Violet tries to explain sexual intercourse to Daphne, who finds the instructions vague and confusing. Simon reluctantly agrees to marry her, but warns that he can never have children.ĭaphne and Simon are married quickly. Knowing that Simon will probably die, Daphne intervenes and pleads with Simon to marry her so her honour will be protected. After Simon refuses Anthony challenges him to a duel. They are discovered by Anthony who demands Simon marry Daphne after he has compromised her.

At a ball Daphne tries to seduce Simon luring him out to the garden where they kiss. He nevertheless allows it to continue as he realizes Daphne is being courted by more suitors than ever before.ĭaphne and Simon each begin to fall in love with each other during their fake courtship. Anthony disapproves of the courtship between Simon and Daphne even after learning that it is fake. As Daphne is the only reasonable woman whose company he can bear, he offers to pretend to court her so that other men will see her as attractive and so that enterprising mothers will think he is spoken for and leave him alone. Simon quickly finds that as a handsome, wealthy and unmarried duke he is considered an extremely eligible bachelor. Both Anthony and Daphne have been pushed onto the marriage mart by their mother Violet and both find their prospects dull. Simon becomes attracted to the young woman until he learns she is Daphne Bridgerton, the sister of his friend Anthony Bridgerton. Before he can rescue the young lady she punches out the suitor. Going to meet his godmother, Lady Danbury, Simon discovers a young woman being harassed by an overly-pushy suitor. Simon has developed a reputation as being haughty and arrogant due to his long silences to cover his stutter.

Unbeknownst to the rest of society, Simon was severely neglected by his father due to a severe stutter that plagued him as a child. In 1813, Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, returns to London after a long period away from home. It is the first novel of Quinn's series of Regency romances about the Bridgerton siblings and tells the story of Daphne, the fourth eldest child of the family. The Duke and I is a 2000 historical romance novel written by Julia Quinn, first published by Avon.

The duke and i by julia quinn