Lady pears duke, p.1
Lady Pear's Duke, page 1
Lady Pear’s Duke: First Day of Christmas
Bluestockings Defying Rogues
Dawn Brower
Journey’s end in lover’s meeting…
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Epilogue
Afterword
Lady Pear’s Sonnet
About The Author
Also by Dawn Brower
Acknowledgments
Excerpt: The Duke’s Doves
Lauren Smith
Chapter 1
Excerpt: The Vixen in Red
Dawn Brower
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Excerpt: Smitten with My Christmas Minx
Prologue
Chapter 1
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Lady Pear’s Duke 2020 Copyright © Dawn Brower
Cover Artist The Midnight Muse
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
Lady Pearyn Treedale has been affianced to Cameron Spencer, the Duke of Partridgdon since she was eight years old. An archaic practice, but a situation she’s come to enjoy. At her formal introduction to society she wasn’t like the other debutantes. While they all searched for husbands, she made friends, had titillating conversations, and did whatever pleased her. Her fiancé had the good grace to be absent most of her life. Then, the duke went on his world tour, and decided never to return to England, allowing Lady Pear a freedom most ladies never experience.
* * *
Now at five and twenty, Lady Pear wonders if perhaps she had it all wrong. She has friends, but no love, and no family. With Christmas around the corner, she receives gifts from a secret admirer, and she begins to believe that perhaps she should give this new gentleman her attention, because her duke certainly doesn’t want her.
To love, and be loved, is the greatest gift of all. Whether that be romantic, familial, or friendship. Cherish the gifts in your life, as I intend to cherish mine. My children are the greatest loves of my life, and my purpose. Embrace yours…
Chapter 1
Cameron Spencer, the Duke of Partridgdon, stared at the fire burning in the hearth. He’d been back in London for a sennight, and the cold had already started to seep into his bones. He had been away, save for a few quick visits, from England since he turned eight and ten, three years after his father forced him to agree to betroth himself to Lady Pearyn Treedale.
He’d hated every second of it—the betrothal had controlled his life from the moment it had been signed. Traveling had been his last chance to experience freedom, until even that had seemed like a noose around his neck. If only his father had not needed the money that came with that contract…
As part of the betrothal agreement part of his fiancée’s dowry had been given to the dukedom in advance. It was the only way to save their estates, and he’d sold his son to the highest bidder. His father had used the money to build their estate, and by the time he died it was flush. The need for his bride-to-be’s funds was no longer a necessity, but Cameron’s fate had already been set. He may have had to agree to marry her, but that didn’t mean he had to rush to the altar and officially make her his wife.
Lady Pearyn had been eight years old when the contracts had been signed. He was seven years her senior. So when he turned ten and eight, she was only eleven. It made sense to him, and to his father, when he made his case for him to skip Oxford and instead take a world tour. When his betrothed reached majority, he was expected to return, but Cameron hadn’t. His father died before then and he didn’t see any reason to honor that promise, at least not yet.
Cameron returned for his father’s funeral when he reached one and twenty, and then promptly left again, leaving his estates in the hands of his stewards. They were thriving, and they sent him quarterly reports so he could keep tabs on his estate, from a distance. That was all he needed. Occasionally he had to return for some business matter or the other, but he only stayed long enough to handle it, then would leave once again.
It worked for him…
He never stopped to consider how it might work for Lady Pearyn. He was now two years past his thirtieth year, and perhaps, it might be time to honor that contract. If she would still have him. They barely knew a thing about each other. She’d been a child the last time he’d spent any time with her. She hadn’t broken the betrothal… Perhaps she had grown to like the idea of being a duchess one day.
Cameron ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. He couldn’t discern what direction he should take. Nothing made sense to him anymore. He was home, for good, and he had to make a decision.
“Pardon me, your grace,” Alfred, his butler said. Alfred had been with his family since Cameron was a boy, and he’d aged a lot in the years he’d been away. Still, he managed to move quieter than anyone Cameron had ever known.
“What is it?” he asked.
“You have a guest,” Alfred informed him.
No one should know he was back in London. Who could possibly have decided to make an abrupt appearance? “Send them away,” he ordered. The last thing he wanted to deal with was unwanted company. “I’m not at home to anyone.” His mood darkened with each passing moment. He was not fit to be around anyone.
“You look home to me,” Collin Evans, the Earl of Frossly said as he strolled into Cameron’s study. “And say what you will, I’m not going anywhere. It’s been months since you were last here. You didn’t even come home for my wedding.”
Cameron frowned. “Sorry about that.” Collin was his oldest and dearest friend, but he couldn’t attend that wedding. “I told you I wouldn’t be there in my last letter to you. You know why it wasn’t possible.” He crossed the room and took the top off the decanter of brandy, then poured two fingers into a glass. Cameron held up a glass and asked, “Do you want some.”
