The Duke's Wife. Stephanie Howard

      “You must have heard the rumors?” Letter to Reader Title Page About the Author CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE Copyright

      “You must have heard the rumors?”

      “I hear a lot of rumors.” There was a controlled edge to Sofia’s voice.

      

      “The rumors I’m referring to are the ones speculating that you and I are about to divorce.”

      

      “I’m at a loss to imagine what you expect me to do about it.”

      

      “What I’d like you to do is help me put a stop to them,” Damiano said.

      

      “Why? The more people talk about us getting divorced, the more used they’re going to get to the idea.... ”

      

      “Of course, you’re entitled to your opinion, but I can tell you here and now that there will be no divorce. Not now. Not ever. No matter what anyone may speculate. You and I are bound together for the rest of our lives.”

      Dear Reader,

      

      Welcome to ROYAL AFFAIR! By appointment to her loyal readers, Stephanie Howard has created a blue-blooded trilogy of romeos, rebels and royalty. It follows the fortunes of the San Rinaldo royal family : Damiano, the Duke of San Rinaldo, his brother, Count Leone, and their sister, Lady Caterina. Together the three of them are dedicated to their country, people and family. But it takes only one thing to turn their perfectly ordered lives upside down: love!

      

      COUNT LEONE MONTECRESPI, the younger brother of the ruling Duke, is a habitual heartbreaker. A playboy of the old school. love them, leave them and, on no account, marry them. But will small-town American girl, Carrie Dunn, be the one to finally get him down the aisle?

      

      LADY CATERINA MONTECRESPI, Leone and Damiano’s baby sister, has sworn off men since her last disastrous encounter with the opposite sex. And Matthew Allenby is hardly the man to change her mind. As far as Caterina is concerned, he’s a crook and a charlatan. Unfortunately, he’s also proving irresistible!

      

      The DUKE OF SAN RINALDO, DAMIANO MONTECRESPI, had married Sofia to secure his dukedom and produce an heir. But duty for Sofia is a cold bed partner—she wants Damiano to love her as much as he does their baby son, Alessandro. is a happy ending to their fairy-tale romance too much to ask for?

      

      Each of these books contains its own stand-alone romance, as well as making up a great trilogy. Follow Leone and Carrie’s tale in The Colorado Countess. In The Lady’s Man, it’s Caterina and Matthew’s turn. And finally, The Duke’s Wife features Sofia and Damiano’s story—not forgetting little baby Alessandro!

      

      Happy Reading!

      The Duke’s Wife

      Stephanie Howard

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Stephanie Howard was born and brought up in Dundee, Scotland, and educated at the London School of Economics. For ten years she worked as a joumalist in London on a variety of women’s magazines, among them Woman’s Own, and was latterly editor of the now-defunct Honey. She has spent many years living and working abroad—in Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines and in the Middle East.

      CHAPTER ONE

      SOFIA leaned against the window and gazed down into the palace gardens, where the first buds of spring were starting to break through. And she smiled, for on the path that led down to the lake she could see Alessandro, her sixteen-month-old son, being pushed in his pram by Alice, the royal nanny. A warm glow touched her heart. No doubt, she reflected, they were on their way to say hello to the swans, little Alessandro’s current passion. She would join them in the nursery later to hear all about it. Then she sighed. But first there was the meeting with Damiano to get through.

      At that thought Sofia felt a quick dart of apprehension, and as she straightened, frowning, her head was caught in sunlight. A pale, oval face with perfect regular features—wide grey-blue eyes, sensitive and intelligent, short feminine nose, full soft-lipped mouth—and a frame of glorious red-gold hair that fell in a rippling cascade to her shoulders and made a wonderful dramatic contrast with the peacock-blue of her wool dress.

      It was no wonder that Sofia, the young Duchess of San Rinaldo, was renowned throughout the world for her beauty, though, had such a thing been possible, she would without a second thought have traded the glorious gift of her beauty, plus all the fabulous wealth and privileges that were hers, if only she could have had the one precious prize that eluded her.

      There was a sudden sound behind her, then a deep male voice spoke.

      ‘I see you got here before me. I trust you haven’t been waiting long?’

      ‘Only a couple of minutes.’ Sofia did not turn round. Her heart had crashed inside her at the sound of that voice and she needed a couple of seconds to drive the emotion from her face. ‘I was just watching Alessandro on his way down to the lake.’

      ‘He’ll be going to see the swans.’ Damiano, as he spoke, came to stand a few feet away from her at the window. He glanced outside as the child and his nanny disappeared between the trees. ‘I reckon his first word is going to be “swans”, not “Mama” or “Papa” like other children.’

      ‘That wouldn’t surprise me.’

      At last, Sofia turned to look at him, her features composed, her expression serene again, though, as she looked into her husband’s eyes, a familiar sadness touched her heart. Once, he had been the centre of her very existence and, more than likely, she would always love him, in spite of her efforts to stop. But at least she no longer loved him with the helpless desperation of before, with a love so self-annihilating and all-consuming that it had almost felt like a kind of madness. And it would have driven her mad, too, in the end, if she had not conquered it, for the tragedy was that Damiano had never loved her.

      He was looking back at her with those eyes as black as midnight. Fierce, beautiful eyes, the mirror of a passionate and ruthless soul, that were softened now with the warmth of his love