I Adored a Lord (34 page)

“That depends on your answer.”

“I love you, Ravenna.” His voice was beautifully rough. “I love who you are and what you do and how you do it. You must continue to go on in that manner, and I will rejoice that you are mine. Given that I am a man prone to sin, I will also boast about you to everybody I encounter. Pride, you know. One of the Seven Deadlies.”

There was another kiss then, this one quite lengthy, in which she expressed her appreciation of his position on the matter.

“However,” he said over her lips, “if you put another wild creature in my bed, I will annul you instantly. The paper will be signed in Parliament by the end of that very day.”

She laughed. “What if the wild creature is me?”

He pulled her tightly to him. “She will always be welcome in my bed, as she is always in my heart. Now, say you will marry me.”

“I will marry you. Is it my turn now?”

“Your turn?”

“To order you about like you have just ordered me about?”

“I suppose.” He nodded. “Having just been accepted by the woman who commands my heart, I am currently of a magnanimous mind.”

“Make love to me now.”

“With pleasure.” He looked about them curiously. “Here?”

She twined her fingers into his hair and kissed his jaw. “It has been a dream of mine for some weeks now to make love to a handsome lord in a field of wildflowers. You are a handsome lord. This is a field of wildflowers. Also, we are both very wet and that reminds me of when you pulled me from a river and held me in your arms and I thought that despite the cold and damp I could remain there forever.”

His smile lit her heart. “As long as there are no pitchforks about, I am at your ser­vice, madam. But when did you leave off referring to it as mating?”

“When you made me say your name and I wanted to run away. The trouble of it was, I wanted you to come with me.” She pressed her brow to his chest and held him tight. “Vitor, I love you.”

He served her then, in the field of wildflowers as spring rain gave way to golden sunshine, proving himself both her lord and servant at once. And in return, as before, willingly, truly, she adored him.

 

Author's Note

I
n 1807, threatened by Napoleon's imperial ambitions, the Prince Regent of Portugal fled Lisbon, sailing across the Atlantic to establish his court in the lucrative colony of Brazil. Upon mainland Portugal's political landscape bereft of its leaders, I placed my fictional lesser branch of the royal family in hiding in the mountains. An era of tumult, the early nineteenth century in Europe and Britain provides a rich and thrilling context within which to tell a tale, even if that tale technically takes place in a remote, snowbound castle. I had great fun stocking my murder mystery with an international cast of characters and flavoring it with little bits of information about the wider world from which each of the actors had come.

Like Raynaldo's branch of the Portuguese royal family, a few other historical details in this book are my inventions as well. Barbichons Lyonnaise, with their rare black spotted tongues, are a breed of bichons frise born entirely of my imagination. So too is the Linnaeus Society. Although Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish zoologist, botanist, and physician who lived from 1707 to 1778, was indeed a pioneer in genetics, and far-­thinking scientists of the early nineteenth century followed his cutting edge theories, my Lord Prunesly is a member of a fictional scientific club. For its part, Chateau Chevriot, while resembling magnificent Cléron on the exterior as well as in its landscape and location in the Jura, is wholly fictional on the interior, renovated by my fictional Sebastiao's fictional grandfather in the modern style (that is, the style current in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries), and thus much more agreeable for my characters in terms of creature comforts than a medieval castle would be.

My imagination, however, embellished only some of the historical details in this story. Other details arrived the old-­fashioned way: via the actual historical record. The
Treatise on Veterinary Medicine
that Sir Beverley reads aloud to Ravenna was written by a man named James White and published in 1807. This and John Hinds's
The Veterinary Surgeon or Farriery
, which was published in Philadelphia in 1836, afforded me hours of fascinating reading in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University—­hours I'm sure Ravenna would have dreaded but which I enjoyed thoroughly. (The full title of Hinds's book, by the way, is
The Veterinary Surgeon, or, Farriery Taught on a New and Easy Plan: Being a Treatise on All the Diseases and Accidents to Which the Horse Is Liable, the Causes and Symptoms of Each, and the Most Approved Remedies Employed for the Cure in Every Case
. Aren't old print titles marvelous?)

On another note, it was not unheard of for Catholic royalty to wed non-­Catholics, but it wasn't particularly run-­of-­the-­mill either. Neither was it typical of royals to wed commoners. But since the Anglican Prince George, Regent of England at the time of this story, contracted such an alliance (albeit secretly, scandalously, and without lasting success of the union), I decided Ann and Sebastiao's match could happen.

For the sake of the Courtenay brothers I must say a word here about bastardy in Regency-­era England. In short, if no one cared, it could remain under the rug forever. On the other hand, if anyone cared, it could matter a whole lot. Usually the truth of paternity rested in the word of the child's mother. Especially if she was a noblesse—­unless her husband accused her of adultery (in which case she was entirely out of luck), or unless her word could otherwise be proven false with incontrovertible evidence—­her child belonged to the father she claimed for it. Since both Vitor and Wesley's fathers were willing secret accomplices in the Marquess and Marchioness of Airedale's pursuit of children, neither of them had any wish to stand in the way of their illegitimate sons' legitimacy in the eyes of the world. In reality, from the medieval to the modern eras in England and Europe there was quite a lot of adulterous and illegitimate begetting of children upon both high-­ and lowborn women, married or unmarried, both with and without their consent. The Marchioness of Airedale and poor Clarice Sepic née Brazil are two sides of the same historical coin, as it were.

