The Duke's Lily

By Roxie Brandon

Edward Ridgeway, Duke of Cumberland, mourns his wife. He needs a new wife, a marriage of convenience for the sake of his children.

Unfortunately, after the death of his wife, the Duke became a faithless rake and a heartbreaker. No woman of good character is willing to live under the same roof as him. Apart from the beautiful Lily Hopkins.

Lily is ready to love the Duke’s children as her own, but her biggest challenge will be their father. Since his late wife died, he wants nothing to do with his children.

Will the innocent Lily win the Duke's heart? Will this be a marriage of convenience? Or has the Duke gotten more than he asked for? Could he be falling in love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roxie Brandon
• Release date: Feb 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370043453

Roxie Brandon

Roxie Brandon is an author of historical and contemporary romance, beauty and fashion books.Her romances range in setting from Medieval times to the Twentieth Century.She loves walks in the countryside and having afternoon tea with family and friends.

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THE DUKE’S LILY

By Roxie Brandon

Copyright © 2018 Roxie Brandon All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems - except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews - without permission in writing from the author, Roxie Brandon.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Chapter One

Edward Ridgeway, Duke of Cumberland, ran the ducal estates ever since his father died. His wife, Elizabeth, died three years ago.

As much as he would have liked to escape the ugly truth, there was no getting away from the cold, hard fact. She had fought the disease, a sickness that seemed to eat her from inside.

He knew, even in the midst of his own pain, that she was better off now. Yet for some reason, his heart remained rooted in despair. Even as he reminded himself that she finally rested peacefully, he wondered if there would be something peaceful in his life again.

Ridgeway retreated to the library of the old Estate. He was standing behind thick curtains of purple velvet, which protected him from view, and was reading a letter:

My precious Edward,

How can I show what is in my heart within a short letter? I want you to know that from the moment I met you, you became the most important thing in my life. I hope you will forgive me. I beg you not to grieve over my death. You must be strong for our children. I am happy because God has answered my prayer to give you a guardian angel. He has chosen me. I shall love you forever.

Elizabeth

Edward remembered... Wind whipping through his hair, he leaned forward, pushing his horse to more speed. Elizabeth's golden hair sparkled in the sun's light.

Edward!

Her voice travelled over the distance. Her wonderful laughter reached his ears.

He pushed his horse on and soon pulled up next to hers. She leaned forward as the wind whipped through her hair. He smiled and once again pushed his horse on.

The road soon levelled out, opening up to green fields. Laughing, she looked at him. Her blue eyes sparkled as she turned to look at him. For a long moment, they flew forward, side by side, eyes fixed on the other. A perfect moment, so perfect that it hurt to think of it. A moment he would see in his dreams.

***

The wintry winter cold howled through the desolate field, which was covered with fluffy snow that was like an untouched blanket. Lily Hopkins could feel the air being heavy as her lungs were filled with sharp cold and frost each time she breathed in.

The bleak grey clouds overhead reflected her mood perfectly. Cold licked at her face and crept under her clothes, spreading across her skin like the lacy tide on a frigid winter beach.

With purple lips tinged with blue and gently chattering teeth she wrapped her coat around her tighter. Gravestones lined the eerie graveyard, some recently placed, whereas others, cracked and crumbling.

Mould covered the engravings dedicated to the dead, trees leaning towards the stones, branches reaching out to each other. Spiked, black fences surrounded the graveyard almost like it was a prison.

The smell of old stone filled the dry air, weeds covering the graves of the dead, loved ones long since stopped visiting. Gravel paths weave through the maze of graves, allowing passers by to pay their respects to the people lined up in the earths embrace.

Lily walked past the heavy gates. As long as she had her mother’s necklace embedded on her chest, a tiny cross, she would be left alone.

A knitted black scarf hung around her neck loosely and it flew as the billowing wind brushed through her auburn hair. The sun was sinking fast below the horizons, giving her hair more reddish hue.

Lily's eyes were the glimmering color of emerald, sparkling in the light of the morning sun like a fresh sheen of morning dew. And when she lifted her pale face to the sky, emerald shifted into the color of deep ocean shimmering in the sunlight.

As she looked down at the grave, with her father’s name scrawled across the stone, and mother’s grave not two feet away, Lily wished she could just kneel here, and mourn.

She knelt at the grave, and laid her hand upon the headstone. I love you, father, she whispered. I love you, mother.

Then she rose and walked across the graveyard.

How Lily missed her parents! But she dismissed the disquieting emotions and chose instead to be hopeful; hopeful of a happy life in the years to come.

Although Lily had been raised a vicar’s daughter, she had been taught to be an accomplished woman.  But after her mother had joined his father in death, Lily had come to live with her uncle’s family, and from the beginning she had