The Duke Heard Them Laugh at the Widow's Old Dress — Then He Asked Her for the First Dance

📚 My three novels + audiobooks — the longest story I've ever written: https://timelesslovebooks.com Wenna Farburn was twenty-three and two winters a widow, keeping a promise made at her husband's deathbed: that his proud elder sister would never be left alone. In a fortnight their hill farm would be sold, and both women would leave the dale for good. Then word came up the lane. The Duke of Birkholme had come home — and would show himself at the Michaelmas assembly. She had nothing to wear but the old blue silk she had been married in, her mother's gown, made over by candlelight. The town ladies laughed at it. Worse, the sister-in-law beside her laughed with them. And when a young man laid a guinea that no one would dance with the widow, the silent duke at the far end of the room walked the whole length of the floor. One dance should have been the end of it. Instead it brought her up the hill every evening, to play for his blind great-aunt — and to a melody her mother made and never wrote down, which one man had once stood in the rain to hear to its end. But the dale had begun to whisper, and to wager, and a promise made to a dying man does not grow smaller with time. When her last night came, the choice would be hers alone. A tender regency tale of an old blue gown, a song with no name, and a quiet man who crossed a room for the woman everyone was laughing at. Sit back, relax, and let this story carry you to the candlelit ballrooms and great houses of old England. ▶ If you love slow-burn regency and historical romance and dramatic period stories, subscribe and turn on the bell so you never miss a new tale. 💬 Tell us in the comments: which city are you watching from, and how did Wenna's story make you feel? #regencyromance #historicalromance #perioddrama #dukeromance #widowromance #firstdance #cleanromance #slowburnromance #regencyera #ballroomromance #secondchance #quietduke #historicalfiction #lovestory #romancestory #narratedstory #bedtimestory #truelove #regencyhistorical #oldengland Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places, and events are entirely fictional and the product of creative storytelling. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental. This story and its narration are produced with the assistance of AI tools for entertainment purposes only.