To Fall for a Duke by Christmas: Necessary Arrangements, #0.5

By Sadie Bosque

A steamy, Georgian era Cinderella story.

 

To spite his former love, David, the Duke of Somerset decides to court the least suitable miss of the house party, an enchanting Irish commoner Niamh. He will not marry a commoner, of course. It is just a pretense. Or it was. Until the sparks fly, and he finds himself falling hard and fast for a woman who is completely wrong for the role of his Duchess.

 

A penniless Irish commoner living among polite society is unlikely to find a suitor. Especially in England. Or at least that's Niamh's experience. Living in a troublesome household of her uncle, she is desperate to get away and go back to Ireland. When Niamh meets the Duke during the festivities, however, she finds herself at crossroads. Will she be willing to give up her freedom for a chance at love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sadie Bosque
• Release date: May 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201661250

Book preview

Sadie Bosque

To Fall for a Duke by Christmas

Necessary Arrangements series, Prequel Novella

Copyright © 2020 by Sadie Bosque

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Sadie Bosque asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

First edition

Cover art by Sadie Bosque

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

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To every dreamer and doer. Our dreams might change, but as long as we keep true to our hearts, nothing is impossible.

Contents

Acknowledgement

Author’s note

Prologue

Niamh

Somerset

A Deal

A Cape

A Kiss

Fireworks

A gift

Epilogue

Afterword

An Extra Epilogue

Acknowledgement

To my fabulous Beta readers:

Annie Kim

Nicole Yost

Michelle Lokeigh

The story would not be the same without you. Thank you, for making my first experience in publishing a novella unforgettable.

Author’s note

This work of fiction contains adult content, strong language, violence, bullying and explicit content.

Reader discretion is advised.

Prologue

London, October 15th, 1753.

Lilies. Everywhere one looked, one could see the heaps of lilies. White flowers with pink dots on them, pure white, with bright orange petals were swallowing up the place. They were Victoria’s favorite flowers. The smell of them, usually calming and pleasant, made David nauseous. Maybe it wasn’t the flowers, but the proceedings in front of him.

He was in the biggest church in London, yet it was filled to the brim with people. He knew that hundreds more were waiting outside. It seemed like every person in London was in attendance. Of course, it wasn’t every day that a duke got married.

Do you take this man to be thy wedded husband? the clerk’s voice boomed in the silent church.

David abruptly swiveled his head and concentrated on the words coming out of the beautiful bride’s mouth. His heart pounded loudly in his chest. He swore it would jump out any minute now, land on the floor, and be crushed by someone not careful enough to look where they were stepping.

I do, he heard Victoria’s voice.

A sound he deemed the most beautiful in the world now crushed his heart right out of his chest. No jumping out, no stepping on it was necessary. Just those devastating two words that forever made her someone else’s wife.

David heard nothing beyond those words. He watched, half in a daze, as the bride and groom exchanged the rings. The groom kissed his bride solemnly on her cheek, and they left the church, followed by a throng of guests.

David stood behind, exiting at the last possible moment. He couldn’t, in good conscience, stand there, shaking the groom’s hand and offer his felicitations and wishes of a long and happy life with the woman he loved.

David had no idea why he had come to the ceremony in the first place. Perhaps he didn’t truly believe that she would go through with it in the end. Something in his soul hoped, wished fervently that she wouldn’t be able to say those words, she wouldn’t be able to vow her love and devotion to another man, in a church no less. After all those blissfully happy months they had spent together. After all the promises and I love you’s.

He supposed he had needed to see it with his own eyes. He needed the confirmation that, indeed, his Victoria would never really be his. From this moment on, she was the Duchess of Rutland.

He stood there on top of the stairs as the crowd dispersed and the open carriage carried the bride and groom away from the church, onto their honeymoon, and out of his life.

Niamh

Chapter Separator

Carlisle, December 22nd, 1756.

It was a common routine for David to go riding in the afternoons. If he’d been in London, as he was a fortnight ago, he’d be stuck in traffic of carriages and people, unable to even speed up to a trot. If he’d been in Sussex, his country home, where the fields were empty, he would push his horse into a gallop and feel the fresh wind on his face.

He was neither in London nor Sussex, however. He was in the country, yet his horse was moving at an excruciatingly slow pace. David couldn’t risk going any faster because the roads were covered in snow, dirt, and unpredictable holes. He’d arrived in Carlisle the night before, and he hated every moment of being there.

The house he stayed in while in Carlisle was huge and appropriately drafty. It was old; he estimated that renovations had not been done to it since it had been built. His room was so cold that he’d slept in his clothes, huddled under a blanket with his hearth glowing all night. He got up early in the morning, irritated and frozen to the bone. Not willing to remain one more second on the premises, he decided to warm up by taking a ride while getting acquainted with the estate. But even that didn’t work. The bloody horse kept getting stuck in either snow-covered holes or dirt, driving him insane.

The guests would arrive today and on the morrow until finally, two days from now, the bloody house party would begin with a Christmas Eve soiree. After that, every lady who arrived for the party would bat eyelashes at him, trying to get his attention. The gauntlet had been thrown, and the announcement had been made. He was looking for a wife. And every aristocratic young lady and their eager mama would jump at an opportunity to snatch up—

The whinnying of a horse nearby and the sound of crackling interrupted him from his musings, followed by a loud thump and a light scream, or rather yelp.

David instantly turned the horse in the noise’s direction and saw an overturned curricle lying on its side. He nudged his horse to a sedate gallop, mindful not to fall prey to one of the road holes himself.

He reached the curricle fairly quickly, noting that there was only one passenger, who seemed to have fallen out of the vehicle and was flailing in the mud. The horse had escaped the restraints and had galloped away, presumably back to the stables.

Are you all right down there? David asked as he dismounted.

He made his way closer to the carriage and looked at the person reclining in the mud. It was a young lady, if he was not mistaken. Her skirts were tangled with her limbs, not letting her sit up properly, let alone stand up. Her hands and feet were muddied to her elbows and knees; her hair, a mess of fiery curls, had escaped both her coiffure and her untied and already falling bonnet.

Absolutely,