“No curtsying,” he said, his grip tightening on her. “You are the equal of any noble. I won’t have you acting against your principles.”

Meekly, she said, “Yes, Your Grace.”

“Minx.” He leaned over to drop kisses on her face, culminating in a long, deep, tender one on her lips that stirred flames from the embers of passion. In a husky whisper, he added, “Why are we lolling on the floor when there’s a perfectly comfortable bed over there?”

She laughed from sheer exuberance. “Perhaps because you’re far more rakish than the haughty stick-in-the-mud duke that people believe you to be.”

Hadrian waggled a dark eyebrow. “I intend for you to be the only woman who is privy to that secret.”

He stood up in all his naked, powerful splendor and scooped her into his arms. She clung to his neck, her mouth nuzzling his throat and tasting his salty skin, as he gently placed her against the pillows. It was the loveliest notion to think that she was his one and only, forsaking all others.

Sliding beneath the covers, he gathered her close and pressed a kiss to her tumbled hair. “I want you to be happy here in England, Natalie. You may open a school, care for as many orphans and urchins as you like. Only think how much more you can do with the proper funding.”

She gave him a droll look. “Between your mother and me, you’ll end up beggared.”

“Then so be it. And perhaps we can spend our honeymoon in America so that you can show me the country that you love.” He drew back to look deeply into her eyes. “But I’m getting ahead of myself again, aren’t I? You will marry me, won’t you?”

His unguarded look held an anxiety that plumbed the depths of her tender heart, and from those depths arose a smile of pure happiness. “Yes! Of course I will. But are you sure, Hadrian? I’ll be the most unlikely duchess in all of England.”

His handsome face eased into an expression of warm satisfaction and wicked promise. “You’ll be the perfect duchess. My duchess. And I intend to show you how very much I love you every day for the rest of our lives.”

As he made good on his promise, his hands exploring her body with breathtaking skill, she arched against him, deciding that nothing in all the world could be better than forever with a duke.

Don’t miss the rest of Unlikely Duchesses, a regency romance series from Olivia Drake about rakish dukes and the governesses who steal their hearts.

For more information visit
http://oliviadrake.com/

ALSO BY OLIVIA DRAKE

THE UNLIKELY DUCHESSES

The Duke I Once Knew

THE CINDERELLA SISTERHOOD

The Scandalous Flirt

His Wicked Wish

Bella and the Beast

Abducted by a Prince

Stroke of Midnight

If the Slipper Fits

HEIRESS IN LONDON SERIES

Scandal of the Year

Never Trust a Rogue

Seducing the Heiress