Kate Pearce - Educating Elizabeth

Her heart threatened to explode from her chest. She gave him a wary smile and returned to her perusal of the view from the window.

He laughed softly. "God forbid that the ton ever discovers that you are a bluestocking. Believe me, your grandmother will not encourage you to speak your mind to anyone, let alone gentlemen suitors."

Elizabeth folded her arms and lifted her chin. "You are being ridiculous, Your Grace. I'm too old to be treated like a seventeen-year-old ninnyhammer. I'm sure my grandparents will realize this soon."

" Soon ? Do I understand you to mean they have already questioned your choices and curtailed your activities?"

Elizabeth blushed. She had forgotten how well he read her. "What are you suggesting, Your Grace?"

He gazed into her eyes, "I've another position to offer you."

"I think we tried every position possible, Your Grace."

His lips quirked. "Not quite, my dear." He placed his hands flat on the desk and took a deep breath. "The position I'm speaking of is as my duchess."

Elizabeth stared at him until his gaze dropped to his outstretched fingers. "What did you say?" she whispered.

"I'm asking you to be my wife. You have all the attributes I require. You are exceptionally bright, you are loyal to a fault, and you fill my bed admirably." He let out his breath. "I meant to ask you to marry me the last time we met, but I handled it rather badly."

"The thought of marriage had occurred to me." Elizabeth replied. "It might surprise you to know that I've already received two offers of marriage. One of them from your cousin, Vincent."

The duke drew his pistol from his pocket and laid it on the desk. "How interesting, my dear. Marry either one of them, and I will make you a widow on your wedding night."

Elizabeth smiled. "You have no say in the matter. I'm a free agent, Your Grace."

"Not as free as you might be with me, my love."

Elizabeth turned her back on him. "Why is that, Your Grace?"

He came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Because I will allow you to be the woman you want to be. I will never shut you in a drawing room and insist that you content yourself with womanly pursuits. I will never stop you from interfering in my work and, if the occasion demands it, from saving my life."

Elizabeth shuddered as he kissed her throat. "You have helped me regain a part of myself I thought lost forever. You have taught me how to love and how to trust again. You are my soul, Elizabeth."

His hand tightened and he turned her around to face him. She fixed her eyes on his intricately tied cravat and tried to marshal what little sense she had left. His fingers stole under her chin, forcing her to look up at him.

"I want you to share my life. I want you in my bed, I want you to have my children, and I want you to grow old with me." He kissed her nose. "And I promise that if you do these things, I will never want another woman for as long as I live."

She carefully studied his face, noticing the fresh lines of worry and tiredness that the last tense days had etched on his skin. He smiled, released her shoulders and raised her hand to his lips.

"I understand that you might wish to think about my proposal, Miss Waterstone, and, rest assured, I will not allow anyone to pressure you into accepting me." He paused but she still couldn't speak and his gaze fell to his boots. After another long silence, he released her fingers and headed for the door.

Elizabeth tensed as he hesitated, his hand on the door, his smile bittersweet. "I always enjoy having the last word with you, Elizabeth, but I must confess that on this occasion I would much rather have heard you speak." He removed a non-existent speck from the sleeve of his gray coat. "I seem to have run out of words to convince you, unless the thought that my heart will always be yours is any consolation?"

"Gervase..." Elizabeth found her voice and ran toward him as he started to open the door. She threw her arms around his neck and held him as tightly as she dared. "I don't hate you, I never hated you. I love you, I love you."

His arms came around her and he kissed her hard on the mouth, as if he would never let her go. She gave herself to the kiss, realizing that for the first time there were no barriers between them, no lies, and no unspoken thoughts.

When Gervase finally raised his head, his breathing was harsh and his body aroused to the point of pain. He looked around the study and let out a frustrated groan. "I can't seduce you, here, love, but I don't intend to wait very long for our wedding. I will procure a special license and we can be married at the end of the week."

Elizabeth stepped away from him. She was already beginning to frown. "How typical of a man! I want a grand wedding, Gervase, not some hole-in-the-corner affair at which everyone will think you are ashamed of me."

Gervase gave a deep sigh of happiness as he gazed down at his indignant bride to-be. They were already arguing and he loved it. She didn't know it yet, and God help him if she ever found out, but he was already resigned to being led around by the nose. He put on his most agreeable expression and held out his hand. Elizabeth regarded him suspiciously.

"Shall we share our happy news with your grandparents and then perhaps we can reach a compromise?"

Elizabeth brought his hand to her cheek and kissed his fingers. "All right then," she said firmly, "But duke or no duke, I refuse to be rushed..."

Award winning author, Kate Pearce was born into a large family of girls in England, and spent much of her childhood living very happily in a dream world. Despite being told that she really needed to "get with the program", she graduated from the University College of Wales with an honors degree in history.

A move to the USA finally allowed her to fulfill her dreams and sit down and write her first romance novel. Along with being a voracious reader, Kate loves trail riding with her family, "western style" in the regional parks of Northern California. Kate is a member of RWA and is published by NAL Signet Eclipse, Kensington Aphrodisia, Ellora's Cave, Cleis Press and Virgin Black Lace/Cheek.

Visit Kate on her website www.katepearce.com.

Website: http://www.katepearce.com

Newsletter: http://www.katepearce.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=595039075"

Facebook Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Pearces-Fan-Page/220636502580

Twitter: @kate4queen

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/688826.Kate_Pearce

Eden's Pleasure

Antonia's Bargain

Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?

Roping the Wind

Planet Mail

Secured Mail

Riding The Line

Simply Sexual

Simply Sinful

Simply Shameless

Simply Wicked

Lords Of Passion

Simply Insatiable

Some Like It Rough

Simply Forbidden

The Ties That Bind

Kiss of the Rose

Blood of the Rose

Raw Desire

Mark of the Rose

Simply Carnal

Copyright © 2011 by Kate Pearce

Cover by Dara England

Formatted by Nadia Lee

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews.