Grace Burrowes - The Duke and His Duchess

She cradled his cheek against her palm, looking tired—also pleased with her husband. “One anticipates most plans will benefit from your thoughts, Your Grace.”

He kissed her—a businesslike kiss that nonetheless nurtured his soul. “You will be lying-in. No political dinners for you for at least a month.”

She’d eschewed the old tradition of a forty-day lying-in several babies ago. Inactivity was not in the Duchess of Moreland’s nature.

“Two weeks ought to be sufficient, Percival. This was not a difficult birthing, and as that lady married to the fellow approximately sixty-seventh in line for the throne, I’ve decided I need practice making royal decrees.”

What she needed was a nap. Percival didn’t dare suggest that.

“Planning is one of your strengths, Esther. Though I do worry about your health. With each child, the worry does not abate, it grows worse. What proclamation are you contemplating?”

She kissed his wrist. “You need not fret, Husband. Every duchess has a carnivorous streak if she knows what’s good for her. I’ll soon be on the mend, or you’ll be slaying hapless bovines to make it so. Now attend me.”

“I am helpless to do otherwise, as well you should know.”

“The government will topple without you, I know that, your king knows it, and I suspect all of Parliament—when sober—understands your value, but I saw you first.”

She was tired, she was pleased with the night’s work—very pleased, and well she should be—but Percival also saw that his wife was working up to something, something important to her that must therefore also be important to him, even on Thursdays.

“Esther, I love you, and I will always love you. You need not issue a proclamation. You need only ask.”

“Then I am asking for my Thursdays back.”

“I wasn’t aware Thursdays had been taken from you, Your Grace.” And yet they had—they’d been taken from him, too, and given to the ungrateful wretches in the Lords.

“Percival, I recall that trip we took up to Town only a few years ago, when Devlin and Maggie came to join our household. I was so worried then, for us and for our children, and one of the ways I knew my worry was not silly was that you’d forgotten our Thursdays. I’m not worried now, but I think we need our Thursdays back.”

Something warm turned over in Percival’s heart. He loved his wife, but it was wonderful to know he was still in love with her too—more than ever.

“Parliament can go hang,” Percival said, stroking a hand over his duchess’s golden hair. “We shall have our Thursdays back, and no one and nothing shall take them from us, or from our children.”

The duchess’s proclamation stood throughout shifts in government, the arrival of more babies, the maturation of those babies into ladies and gentlemen, and even through the arrival of grandbabies and great-grandbabies—though given the nature of large, busy, families, Thursday occasionally fell on Tuesday or sometimes came twice a week.

Whether Thursday fell on some other day or in its traditional position, Esther knew she would always have her husband’s Thursdays, and his heart—and he would forever have hers.

My editor, Deb Werksman, is responsible for inspiring this novella. She read The Courtship and liked it, but told me I’d left half of Their Graces’ early story untold—the more interesting half.

The fact that I had not one clue what that more interesting story might be was of no moment to Madam Editor. She has faith in my abilities, you see. Such high regard provides a powerful boost to the imagination, and the result is the story you’ve just read.

So please add Deb as an honorary member of the Windham family, for I certainly do, and I’m sure Their Graces do too.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes hit the bestseller lists with both her debut, The Heir , and her second book in The Duke’s Obsession trilogy, The Soldier. Both books received extensive praise and starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist . The Heir was also named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2010, and The Soldier was named a Publishers Weekly Best Spring Romance of 2011. Her first story in the Windham’s sisters’ series— Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish —received the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice award for historical romance, was nominated for a RITA in the Regency category and also made the New York Times list. She is hard at work on a stunning new series beginning with Darius , more stories for the Windham sisters, and has started a trilogy of Scottish Victorian romances, the first of which, The Bridegroom Wore Plaid , was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2012.

Grace lives in rural Maryland and is a practicing attorney. She loves to hear from her readers and can be reached through her website at graceburrowes.com.