The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1)

by Julia Quinn

“Why can’t you marry me?” she asked in a low voice. “I know you care for me. What is it?”

“Simon,” she pleaded, “save me.” And he was lost.

A duel, a duel, a duel. Is there anything more exciting, more romantic . . .

a duel took place earlier this week in Regent’s Park.

“I’ll marry you,”

Simon Basset has agreed that he will marry Daphne Bridgerton. But he wants her to know one thing. He cannot have children.

Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears, but they glowed with joy. “I’ll make you happy. I promise you. I’ll make you so happy. You won’t regret this.”

How to tell her? What to tell her? He couldn’t tell her the truth.

There's more truth of Simon saying he cannot have children. Its not the whole story.

If she married him . . . She’d be giving up more than she’d ever dreamed. He had to give her the opportunity to refuse him. She deserved that much.

If Daphne decides to marry Simon, she won't get to have children. That's one of Daphne's dreams, she wants a family. She comes from a very large family, Daphne would be giving that up.

“I can’t have children.” There. He’d done it. And it was almost the truth.

“If you marry me, you will never have children. You will never hold a baby in your arms and know it is yours, that you created it in love.

“I cannot have children,”

“There will be no duel,” she said. “His grace and I will be getting married.”

Simon Basset and Daphne Bridgerton will be getting married.

Everyone was, of course, thrilled by the news of her engagement.

(Violet had been informed that Daphne might have been seen kissing Simon in Lady Trowbridge’s garden,

Eloise, Francesca, and Hyacinth, all vastly excited at the prospect of dressing up as bridesmaids,

How had Simon proposed? Did he get down on one knee? What color would Daphne wear and when would he give her a ring?

She had saved a man’s life. She had secured a promise of marriage from the man she adored. And she had committed herself to a life without children.

All in one day.

She might be able to live without the children she hadn’t yet borne, but she couldn’t live without Simon.

But Simon—Simon was real and he was here. She knew how it felt to touch his cheek, to laugh in his presence. She knew the sweet taste of his kiss, and the wry quirk of his smile. And she loved him.

And although she barely dared think it, maybe he was wrong. Maybe he...

She’d be unlikely to mother a brood the size of the Bridgertons, but if she could have even one child she knew she’d feel complete.

If he thought she was holding out even the tiniest hope for a child, he wouldn’t marry her.

“I thought you’d be more excited. I know how much you love Simon.”

“He’s a good man. You’ve chosen well.”

She had chosen well. And she would make the best of her marriage.

Better to live with the man she loved than to have children with one she didn’t.

It wasn’t every day that a man resigned himself to death. And then to be saved by—and betrothed to!—the

woman who had occupied his every dream for the past two weeks.

Did Daphne realize what she’d done? What she was denying herself?

he didn’t think she would have agreed to marry him without sorting through all the consequences.

she fancied herself in love with him. Would she give up her dream of a family because she loved him?

Hell, he liked Daphne. She was one of the finest people he knew.

the simple truth was that come this Saturday (Lady Bridgerton had already sent him a note informing him that the engagement would not be an extended one) he would be bound to Daphne for life.

And she to him.

Daphne would never back out of the marriage at this point, an...

Daphne would be his.

she knew what he could not give her, and she had still chosen him.

“It wasn’t easy for me to let you court her.” “You knew it wasn’t real.” “You made it real last night.”

“I was prepared to kill you for dishonoring her.

They had known each other for over half of their lives.

When had friends become enemies and flirtations grown to lust?

And what the hell was he going to do with Daphne? He didn’t want to hurt her, couldn’t bear to hurt her, actually, and yet he was doomed to do so simply by marrying her. He burned for her,

It’s marriage for the Duke of Hastings and Miss Bridgerton!

Simon had refused to accept even a penny as dowry. Finally, the two men had decided that Anthony would put the money his father had put aside for Daphne’s marriage in a separate estate with himself as the trustee.

It was two days before the wedding.

She had never felt nervous at seeing Simon before. In fact, that had been possibly the most remarkable aspect of their friendship.

she had felt utterly comfortable with him.

Simon had been her friend, and Daphne knew that the easy, happy feeling she’d experienced whenever he was near was not something to be taken for granted.

Still, it was better than a bullet in the heart.