When He Was Wicked

The sixth installment in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series, set in Regency-era England and Scotland, follows the love story of Francesca Bridgerton and Michael Stirling across more than a decade of longing, loss, and eventual union.

Michael Stirling, a charming rake known in London society as the "Merry Rake," falls instantly and irrevocably in love with Francesca Bridgerton at a supper celebrating her imminent marriage to his cousin John, the Earl of Kilmartin. For the next two years, Michael hides his feelings behind a façade of carefree dissolution, continuing to seduce women while secretly coveting John's wife. The three develop a close friendship in which Francesca regularly asks Michael to tell her "something wicked" about his exploits, and their easy banter masks the depth of his longing.

One evening, John complains of a severe headache and lies down to rest. When Francesca goes to wake him, she finds him dead. Michael rushes upstairs and immediately recognizes that John is gone. Francesca collapses in grief. The next day, Lord Winston from the Committee for Privileges, a House of Lords body overseeing peerage succession, arrives to demand whether Francesca is pregnant, since a male heir would inherit the earldom instead of Michael. Michael threatens the man and refuses to burden Francesca with such questions. Francesca soon reveals she is pregnant, placing the title in abeyance, meaning the succession is held in suspension until the birth. Michael is consumed by guilt: He coveted John's wife, and now he stands to inherit everything that was John's.

Six weeks later, Francesca miscarries, confirming Michael as the new Earl of Kilmartin. Paralyzed by guilt, he cannot bring himself to visit her. When Michael's mother, Helen, scolds him for abandoning Francesca, he flees. Weeks later, Francesca confronts him about his withdrawal, telling him the baby "would have been yours in a way, too," meaning the child would have needed him as a father figure. Michael reacts with frightening intensity, grabbing her shoulders and shouting that he cannot take John's place. Terrified, Francesca tells him they should not see each other. Realizing he cannot remain near her, Michael departs for India, leaving Francesca feeling abandoned by both John and him.

Four years pass. Francesca finds purpose in managing the Kilmartin estate, while Michael takes a governmental post in India, where he contracts malaria, a parasitic disease that causes recurring bouts of severe fever. He sends Francesca three letters she never answers. Eventually, she realizes she desperately wants a baby and returns to London to find a new husband, purchasing bright blue gowns to signal she is out of mourning.

Michael returns to London on the same night Francesca arrives at Kilmartin House, and they have an awkward reunion by the library fire. Francesca moves to her mother Violet Bridgerton's home to avoid impropriety. During a walk in Hyde Park, she tells Michael she has come to find a husband, then is startled by a sudden physical awareness of him, noticing his lips and nearness for the first time. She flees in confusion. That evening, she finds Michael desperately ill with malarial fever and stays at his bedside through the night. His mother Helen and John's mother Janet arrive in London and agree to keep the malaria confidential. The mothers begin pressuring Michael to marry.

Once recovered, Michael makes his social debut at Violet's birthday ball, where he is besieged by eligible women. Francesca finds herself compulsively watching him, irritated by the attention he receives. Her own drawing room overflows with suitors' flowers. At his club, Michael attacks Lord Hardwick for making vulgar comments about Francesca. Colin Bridgerton, Francesca's brother, witnesses the incident and directly suggests Michael should marry Francesca. Michael sputters that he cannot because she was married to his cousin, but Colin dismantles his objections. The conversation forces Michael to confront a possibility he has never permitted himself to consider.

At a subsequent ball, Sir Geoffrey Fowler lures Francesca into the garden and forces a kiss on her. Michael appears and attacks Sir Geoffrey. Francesca is shaken by the fierce intensity she sees in Michael, and when she asks how he knew where she was, he replies that he is always watching her. That night, she follows him into his bedchamber, emotional about her guilt over wanting to remarry. He kisses her with increasing passion, but when his hand moves to her breast, she wrenches away. She flees to Scotland, leaving Michael a brief note saying what happened was wrong and asking his forgiveness.

Colin's engagement to Penelope Featherington gives Michael an excuse to follow Francesca to Kilmartin, where he proposes on practical grounds: She would retain her title, they already trust each other, and he can give her children. Francesca refuses, insisting the idea is insane. Michael shifts strategy, beginning a prolonged seduction in which he whispers what he intends to do to her, echoing her old request to hear "something wicked." They make love for the first time, and Michael reflects that all his previous encounters were merely physical, while this was his soul.

The next morning, Francesca is consumed by guilt over desiring Michael more intensely than she ever desired John. She flees, and when Michael finds her in a rainstorm, his horse goes lame, forcing them into a gardener's cottage. They argue but make love again. Francesca agrees to consider his proposal but will give a definitive answer only once she knows whether she is pregnant. Over the following weeks, she returns to Michael's bed but refuses to discuss marriage. Michael shifts from seduction to courtship, bringing wildflowers and treating her with gentle attentiveness. When her period confirms she is not pregnant, she cries, unsure whether her tears are for the absence of a baby or the absence of a reason to marry Michael.

Michael finally reaches his breaking point and confesses that he loves her, has always loved her, even when she was married to John. Francesca flees to a gazebo John once built for her. After hours alone, she returns and tells Michael she will marry him, though she cannot yet say why.

A letter from Violet reveals that Colin has married Penelope and Francesca's sister Eloise is also marrying, both without Francesca present. Michael argues they should marry that day since they are in Scotland and need no banns, the public announcements of marriage required in England. They wed, and on their wedding night Michael tells Francesca he loves her; she can only say she is "very glad" she married him.

Two weeks later, Michael develops a high fever. Francesca is terrified it is malaria recurring dangerously soon. When his fever persists through the morning, it paradoxically proves the illness is not malaria, since malarial fevers always disappear by morning. Overwhelmed with relief, Francesca visits John's grave with peonies, his favorite flowers, and confesses aloud that she has fallen in love with Michael, realizing John would have approved. Michael drags himself to the churchyard and overhears her. When Francesca sees him, she repeats "I love you" over and over. They embrace, and as they leave, Michael silently mouths "Thank you" toward John's grave.

An epilogue takes the form of a letter from Janet, John's mother, affirming that Michael and Francesca were "born for each other" and thanking Michael for "letting my son love her first." A second epilogue jumps three years ahead. Francesca has endured 33 periods without conceiving. During a visit to Aubrey Hall, the Bridgerton family estate, for the christening of her sister Hyacinth's daughter, Francesca allows herself to grieve her infertility with her mother Violet, and the release brings unexpected peace. Weeks later, she and Michael realize she may be pregnant. One year later, Francesca presents her mother with a baby boy named John. The novel closes with the note that nine months after little John's arrival, a daughter, Janet Helen Stirling, is born, looking exactly like her father.