Scarlett Osborne - Bewitching The Forbidden Duke Extended Epilogue (txt) Read online

  Bewitching the Forbidden Duke Extended Epilogue

  Extended Epilogue

  A Year Later

  Melissa put her book down with a sigh, musing that married life was a lot different than she had imagined. She rubbed at her rapidly-expanding belly, thinking about last night when Patrick had come home with two bedraggled-looking people–a woman and a child.

  He told her the child was his sister and then had asked her not to ask him any more questions. She was a lot less naïve than she had been at the inception of her marriage. She could make the connections. Judging by the age of the child, she was a by blow of the late Duke’s. Melissa wondered where they’d come from and if the Dowager Duchess knew about her.

  Her relationship with the dowager was one of the most enduring surprises of her life. Alexandra treated her like the daughter she’d never had. She was in Paris for a lot of the time, with Caroline, Patrick’s sister. But she came to London regularly to visit with Melissa. She fussed over her and worried about her and was constantly chiding Patrick about making sure he treated his wife with care. She filled a void that Melissa had not known she had.

  So at first, she was not inclined to be friendly with the woman.

  “What are you doing bringing her here? Have you thought about how hurt Alexandra will be when she finds out?”

  Patrick sighed. “And what would you have me do, mm? Leave them in the almshouse?”

  “In the almshouse? What were they doing there?”

  Patrick closed his eyes, face coloring as if he was ashamed. “My father had them thrown in there. That’s how he got rid of his mistakes.”

  Melissa just gaped at him in astonishment. “I…” when he turned away from her, she realized that he carried this burden as if he was the one who had thrown the woman and child away. “Patrick…this is not your fault.”

  “Is that so? Who’s then?”

  Your father’s.

  Melissa thought it but did not say it. Patrick considered everything his father had ever done as somehow his responsibility. She knew he had spent all the time since his death trying to unravel all his unsavory enterprises. She saw the toll it took on him, emotionally and physically and tried her best to be a rock he could lean on.

  It was certainly a departure from her reckless, unfettered youth. She would not have exchanged it for anything. So she made a place for the woman–who said her name was Sherry and asked if she might work in the kitchens. Her daughter’s name was Michaela and she had the biggest, roundest, grey eyes Melissa had ever seen. She imagined that Patrick must have looked just so when he was young.

  She smiled at them and tried to put them in a guest room, but Sherry was afraid of the soft luxury and asked to be put in the servants’ quarters.

  “Please, ma’am,” she pleaded with scared eyes, “I do not want…” she stopped helplessly and Melissa stared at her, trying to understanding what it was she feared so much.

  “Is it…” she stopped, swallowed, “Do you think that Patrick brought you here for…”

  She couldn’t finish the sentence. What kind of life had this poor woman led? She grasped her shoulders instead, looking her in the eyes. “I promise you, Sherry, you and your daughter are safe here. Your daughter is kin to my husband. He just wants to help you.”

  Sherry simply stared in disbelief.

  Melissa sighed, getting with difficulty to her feet. Her protruding belly made moving around more of a challenge than she was used to. She turned to her lady’s maid. “Brynn, would you please make sure Sherry and her daughter have somewhere to sleep in the servant’s quarters, please?”

  She and Brynn exchanged loaded glances and then Brynn nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She took the woman and her daughter away, no doubt to one of the lesser-used rooms in the back. Perhaps the sparsity of furniture would convince her where Melissa’s words had not. She swallowed the lump in her throat, trying not to shed tears. She cried very easily these days.

  Picking up her book, she began to read again.

  ***

  Brynn used her day off to call upon her mother. After dealing with Sherry and listening to her tale of woe with her child, she had felt the deep need to reconnect with her own mother. Admittedly she was still chary of trusting her after her unexpected betrayal, but she missed Lynn. She missed the closeness they used to have and she wanted it back.

  She knocked at the servant’s entrance and was surprised when Lynn herself opened the door. “I saw you as you were walking down the street,” her mother said with a wet smile.

  Brynn took a deep breath, and then smiled back. “I thought I’d take the time to come visit with you if you’re not too busy, Mam.”

  Lynn’s smile brightened. “I am never too busy for you.”

  ***

  She was woken from her nap by warm lips and questing hands.

  “No,” she declared.

  A head appeared over her shoulder and Patrick smiled into her neck. “What are you refusing me now, dear wife?”

  “I’m sleeping. Leave me alone.”

  “But I haven’t stopped you from your rest.”

  “Oh, I know you. You’ll start by licking down my neck and then tickling my ear and the next thing I know I am on all fours, naked as a newborn foal while you use me for your own wicked pleasure.”

  Patrick laughed. “One would think you don’t enjoy it at all.”

  “I do not. I am as pure as driven snow.”

  “Ha. Is that why you jump on me in the middle of the night and beg me to…”

  “I do not beg you!” Melissa huffed, cuffing his hand where it lay against her belly.

  “Mmm, if you say so.” He buried his face in her hair, breathing her in deeply. “You smell delicious. I wonder if you taste the same,” he playfully bit into her neck.

  “Sleeping!”

  “Yes, ma’am. You go ahead and do that. I am simply sating my hunger for human flesh, mmm…” He made growling sounds as he chomped playfully at her shoulder. Melissa struggled very hard not to laugh.

  “Werewolf!” she accused amid stifled giggles.

  “Ah! My secret is out. Now I must kill you.” He pulled her over onto her back and began to suckle her neck in earnest. Her giggles were becoming uncontrollable.

  “Stop! Or I shall pee myself.”