On a literary note, if there is one work of fiction in all of history that I wish I had written, it is William Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet
. It is such a brilliantly told tale, with romance and adventure and intrigue and profound emotion, that every time I watch or read it I am stunned—­indeed grief stricken—­when the young lovers perish. Their love is so powerful, so impetuous and passionate, and the writing so sublime, the story told so gloriously, that I simply cannot believe the whole thing ends in a funeral procession. I suppose this reveals the eternal optimist in me (which is of course why I write romances and not tragedies). But for this book I enjoyed putting Shakespeare's immortal verse into my characters' mouths more than I can express.

Fulsome thank-­yous for assistance in writing this book go to Helen Lively for help in inspiring my vision of Vitor, Dr. Diane Leipzig for the book's fabulous title, Noah Redstone Brophy for his counsel on animals and various things medical, Brian Conaghan for his wisdom concerning former monks, Laura Berendsen Hughes for her beautiful painting “Dawn” that inspired an entire scene, Heather McCollum for counsel on ladies of the Highlands, Beth Williamson for sharing with me her research about poisons, and Sandie Blaise and Dr. Teresa Moore for their invaluable assistance with French. Heartfelt thanks go to the wonderful ­people of Triangle Veterinary Hospital, especially Dr. Robin Scott, Dr. Chuck Miller, and Dr. Mari Juergenson, whose devotion to healing and endless compassion are my inspiration for Ravenna's character. Thanks especially to Georgie Brophy and Mary Brophy Marcus for reading and commenting on the manuscript, to its great benefit. I hope it will be understood that any mistakes in this book, historical or otherwise, are to be attributed to the little elves who live beneath my front porch and like to make trouble.

I am ever grateful to my agent Kimberly Whalen, my editor Lucia Macro, and all the other fabulous ­people at Avon who invest so much brilliance into my books, especially Nicole Fischer, Gail Dubov, Eleanor Mikucki, Pam Jaffee, and Katie Steinberg.

Thank you to my mother, husband, and son for their love and support, and for giving me the space and time I need to write.

To my readers, whose love of love stories is only eclipsed in my reckoning by your kindness and joy of spirit, I send you blessings and gratitude for sharing this adventure with me.

Finally, to my “Beast” who is no longer with me, and to my “Gonçalo” who is: Atlas and Idaho, you cannot read the pages of this book, but you are both on every one of them as well as in every corner of my heart forever.

If you enjoyed
I Adored a Lord
, please consider posting a review of it online. You can find links to do that

here: www.KatharineAshe.com/I-Adored-A-Lord.

Thank you!

 

Don't miss the final book in

The Prince Catchers

I Loved a Rogue

by KATHARINE ASHE

Available from

AVON BOOKS

Winter 2015!

 

About the Author

KATHARINE ASHE is the award-winning author of
How to Be a Proper Lady
, Amazon Editors' Choice for one of the Ten Best Books of the Year, and nine other historical romances reviewers call "intensely lush" and "sensationally intelligent." Her books are recommended by
Women's World Magazine, Booklist, Library Journal,
Barnes and Noble, and many others, and translated into langauges across the world.

Katharine lives in the wonderfully warm Southeast with her beloved husband, son, dog, and a garden she likes to call romantic rather than unkempt. A professor of European History, she writes fiction because she thinks modern readers deserve grand adventures and breathtaking sensuality, too. For more about Katharine's books, please visit
www.katharineashe.com
or write her at PO Box 51702, durham, NC 27717

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Praise for the Novels of Katharine Ashe

I MARRIED THE DUKE

“Just the kind of rollicking romance you want if you're in the mood to be swept away on a grand adventure.”

RT BookReviews “TOP PICK!”

“Historical Romance of the Year”

Reviewers' Choice Award nominee 2014

KISSES, SHE WROTE

“Smoldering.”

Library Journal
(
starred review
)

“Finished it with tears in my eyes. Yes, it was that good.”

Elizabeth Boyle,
New York Times
bestselling author

HOW TO MARRY A HIGHLANDER

RITA® Award Finalist 2014

Romance Writers of America

HOW TO BE A PROPER LADY

Amazon Editors' Choice 10 Best Books of 2012

HOW A LADY WEDS A ROGUE

“The characters are textured, deep, and believable. The writing is strong and lyrical, easily supporting agile, polished dialogue . . . an intriguing, engaging plot and healthy doses of both humor and emotion.”

Kirkus Reviews

WHEN A SCOT LOVES A LADY

“Lushly intense romance . . . radiant prose.”

Library Journal
(
starred review
)

“Sensationally intelligent writing, and a true, weak-­in-­the-­knees love story.”

Barnes & Noble “Heart to Heart”
Recommended Read!

IN THE ARMS OF A MARQUESS

“Every woman who ever dreamed of having a titled lord at her feet will love this novel.”

Eloisa James,
New York Times
bestselling author

“Immersive and lush. . . . Ashe is that rare author who chooses to risk unexpected elements within an established genre, and whose skill and magic with the pen lift her tales above the rest.”

Fresh Fiction

CAPTURED BY A ROGUE LORD

“Best Historical Romantic Adventure”

Reviewers' Choice Award winner 2011

SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS

“Best First Historical Romance”

Reviewers' Choice Award nominee 2010

“A breathtaking romance filled with sensuality and driven by a brisk and thrilling plot.”

Lisa Kleypas,
New York Times
#1 bestselling author

“A master storyteller.”

Sandra Hill,
New York Times
bestselling author