Page 73 of A Lady's Key to Passion

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(After reading the Extended Epilogue, turn the page to read the first chapters from“A Wicked Duke to Her Rescue”, my Amazon Best-Selling novel!)

A Wicked Duke to Her Rescue

Introduction

Being mistreated by her stepmother her whole life, the fiery Liliane Ward is trying to live a peaceful life, which leaves no time for romance. Certainly no time for the seductive stranger she keeps running into... However, when a flaming encounter at a ball reveals that he is the newly named Duke of Gillingham, remaining unnoticed will become much harder.

Can her desire for the Duke make her dance on the wild side?

Harry, the tempting Duke of Gillingham, is convinced that love is not in the cards for him. However, things are about to change when he meets a mysterious servant-girl who insists on keeping her identity a secret. After her very seductive appearance at a ball, he is even more intrigued, but every time he tries to get close to her, she disappears.

Will he manage to discover the identity of the mysterious woman who always leves him wanting so much more?

Even if the obstacles between them seem greater than their fierce connection, Liliane and Harry find themselves bound together by their sizzling passion. With Harry facing his own demons and Liliane’s stepmother threatening her with misfortune, they will soon be forced to make a decision… Will their sinful feelings be strong enough to thwart their families wicked intentions? Or will they kneel to everyone else’s desires and abandon their own?

Chapter 1

August 1829, Kent

The night was dark and bloated with clouds, so heavy and dense that even the light of the full moon couldn’t penetrate their cover. All of Kent’s beautiful green grasses and wildflowers were cast in nearly impenetrable blackness.

Everything was silent, save for the winds whispering of the coming rain. All decent folks had taken to bed hours before, except for a young woman who stood alone in the night, her hazel eyes flitting anxiously across the shadows shifting over the ground.

Her heart hammered against her ribs, and her throat tightened. She was a slender, graceful creature with red-blonde curls which peeked from beneath her cap, as shining and fine as if they’d been made of silk. It was much too late for a respectable woman to be out, much less a young lady.

“But I’ve come this far,” she murmured. “I cannot let my courage abandon me now.”

Casting a final glance at the townhouse—at herhome—she set her shoulders and tilted her chin up.Hewas waiting for her, and she must not disappoint him. The young woman bit her lip, wrapped her arms around herself, and set a quick but measured pace to their meeting place.

She knew the way well and had walked it often during the day, but it was eerily different at night. With every short, chilled draft of wind, shadows moved across the ground. Grasses and trees whispered, and she felt a sharp jolt of cold trace the path of her spine. Night made the familiar, beautiful landscape strange and foreign.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself. Her slippers were quiet against the cobblestones as she neared the familiar park. He’d meet her by the entrance. The young woman quickened her steps, halting by the sweeping grasses and scattered wildflowers, which spilt onto the carefully crafted pathway.

“I am here,” she said.

No one answered. She bit her lip and gazed at the sky, but the time was difficult to determine. It did not matter, anyway. He would be here soon. After everything they had done together and everything they were to each other, she knew he would come for her as promised.

Still, she felt an irrational bolt of fear that he might not. That familiar nagging voice assaulted her thoughts, telling her that she might’ve dreamed up the events of the past several months and a love so passionate that it seemed scarcely possible for her to contain it.

Slowly, she seated herself on the stones. The grasses and flowers brushed against her skirts and arms with every whisper of the wind. She waited. And waited.

He had been delayed. Perhaps, he’d had difficulty in sneaking away from his grand manor. He would come, though. He’d promised.

The young woman raised her knees and let her chin rest atop them. “He is an honourable man,” she murmured. “A good man. He’ll always keep his word.”

Certainly, he would not agree to meet her and then abandon her without warning. Surely not. She plucked a pale blue flower from the ground and absentmindedly pulled off its petals, shredding them between her slender fingers.

Time passed. The night grew deeper and darker as the young woman waited. A strange sort of numbness came over her, sinking down into her very bones and freezing her from within. She could no longer really believe that he’d just been a little delayed.

“But if he is not delayed,” she whispered, unable to voice the thought in its entirety.

If he was not delayed, then he was not coming. It was as simple as that, butacceptingthe idea was another matter entirely.

The sky lightened, growing ever brighter with dawn’s first light.

The young woman drew a deep breath. Her eyes burned with tears. Only her pride kept them from falling freely down her pale face. She had been wrong about him.

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