“I assume you’ve decided to allow me to stay then,” Collin replied. “So yes, I’ll have a drink with you.” His golden red hair was a little disheveled. That was unlike the earl. Collin took the glass Cameron offered him and took a big swig. “I am glad you’re home.” He tilted his glass toward him. “Are you going to stay this time?”
Cameron rubbed his fingers around the rim of his glass. He hadn’t wanted the drink, but it seemed as if it was something he should do with Collin sitting in his study. He didn’t meet his friend’s gaze as he said, “I’m considering it.”
“You are?” There was a hint of surprise in Collin’s tone. “You’re not saying that to get my hopes up only to dash them.”
“You’ve been fine without me all these years.” He lifted his head and gave Collin a half smile. Cameron had ensured he remained alone without any distractions. There were no family obligations or want-to-be brides to hang over his head. Except they were always still there, no matter what. He couldn’t forget about what was expected of him. He’d tried, but it never left. “You’ve even managed to find someone to love. I’m glad you’re happy.”
“I am,” Collin said. “Happy that is. But you’re not and haven’t been for a very long time. It’s rare you smile. I don’t think you’ve known true joy since we were at Eton.”
“Before I realized my family was on the brink of losing everything…” He closed his eyes and sighed. “Nothing has been close to ideal in years. I’m not sure I know how to be happy.”
His parents had not been the best example. Their marriage had been contracted and had not seen any reason not to broker their son. He’d been running from his problems for too long. Avoiding home had seemed like the best thing for everyone. Maybe he’d been wrong.
Collin finished his brandy and set his glass down. Concern poured from his blue eyes. “When we were younger, at Eton, a lot of our schoolmates called you the golden boy.” He gestured toward Cameron. “And not because of the color of your hair, but even that is a fair assessment I suppose. No, it was because you would one day be a duke, and they believed you had it all.”
Cameron snorted. “Shows how little they knew.” He did not have a golden life. His father was distant at best, and his mother rarely stayed home long enough to nod in his direction. The title meant more to her than the one child she managed to give birth to. By society’s rules she owed his father a spare, but she’d said on more than one occasion he was lucky she bore him an heir. There was no love between them. That was one of the reason Cameron had avoided Lady Pearyn for so many years. He didn’t want to have a marriage like the one his parents had. He wanted more, much, much more than that.
“I realize that,” he said in a solemn tone. “Because I was privy to your deepest, darkest secrets.” Collin leaned forward. “But this is what I want you to consider. You’re not as dark as you believe yourself to be. You’re good at brooding, and you can give in to fits of anger like no one I know, but where it counts, your heart is in the right place.”
“None of that matters.” He couldn’t do anything with the hand fate had dealt him. He either accepted it or kept running. “And it does little to help me now.”
Cameron sipped his brandy. Collin had given him a lot to consider, but he wasn’t as convinced as he was that Lady Pearyn wanted the same thing he did. “How do you know what she wants? Has she told you?”
“Not in so many words,” Collin admitted. “She puts on a brave face for the world. She throws parties and endorses artists of all kinds. Her salon is always full, and there are always men there ready and willing to gain her attention. She flirts and laughs, but it never quite reaches her eyes. I think she’s lonely. As long as you have a tether on her she cannot move forward any more than you can. She’s not happy either. Don’t you think you owe it to her to set her free if you’re not going to stake your claim?”
There was a lot in his friend’s words for him to absorb. Was Lady Pearyn truly unhappy? He had selfishly considered her as title hungry as her parents and never once thought she might want something more. He’d kept his distance and hadn’t taken the time to learn more about her. Cameron had not even bothered to write her. He had spied on her from a distance and she’d appeared happy, and he’d assumed she was fine. Had he been wrong?
“You may be right,” Cameron began. “But I don’t know where to begin.” Should he pay a call on her? Write her? “We may be betrothed, but we’re not…familiar with each other.”
“There is that.” Collin snickered. “I am not certain she even knows what you look like. Though I cannot say the same for you. There was that one instance in the park in the spring. How do you know her appearance but she doesn’t have the same privilege?”
It was confession time. “I may have sneaked a glance at her a few times over the years.” His curiosity had gotten the best of him. Cameron had wanted to know what she looked like. She’d grown into a beauty, but a part of him had feared his parents would have attached him to a plain woman or worse. They had only cared about the money after all. “It was easy enough on the few times that I traveled back, after my father’s death. I needed to know…”
“If you might find her favorable?” Collin asked. “And do you?”