  Instead of stopping his suckling got even more intense. “Promises, promises,” he whispered into her neck before kissing down into her substantially-larger breasts. He was very careful with them, for she complained about how sensitive they were.

  She could not suppress the groan that escaped her. “You are the worst,” she told him even as she pulled him closer.

  “I know my darling. Thank you for tolerating my baser nature.” he said before capturing her lips with his. They kissed deeply and earnestly with no other intention other than connection.

  It couldn’t last though; they were still too new at being together for passion not to rise and overwhelm them. What had started out as one showing appreciation for the other quickly became the frantic groping and tearing off of clothes. Soon the room was littered with discarded breeches and shifts, gowns, shirts and petticoats. Melissa was too big to lie on the bed and so she got on all fours while Patrick entered her slowly and then pounded her into the mattress as she egged him on with loud cries of encouragement.

  “Melissa,” he groaned as he released his seed into her, feeling her walls clench tight around him and then release and milk him long after his own sexual orgasm was done. They both collapsed on the bed, breathing synchronously.

/>   “Can I ask you something?” Patrick said.

  “Sure,” Melissa did not bother to open her eyes. Intercourse always made her feel pleasantly boneless and tired.

  “When my father attempted to murder you, he came upon you with Brynn and went back to the house with her. How did he get back to you before we found you?”

  Melissa shrugged. “Well, apparently he told Brynn that he’d forgotten his rifle and that she was to continue to the house on foot while he went back for it with her horse.”

  Patrick shook his head. “Bastard.”

  That made Melissa open her eyes and sit up. “Are you feeling quite well?”

  He sighed, turning to face her. “I’ve just been thinking and realizing some things about my father.” He peered at Melissa, wintry-grey eyes warming as they fell on her. “He was inconsiderate, dismissive and cruel.”

  Melissa didn’t say a word, simply reached out and covered his hand with hers, rubbing gently.

  “I don’t know how I was so blind as to who he was.”

  “He might have been all those things, but he was also your father. You revered him. You wanted him to be the hero of the story.”

  “I suppose you know a thing or two about that.”

  Melissa smiled wryly. “Your stepmother is more of a mother to me than my own mother. So yes, I do know a thing or two about disappointing parents.”

  Patrick sat up, leaning back against the headboard and caressing her naked belly, “You know who has really surprised me? Greyfield. I mean, he accepts you wholly as his daughter, still, yet does not forbid you to see your other father. He has taken Rose in hand, stopped her from spreading vitriol about you and got her to accept our marriage.”

  “He stayed with mother…” Melissa added.

  “Well…that is maybe not so strange. Many marriages are plagued with infidelity. One almost expects it,” Patrick shrugged.

  “I do not!” Melissa leaned forward to glare at him.

  “Of course not, darling. Ours is a love match. When we took our vows, we meant every word–did we not?” Patrick gave her a look.

  “Of course.”

  “Ah, ha! So you admit that you promised to obey me?”

  Melissa snorted. “That is subject to interpretation.”

  “But faithfulness is not?”

  “Absolutely not!” she glared balefully at him. Just then, she jerked as she felt a kick to her stomach. “Oop!” she cried.

  “What is it?” Patrick leaned toward her anxiously. “Is it the baby? Is it time?”

  Melissa gave him a jaundiced stare. “Of course not. I am only six months gone. But I felt the baby kick.”

  “You did?”

  “I did.” She smiled, reaching for his hand and placing it on her stomach. “Wait, I am sure he shall do it again.”

  “Or she?”

  Melissa narrowed her eyes at him. “Do you want to feel your baby kick, or do you want to argue about gender.”

  “Kick,” Patrick said meekly, placing his hand against her stomach and waiting anxiously.

  Not long after, there was a swift kick, exactly where his hand was.

  “Ah! She knows it’s me,” he exclaimed.

  Melissa rolled her eyes. “I do hope you shall not be too disappointed if we have a boy.”

  He put his arms around her, one hand still on her belly, his head on her shoulder. “I expect I shall just have to impregnate you again.”

  “And what if the next one is also a boy.”

  “We shall just have to keep going until you give me my daughter.”

  He lifted his head and kissed her temple as she screamed. “But never fear. Little Olympia is already here.”

  Melissa just gave him a disbelieving stare, shook her head and then leaned her entire weight against him. “You’re a silly man, Patrick Dutton.”

  “And yet, you love me, Your Grace.”

  Melissa sighed. “That I do.”

  ***

  “Patrick! Wake up! The baby is coming.” Melissa was shaking him frantically as he struggled against the sleep pressing down on him, demanding he continue with his slumber.

  He struggled out of bed; eyes still closed. “I shall get the midwife,” he mumbled.

  “Get Sherry first, she’s nearer,” Melissa yelled and then gave a small scream. Patrick increased his pace. They had a midwife on standby and before he went in search of Sherry, he sent Henry to collect her forthwith. By some instinct only known to lady’s maids, Brynn was already hurrying up the stairs, urging the downstairs maids to hurry up with the hot water. Sherry drowsily followed him up to their room and then refused him entry to his own chambers.

  He gaped at the door and then began to pace up and down. The screaming got much louder before it finally subsided. Patrick was sweating bullets. The midwife opened the door and smiled at him. “You can come in now.”

  He walked slowly into the room, eyes going to Melissa who lay as if dead on the bed. “Is she…!” he asked.

  “She’s fine. Simply exhausted. Would you like to hold your daughter, Your Grace?”

  Patrick felt his whole body light up. “Yes please.”

  The midwife handed him a small squirming bundle. Patrick knew he was shedding tears because of the wetness on his face but he could not worry about that now. “Well…good evening, Olympia. It’s nice to meet you.”

  The End

 

 

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