Her Duchess

By Brooke Winters

One dowager duchess. One spinster school teacher. One happily ever after.

 

When the school that Iris works at is sold, her close friend, Peggy will do whatever she has to to keep Iris close.

 

Her Duchess is a lesbian friends to lovers romance set in 1870s Kent. It is approximately 20,000 words.

 

It contains explicit scenes and some light D/s.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brooke Winters
• Release date: Sep 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223246756

Book preview

Content Warnings

Her Duchess includes the following content, which could be triggering for some readers:

•  An autistic woman having a meltdown and a shutdown.

•  References to death.

•  There is a ten year age gap between the main characters (the older being in her late 40s and the younger in her late 30s)

•  Mentions of gambling

•  Mentions of food and loss of appetite

•  Mentions of alcohol

Autism Representation In Her Duchess

Autism wasn’t a diagnosis in the Victorian era but autistic people obviously existed, as we always have. In this story Peggy and some of her children are autistic but due the period in which Her Duchess is set they are not explicitly identified in the content of the story as autistic so I wanted to make it clear that this is a book about an autistic family.

Chapter One

Peggy took a seat on the cold, hard bench in the Cathedral’s gardens. She pulled her cloak a little tighter around her, fending off the cold. It was cold enough that most of the congregation would head home directly from the service, but she was hoping to catch Iris on her way out, perhaps to escort her home if she would allow it. Sometimes they detoured down to the river and back to her home for tea.

She looked around the garden, it was one of her favourite places, even when it was filled with parishioners. The trees were almost bare now, the leaves scattered on the grass. Winter would soon be there.

She had liked winter as child, when winter meant evenings spent by the fire with her parents and brothers, talking and laughing, and days in the library reading. She still liked spending a winter evening by the fire with her own family when they visited, and she had her own library to enjoy. And of course, winter meant Christmas and that was always a delight.

But winter in her late forties was not the same as it had been in her younger years. When she was a child she hadn’t had to worry about the stiff joints and sharp pains, that now inevitably came at the slightest sign of a cold turn.

Mama?

She looked up at the sound of her son’s voice and smiled when she saw him standing there.

Good morning to you Christopher.

Good morning mama. Is it not too cold to be enjoying the fresh air?

He frowned down at her. He had always been a worrier. Even before his father had died when he was barely 16 years old, he had always been concerned for the welfare of everyone around him. Inheriting his father’s responsibilities so young had only intensified that in him. 16 had felt like an awfully young age for her son to become a Duke.

I won’t dally for long, she assured him. I am hoping to see a friend.

Ah. Miss Ashmore?

Yes, Miss Ashmore.

Miss Ashmore. Her friend’s name made her feel like she was young again, her stomach a flutter at the sight of a pretty girl, her heart beating rapidly in a way it never had for her late husband.

Do you know they are closing the school? Some coal merchant has bought the building and has no interest in maintaining it as a school.

Peggy hadn’t realised she could go colder than she already was. Closing the school? What would Iris do then? Find employment elsewhere no doubt. No. Peggy couldn’t accept that. Rochester was Peggy’s home, it had been since her husband had died and she didn’t want to leave. She complained often that her house was too big for a woman whose children were grown but she loved it all the same and would not be willing to leave it for anything.

Except Iris.

She would leave Rochester for Iris. She would do just about anything for Iris.

Her heart ached at the thought of leaving her home. It would mean leaving the people who had cared for her while she mourned her husband, the people who had made her one of them. She had friends and her daughters and grandchildren lived close by. Moving away would mean not seeing her daughters every day. It would mean making new friends. She would have to leave the places that were so familiar to her, change the routines that she had had for the past decade. The thought of it was a physical ache in her chest but the thought of seeing her Iris less often, or heaven forbid, never seeing her again, was an unimaginable pain. They had developed quite a friendship since Iris’s arrival in Rochester and it would leave a gaping hole in her life should she leave.

No. She would not accept it. She was not in the habit of compromising and she was not about to do so at this stage of her life. She wanted to be close to Iris and she wanted to remain in Rochester and one way or another she would have both.

She was a Duchess after all.

I hadn’t heard. Are you sure?

It could be a mistake. Small towns were rife with gossip and most of it turned out to be, at best, half truths. It was barely a month ago that Mrs Keyes had told anyone who would listen that Captain Iles had inherited a fortune from a distant relative and was going to buy the very home that Peggy lived in. Peggy knew for a fact that at least half of that was a lie and she doubted very much that Captain Iles would still have a fortune had he actually inherited one, given the man’s love of gambling. 

I’m quite certain. I’m sure Miss Ashmore will tell you herself.

He tipped his head to the side and Peggy followed the direction to where Iris stood a little way off, watching them. Her red hair was pulled up in a simple bun, her pale cheeks pink from the cold. Just seeing her made Peggy’s mood lift a little. She gave Peggy a shy smile and lifted her hand in a small wave.

You should go to her, Christopher said. And perhaps invite her for lunch today.

I shall, Peggy said. But I am sure she will decline.

She always did. Dingbat Leaf

––––––––

The leaves crunched under Iris’s feet as she stepped out of the Cathedral. The cold air hit her and she shivered, rubbing her hands together to warm them. She looked around for Peggy. Spending the morning with Peggy was the only thing that got her through the terribly dull services and if it weren’t for their friendship, she would not attend the cathedral as routinely as she did.

She spotted Peggy across the garden. She wore her long dark hair loose and she wound it around her fingers, a sure sign that something was worrying