Forbidden by Susan Johnson (good books to read for teens .TXT) 📕

match her eyes, with a single strand of pearls lying glistening around her neck.

"But a poor gamble," the Duc said, noting how Trey's darkness complemented his wife's golden beauty, and how his eyes followed her when she spoke. "She should have had more patience," he said ironically, "because Richelieu died only two months after she ran off."

"You men are too practical." Empress's remark was facetious.

"Right," the Duc dryly declared. If he were a practical man, he would have walked away from the sensuous Miss Black as soon as his need for her had begun threatening his comfortable existence. A practical man wouldn't find himself on the frontier in Helena, Montana, the new owner of a two-story log home of vast proportions, sitting beside a woman pregnant with his child, whom he may or may not be able to marry before that child was born.

"Well, some men are practical," Daisy said, her smile sweet, the heated depths of her eyes as tantalizing as the first time he'd met her at Adelaide's.

"And then again, some men are lucky," the Duc quietly murmured, wondering how long this dinner would last and how long after that, one would be required to be polite.

"If everyone's too well-mannered to ask, I will," Blaze said into the small silence that had fallen as the two lovers forgot for a moment others were present. "Why did Isabelle change her mind about the divorce?"

It took the Duc a moment to answer, his mind dwelling on Daisy lying on his new bed. "She turned out to be somewhat of a gambler herself," he answered. "Like Richelieu's wife. Only with Isabelle it was priests instead of grooms."

"Priests?" Hazard's voice was amused.

Having met the Duchesse de Vec, Trey was momentarily confounded by the disclosure. "You're sure?" he quietly expostulated, setting down his fish fork. Cool, almost cold, the perfectly dressed, exquisitely coiffed Duchesse seemed the least likely woman to indulge in such lurid excess.

"Positive." The Duc's smile was warm, pleasant, triumphant.

"Why was she so incautious… with the contentious divorce?" Trey inquired, Valerie's excessive lifestyle prominent in his thoughts. Even Valerie knew circumspect behavior was required under certain conditions, and unlike the Duchesse de Vec who gave the impression she found sentiment and emotion vulgar, Valerie was profligate in her lovelife.

"Isabelle was at home where she felt secure. The servants were never allowed to enter her room without an express invitation."

"Who discovered… the situation?" Daisy inquired, her curiosity couched in tactful language.

"I did," Etienne answered.

Everyone was too polite to ask for the details.

But Hazard, having lived long in a contentious world, asked the pertinent question. "Were there witnesses?"

"One very good one. Which was what convinced Isabelle, I think, to reconsider her position. The divorce should be concluded in four to six months, Bourges tells me. I told him four would be more acceptable."

"A winter wedding then," Blaze cheerfully said. "Ermine and white velvet would be nice."

"With white orchids," Empress added. "And a Viennese orchestra."

"And all the children strewing rose petals."

"Dressed in Gainsborough fashion."

"You might like to get in a word, Daisy," Hazard teased, "before they have your honeymoon planned as well."

"Do you care?" Daisy asked the Duc, knowing her own feelings on the subject, but not sure of his.

"No," he quietly said. The style of wedding was incidental to his happiness. "Can we go soon?" he whispered.

She nodded. "We give you permission to freely orchestrate the wedding of your choice," Daisy said, smiling at Blaze and Empress. "As long as I don't have to make lists or wear a dress styled for an ingenue."

"No Gainsborough white gauze for Daisy," Empress said, making an imaginary note in her palm.

"And not an enormous crowd. I detest crushes. Now if you'll excuse us, we're leaving," Daisy added, pushing her chair back and putting her hand out for Etienne.

"You've hardly eaten," Blaze said.

"I'm sure Etienne's staff can make them something to eat later," Hazard interposed.

"Could you spare Daisy for a few days from court?" Etienne inquired. His question was a polite query only; he had no intention of returning her for at least a week. He'd been courteous through three courses, three courses longer than his desire could comfortably manage.

"Of course," Hazard said. "Daisy hasn't been working such long hours lately. She was just filling in for a day. Let us know if you need anything up in the valley."

"I'm having a telegraph line and phone put in this week, so soon we won't be isolated." Standing with Daisy's hand in his, he felt an overwhelming need to hold her for a thousand years. The past weeks had been unremittingly lonely.

Daisy squeezed his hand as if understanding his feelings. "We'll keep in touch," she said.

Everyone understood… visitors weren't welcome.

The night air was cold, October well into fall at the mountain altitude, the stars vivid in the blackness of the sky. Etienne drove the single-horse carriage with an effortless skill, the reins looped lightly around his gloved hands as they traveled through the city streets. At the outskirts of town, he transferred the reins into one hand, touching Daisy's fingers with his.

"Are you warm enough?"

She nodded, settled beneath a fur lap-robe, his heated body pressed closely to hers, an unfathomable contentment inundating her soul.

"Are you tired?"

"A little." She found herself existing more often now in a state of benign lassitude, with the baby absorbing some of her energy.

"I'll put you to sleep in twenty more minutes. Louis has the cook preparing some warm almond milk for you."

"If you're going to take such good care of me, having your children could get to be a habit." The smile she gave him was unmotherly and seductive, her awareness of his thigh and arm and shoulder like a resplendent memory and promise.

"In that case," the Duc said, his voice charged with husky emotion, "taking care of you offers an added dimension of fascinating… advantage." The back of his gloved fingertips brushed the curve of her cheek. "You look radiant. Are you as pleased as I?" He grinned