. For information, address HarperCollins Publishers, 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007.
Digital Edition APRIL 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-295197-7
Print Edition ISBN: 978-0-06-295196-0
Cover design by Amy Halperin
Cover illustration by Victor Gadino
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Scoundrel of My Heart EPB Page 25