Redemption of the Duke (27 page)

Authors: Gayle Callen

BOOK: Redemption of the Duke

2.5Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

“I
’m here!”

Upon hearing Frances’s voice, Faith rushed as quickly as she could from the family
drawing room. Frances was in the entrance hall, flinging her shawl aside even as she
flung herself at Faith.

“Hey, careful,” Adam said, catching her about the waist and swinging her around until
she squealed. “You don’t want to bump the baby.”

When Frances landed back on the floor, she gasped at Faith’s large stomach. “Can I
touch the baby?”

“He might even kick you,” Faith said, taking her niece’s hand and holding it to her
belly.

Frances’s mouth fell open. “He kicked me! Is it really a boy?”

“We’re just guessing. It doesn’t matter to us.”

“He wants to meet you,” Adam said. “We’re glad you came back from Scotland in time.
Did you have fun?”

“I love it there! There are horses to ride and puppies to play with, and I can see
mountains from my room. It’s so wonderful to read lying in fields of flowers. Oh—Mother
says she’s sorry she couldn’t come.”

Faith and Adam exchanged a relieved glance. So far, Marian had kept her word.

“Frances!” Sophia cried, rushing forward to hug her niece. “I’m so glad you’ll be
here for the wedding.”

“It’s about time you and Mr. Percy married,” Aunt Theodosia said with a sniff. “He
couldn’t let Faith be the only brave one to take on our family.”

Sophia blushed and smiled at Faith. For several months, Faith had been denying that
she’d inspired Mr. Percy to come forward after the ugly hints in the newspaper. She
thought it was Sophia’s beauty and kindness that had finally made him realize he’d
never find another woman like her.

And weddings must be in the air, because at last, when Lord Shenstone had stopped
pursuing Lady Emmeline, she’d realized she might actually miss him and consented to
be his wife.

Resting her hands on her belly, Faith smiled as Frances hugged each member of her
family.

Faith’s family. She smiled at her husband, so grateful that he’d come to find her
that day in Hyde Park, that he’d made her his duchess, a mother—but mostly, his wife.

About the Author

After a detour through fitness instructing and computer programming, GAYLE CALLEN
found the life she’d always dreamed of as a romance writer. This
USA Today
bestselling author has written more than twenty historical romances for Avon Books,
and her novels have won the Holt Medallion and the Laurel Wreath Award.

Gayle lives in Central New York with her three children, her dog, Apollo, and her
husband, Jim the Romance Hero. Visit her web site at
www.gaylecallen.com.

Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

By Gayle Callen

R
EDEMPTION OF THE
D
UKE

S
URRENDER TO THE
E
ARL

R
ETURN OF THE
V
ISCOUNT

E
VERY
S
CANDALOUS
S
ECRET

A M
OST
S
CANDALOUS
E
NGAGEMENT

I
N
P
URSUIT OF A
S
CANDALOUS LADY

N
EVER
M
ARRY A
S
TRANGER

N
EVER
D
ARE A
D
UKE

N
EVER
T
RUST A
S
COUNDREL

THE V
ISCOUNT IN
H
ER
B
EDROOM

THE D
UKE IN
D
ISGUISE

THE L
ORD
N
EXT
D
OOR

A W
OMAN’S
I
NNOCENCE

THE B
EAUTY AND THE
S
PY

M
Y
L
ADY’S
G
UARDIAN

A K
NIGHT’S
V
OW

THE D
ARKEST
K
NIGHT

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 events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead,
is entirely coincidental.

REDEMPTION OF THE DUKE
. Copyright © 2014 by Gayle Kloecker Callen. All rights reserved under International
and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have
been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of
this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded,
decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage
and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins
e-books.

EPub Edition MAY 2014 ISBN: 9780062267979

Print Edition ISBN: 9780062267962

FIRST EDITION

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Publisher

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

http://www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Canada