Lady Pearyn was one of the most stunning women Cameron had the privilege of laying his eyes upon. Her hair was as dark as the night sky and her eyes were a pure blue so lovely he could easily become lost in them. He never got close enough to get a true glimpse of their exquisiteness though. That would mean announcing his presence, something he was loath to do. “She is passable,” he replied noncommittally. “So she flirts?” He tried to keep his tone casual, but he feared he failed in that endeavor. “None have caught her interest?”
“Would it matter if they had?” Collin raised a brow. “You don’t truly want her, do you?”
That was the rub. He didn’t know what he wanted, but he was starting to suspect that he did indeed desire to know more about his fiancée. “And would you tell me if she decided to have an affair?”
“If you want me to. I suppose I would.” Collin stood. “But until this moment I never believed you wanted to know a thing about her. If you’re that curious you should come over during Christmastide, and the weeks leading up to it. My wife has invited a lot of people and it’s going to be quite the crush. You have a couple weeks to decide.” He took a quick breath. “I can also finally introduce you to her. She’s heard a lot about my friend Cameron, but she has yet to realize who you are exactly. It’ll be entertaining, to say the least.”
“You would throw me to the wolves?” Cameron said shocked. “I thought you liked me.”
“I do like you,” Collin said. “But I love my wife. Don’t make me chose.” He strolled to the door. “I must go, but do let me know when you make a decision.”
Cameron nodded. “If, and when, I elect to claim my fiancée, she’ll be the first to know.” He met his friend’s gaze. “But you’ll be a close second. For now, I’ll have to decline your generous invitation, and give my best to your wife.”
Collin chuckled as he left. Cameron stared at his brandy glass, drank the rest of it, then set the glass down next to the decanter. Perhaps Collin was right. First, he had to gather a little information and discern the best way to proceed. It was time to truly get to know his betrothed.
Chapter 2
Two weeks later…
Lady Pearyn Treedale stared out the window of her London townhouse and sighed. The windows had frosted over and cold had seeped through into the room. It didn’t bother her. Nothing did anymore. She was five and twenty, and where she’d found happiness at the beginning of her launch in society, no joy seemed currently present in her life. When her parents had explained she’d been affianced to the Duke of Partridgdon—the Marquess of Woodstone at the time—at the age of eight she’d shrugged it off. Why wouldn’t she have? She had been a mere girl whose greatest concern was her doll and playing in her mother’s garden. What did she care about some future duke?
In society, becoming a duchess was as close to being a princess as a lady could possibly reach. Her mother was more excited for Pearyn than she could ever be, had ever been… She closed her eyes and pictured her mother the last time she’d seen her. It had been on her sickbed nearly a decade earlier. She’d been pale. Her skin almost translucent and appeared papery in texture. Cheekbones more prominent than they had ever been and eyes a dull hazel rounded out her sickened expression. She’d lost a lot of weight and was merely skin and bones.
It was hard for her to admit, but Pearyn hadn’t wanted to go into her chambers. She would have preferred to remember her mother as the beautiful, vibrant woman she’d always been to her. Not a woman with stringy black hair and a bony frame. Her mother had whispered in her ear, “I don’t want to die.” The fear and sadness in her mother’s voice had decimated her. Death was not a pretty sight, and it had undone Pearyn. Her heart had dropped and her stomach became a bundle of unease. Tears had burned in her eyes, but she managed to hold them back as she said to her mother, “I know mama. I know.” No one ever wanted to die? How terrified she must have been… If Pearyn could have eased that pain in any way, she would have. She’d hugged her mother and did the best she could with the limited options left to her. Thinking about her mother, and Pearyn’s impotence during that dreadful time, still had the ability to break her heart.
Those moments would come to haunt her forever. Her mother’s last words and the way she’d looked that day. She’d died alone, without any family with her. Pearyn should have stayed, but her mother had told her to go. It was no way to spend the last moments of a person’s life. Pearyn’s father, the Earl of Beaumont, hadn’t bothered to look in on his wife at all. He had his heir, and his daughter would one day be a duchess. His countess had done her duty, and he had known his…to ensure that his children fulfilled their obligations to the family line.
So it was a disappointment to the earl that Pearyn still had not said her vows and married the duke. He thought she’d done something wrong to ensure the duke had stayed away. Pearyn hadn’t seen the duke since she was eight years old. She didn’t even know if she’d recognize him if he stood right in front of her. All she knew with certainty was he had blond hair and green eyes. The rest…complete blank.
She had enjoyed his absence over the years. It had given her a certain amount of freedom. There was the occasional rogue who thought they could woo her into bed, but for the most part, no gentleman pursued her in truth. Her betrothal was well known, and they didn’t bother trying to steal her away from having the title of duchess. They danced with her because she was safe. She shouldn’t have aspirations for anything more than a spot of fun, and she’d had experienced so many amusements…
