The Duke's Desire Collection

By G.G. Lacoste

This collection is the fruit of the vivid imagination of one author. It involves the escapades of a Duke, a Duchess, a maid and other characters in many and varied situations. 

Seduced by the Duke 

The Duke's Reward 

The Improper Duke 

The Duke's Duty 

WARNING: These ebooks contain mature content and language that is intended for adult audiences only.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lily Publishing
• Release date: May 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386448624

Book preview

The Duke’s Desire

(Seduced by the Duke,

The Duke’s Reward,

The Improper Duke,

The Duke’s Duty)

Regency Romance Collection

Lirios Publishing

Seduced by the Duke

Regency Romance

By: G.G. Lacoste

Seduced by the Duke

INTRODUCTION:

Lady Eleanor, the Duchess who was the wife of Duke Francis, comes to settle in the Manor House after their marriage. The Duke was a very successful businessman dealing in the production of silk and related fashionable garments. On moving to her present location the Duchess was reluctantly compelled to leave her Chamber Maid behind. She now yearned for one. The Duke finds a suitable candidate and engages her. The said candidate happened to be Cassie, a ravishingly pretty French girl.

Travelling home to the Manor the Duke finds the girl irresistible and gets her to submit to his carnal desires. Not only does Cassie submit to the Duke but she also surrenders her body and soul to the Duchess and she swears that she would never ever let anyone come between the Duchess and her.

The Inheritance.

It began to dawn on Lady Eleanor, the pretty young Duchess that there was something rather mysterious about her presence in The Manor House, which was also called the Silk House. She did not quite belong, and yet she felt a passionate attachment to the place.

It was a big Manor and had been enlarged by the Duke, Sir Francis after he had inherited it from his father and converted it as a country residence. They also had a City Manor in York where Sir Francis, the young Duke spent most of his time, commuting to his principal silk factory in Spitfield.

The elderly noble ladies of the household would have preferred not to be in trade, but silk was more important to the Duke, Sir Francis, than anything else, and he hoped that his spouse the Duchess would someday join him in carrying on with the production of that most beautiful of all materials.

Lady Eleanor could not remember any place but The Silk House being her home. It was a strange position in which she found herself, and it surprised her that she did not question this earlier. She supposed that Ladies of the House take most things for granted as she did.

It did not occur to her that she was like a cuckoo in the nest. Young Sir Francis, the Duke, was the autocrat of the Silk House who would often regard her with pursed lips from which would emerge a little soft sound of approval. She was called simply Eleanor, not Duchess...to the others she was always Lady Eleanor.

Sir Francis seemed very grand and grown up. He was kind, and sometimes very playfully bullying her when the mood took him. Eleanor was inclined to be imperious; she was hot-tempered and she and the Duke quarreled a good deal.

Sir Francis would appeal, Now, Eleanor. Now my Lady. Stop that!

I heard it. Lady Eleanor would scream and give the Duke a hard time at bedtime. But she was mild as a cat gentle, caring with a very cheerful disposition, and she and the Duke loved each other dearly. They used to do a lot of things together and certainly consulted each other.

The Duke was the only one in the Manor to whom the Duchess really belonged. He liked her to have meals with him, he liked her to share their riding lessons, and particularly he wanted her to take active part in the production of the silk materials.

The Duchess occupied the studio-like large bedroom in the Silk House. It had big windows and the roof was made out of some kind of glass-like material. The Duchess needed the light. In that room she also had her loom and sewing goods.

Bales of material came to the house from the so-called factory. Lady Eleanor would sketch and design the gowns first and then set about cutting and making them.

The materials included fine silks, satin, brocades and velvets. The Duke would sometimes sit listening to the whirr of the sewing machine and watching the Lady’s little black slipper working the treadle.

Hand me those scissors, my love, she would say. Bring me more pins. Ah, what would I do without my caring helper? Then the Duke felt happy.

You work very hard, my love, he said to her one day.

I am a lucky person, she replied. The Duchess spoke a mixture of French and English, which was different from the speech of anyone else.

I am here in this beautiful house with my sewing. I am happy. This is a good life here, mon amour.

Lady Eleanor never joined the rest of the household. It was only when she was making dresses for the family that she came down to the drawing room to see them.

The Duchess was an important person. She made her own rules. She could have taken her meals with the others had she wished, but she was as autocratic in her way as Sir Francis was in his.

When Sir Francis came to the Silk House, he always called on the Duchess. They talked about materials, of course and he discussed all sorts of things with her. It was because of this that she was regarded with some awe by the rest of the household.

She was a pretty and elegant woman with masses of hair. She wore it piled high on her head with a sparkling Spanish comb in it catching the sun.

The hair must always be elegant, she would say to the Duke. Even the finest satin and the best silk in the world will give you little if there is no style in the hair." Her eyes were pretty; they sparkled with joy or blazed with indignation, or could go cold with contempt or light up with love. They betrayed each and every one of the Lady’s moods and were her great beauty.

It was no hardship for the Duke to learn from her. When new materials came in, she would make sketches and ask the Duke’s opinion. When the Duke drew a design himself she was delighted. She would show him where he had gone wrong and then put in a few deft touches; it was a design, which was used in the end. Eleanor’s gown, she called it and she told him. She would then select the right material for the gown and Sir Francis would be pleased.

When Sir Francis had seen the dresses, they were packed up and taken away. There was a very exclusive salon in York where they were sold.

The Duchess remembered well the day when she talked to the Duke and told him how they came to be living at the Silk House.

The Duke had gone to her perplexed. He had been riding with the others, and afterwards had gone to the kitchen to get something to quench his thirst.

He noticed the fair Lady Eleanor. He waited until she was sitting in the pond garden with the others and then asked why it was that he did not see her more often and why the rest did not address her as ‘Lady.’

The Duchess pursed her lips and lifted her hand. What is Lady? It is not important. I am well without the Lady.

Yes, but why, my dear?

It is simple. I am not a daughter of the house, so I do not have a Lady from the household.  She said. I only want to know, my Lord. What are we doing in this house which we are not of?

The Duke hesitated for a moment, and then seemed to come to a decision. We came here when you were eighteen years old. Such a beautiful woman you were. Here we could be together. I thought we could be happy here. And the Archduke, my father promised that you should have the education, the upbringing of a daughter of the house. But we did not talk of a ‘Lady.

Tell me about our coming here. Why is it that I have no mother...no father?  she asked.

The young Duke sighed. This had to come, he said as though to himself. Your mother was the most beautiful woman that ever lived. Her name was Beatrice Bodine. You lived in France, in the township of Villers-Moor. It was beautiful. The sun shone often and it was warm. You know, do you not.... or you may have gathered from your tutor.... France is a big country, bigger than this little island called England. Just over the border from Villers-Moor is Italy."

The Duke continued. The mulberries grow well there and that means silk. These little worms who spin the silk for us love the mulberry leaves and where these grow well, there will be silk.

So you have always known about silk? The Duchess questioned him.

Yes, an education I received from my ancestors, passed down from father to son. Without silk there would be no Manor, no family of the Arch Duke. The Duke added, The Manor is situated in a beautiful place. Rather like this house, but with mountains instead of a great forest. Some of the best silk in the world comes from this area.

And you toiled very hard to make it a success? she asked. What about me, tell me more.

He nodded. You had a pretty little house..... flowers covered the walls..... Your mother was very happy. She was a woman who was made for happiness. She found laughter everywhere. She was extremely beautiful. You have her eyes. They dance; they laugh; but they were never stormy as yours can be, my love. They were darkest