Julia Quinn - When He Was Wicked With 2nd Epilogue (Bridgertons)

Dedication

For B.B.,

who kept me company throughout the writing of this book.

The best things come to those who wait!

And also for Paul,

even though he wanted to call it

Love in the Time of Malaria.

Contents

Cover

Title page

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Bridgerton Family Tree

Part One

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Part Two

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Epilogue

Authors Note

Dear Reader

When He Was Wicked: The 2nd Epilogue

Meet the Bridgerton family . . .

About the Author

By Julia Quinn

Copyright

About the Publisher

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Paul Pottinger, MD, and Philip Yarnell, MD, for their expertise in the fields of, respectively, infectious diseases and neurology.

Bridgerton Family Tree

Part One

March, 1820

London, England

Chapter 1

. . . I wouldnt call it a jolly good time, but its not as bad as that. There are women, after all, and where there are women, Im bound to make merry.

from Michael Stirling to his cousin

John, the Earl of Kilmartin,

posted from the 52nd Foot Guards

during the Napoleonic Wars

In every life there is a turning point. A moment so tremendous, so sharp and clear that one feels as if ones been hit in the chest, all the breath knocked out, and one knows, absolutely knows without the merest hint of a shadow of a doubt that ones life will never be the same.

For Michael Stirling, that moment came the first time he laid eyes on Francesca Bridgerton.

After a lifetime of chasing women, of smiling slyly as they chased him, of allowing himself to be caught and then turning the tables until he was the victor, of caressing and kissing and making love to them but never actually allowing his heart to become engaged, he took one look at Francesca Bridgerton and fell so fast and so hard into love it was a wonder he managed to remain standing.

Unfortunately for Michael, however, Francescas surname was to remain Bridgerton a mere thirty-six hours longer; the occasion of their meeting was, lamentably, a supper celebrating her imminent wedding to his cousin.

Life was ironic that way, Michael liked to think in his more polite moods.

In his less polite moods, he used a different adjective entirely.

And his moods, since falling in love with his first cousins wife, were not often polite.

Oh, he hid it well. It wouldnt do to be visibly out of sorts. Then some annoyingly perceptive soul might actually take notice, andGod forbidinquire as to his welfare. And while Michael Stirling held a not unsubstantiated pride in his ability to dissemble and deceive (he had, after all, seduced more women than anyone cared to count, and had somehow managed to do it all without ever once being challenged to a duel)Well, the sodding truth of it was that hed never been in love before, and if ever there was a time that a man might lose his ability to maintain a faade under direct questioning, this was probably it.

And so he laughed, and was very merry, and he continued to seduce women, trying not to notice that he tended to close his eyes when he had them in bed, and he stopped going to church entirely, because there seemed no point now in even contemplating prayer for his soul. Besides, the parish church near Kilmartin dated to 1432, and the crumbling stones certainly couldnt take a direct strike of lightning.

And if God ever wanted to smite a sinner, he couldnt do better than Michael Stirling.

Michael Stirling, Sinner.

He could see it on a calling card. Hed have had it printed up, evenhis was just that sort of black sense of humorif he werent convinced it would kill his mother on the spot.

Rake he might be, but there was no need to torture the woman whod borne him.

Funny how hed never seen all those other women as a sin. He still didnt. Theyd all been willing, of course; you couldnt seduce an unwilling woman, at least not if you took seduction at the true sense of the word and took care not to confuse it with rape. They had to actually want it, and if they didntif Michael sensed even a hint of unease, he turned and walked away. His passions were never so out of control that he couldnt manage a quick and decisive departure.

And besides, hed never seduced a virgin, and hed never slept with a married woman. Oh very well, one ought to remain true to oneself, even while living a liehed slept with married women, plenty of them, but only the ones whose husbands were rotters, and even then, not unless shed already produced two male offspring; three, if one of the boys seemed a little sickly.

A man had to have rules of conduct, after all.

But this . . . This was beyond the pale. Entirely unacceptable. This was the one transgression (and hed had many) that was finally going to blacken his soul, or at the very leastand this was assuming he maintained the strength never to act upon his desiresmake it a rather deep shade of charcoal. Because this . . . this

He coveted his cousins wife.

He coveted Johns wife.

John.

John, who, damn it all, was more of a brother to him than one of his own could ever have been. John, whose family had taken him in when his father had died. John, whose father had raised him and taught him to be a man. John, with whom

Ah, bloody hell. Did he really need to do this to himself? He could spend a sennight cataloguing all the reasons why he was going straight to hell for having chosen Johns wife with whom to fall in love. And none of it was ever going to change one simple fact.

He couldnt have her.

He could never have Francesca Bridgerton Stirling.

But, he thought with a snort as he slouched into the sofa and propped his ankle over his knee, watching them across their drawing room, laughing and smiling, and making nauseating eyes at each other, he could have another drink.

I think I will, he announced, downing it in one gulp.

What was that, Michael? John asked, his hearing superb, as always, damn it.

Michael produced an excellent forgery of a smile and lifted his glass aloft. Just thirsty, he said, maintaining the perfect picture of a bon vivant.

They were at Kilmartin House, in London, as opposed to Kilmartin (no House, no Castle, just Kilmartin), up in Scotland, where the boys had grown up, or the other Kilmartin House, in Edinburghnot a creative soul among his forbearers, Michael had often reflected; there was also a Kilmartin Cottage (if one could call twenty-two rooms a cottage), Kilmartin Abbey, and, of course, Kilmartin Hall. Michael had no idea why no one had thought to offer their surname to one of the residences; Stirling House had a perfectly respectful ring to it, in his opinion. He supposed that the ambitiousand unimaginativeStirlings of old had been so damned besotted with their newfound earldom that they couldnt think to put any other name on anything.

He snorted into his glass of whisky. It was a wonder he didnt drink Kilmartin Tea and sit on a Kilmartin-style chair. In fact, he probably would be doing just that if his grandmother had found a way to manage it without actually taking the family into trade. The old martinet had been so proud one would have thought shed been born a Stirling rather than simply married into the name. As far as shed been concerned, the Countess of Kilmartin (herself) was just as important as any loftier personage, and shed more than once sniffed her displeasure when being led into supper after an upstart marchioness or duchess.