“Leave her room to breathe. I don’t think standing somewhere other than alongside her would make her any less chaperoned by you.”
“I was just proving a point. She tends to get too familiar with people. I want her to tone down her forwardness.”
“She’s young and outgoing.”
“You’re young and show ten times the maturity she does.”
A laugh burst from her. “I’m sorry, but even I can see my hiding is more childish than mature.”
Something across the room caught his attention and his gaze strayed.
“Excuse me for a moment. Stay here with Edwina.”
He hurried away before she could say a word. Her heart gave a flutter. His magnificent gait bespoke confidence and she wished she had his strength of character in public. She lost sight of him as he passed through the crowd.
“Lady Dunsmore has recently come from France,” Lady Edwina noted.
“Maybe she could tell you how goes the—”
Before Edwina finished her sentence, a call to dinner was announced.
Ainsley found Harlan ready to offer his arm and she took it with gratitude.
“I saw he deserted you,” he said. “I’d be happy to escort you to the dining room.”
“Thank you, m’lord.”
“It’s Harlan to you, m’lady.” He patted her hand.
She smiled and gave his arm a squeeze. Harlan hadn’t ever displayed an expression of sadness. His gaiety for the short time she had known him made her feel strangely close to him. Edwina too, had treated her as if they had always been friends. They were comfortable to be around.
“Thank you, Harlan,” she whispered. “You make me feel at ease.”
“And Desmond doesn’t?” He frowned.
“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that.”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “He’s an ogre at times, but you’ll get use to it.”
Ainsley blushed. Harlan’s inappropriate affection was unexpected, but as she watched him wave and greet a passerby, she accepted his kiss as a simple friendly quirk in his behavior.
While Harlan talked to someone who stood near them, she glanced around the room for Desmond. When she spotted him, his glare was coldly disturbing.
Had he misinterpreted Harlan’s kiss?
Being a spinster was much easier than becoming the accidental countess and it definitely didn’t prepare her for falling in love.
The Accidental Countess
© 2007 Melissa Schroeder
Colleen MacGregor doesn’t like rich men, especially rich titled men. Still, her guilt won’t allow her to leave Sebastian passed out in the snow. Before he can leave, they are caught in a compromising situation. Under an agreement he will leave and never bother her again, Colleen marries a man she barely knows to save her reputation. Before she can really stop anything, she is whisked to London, where she is transformed into an Original and captures the attention of the ton—not to mention her husband.
Sebastian Ware thinks he’ll never see the sharp-tongued spinster again. He never planned on becoming the next Earl of Penwyth…or on falling in love. But before he can declare his feelings, he must protect her from an enemy who wants them both dead. Racing against the clock, Sebastian strives to save them both so he can turn their accidental love into a love for eternity.
Enjoy the following excerpt for The Accidental Countess: Never in her life would she have thought the mere touch of his lips against hers would send her emotions spiraling out of control. But the kiss heated quickly, her body reacting immediately. Her breasts swelled, her lungs seized.
Desire and need ignited. When he pulled back, she tried to follow him. He chuckled and she opened her eyes. Before she could reprimand him once more, he was tugging at her spectacles, pulling them off, tossing them on the table, and then returning to kiss her.
This kiss was no longer the innocent brushing of his lips against hers. He took her face into his hands, deepening the kiss. Passion singed a path along her nerve endings as she slipped her hands up his arms to his shoulders and buried them in his hair. Her nipples tightened. As if sensing it, he rubbed his chest against them, and even through the layers of clothing, it was pleasure
and pain all wrapped up in one. She couldn’t seem to get enough of his body next to hers before he was pulling away again.
Confused, Colleen opened her eyes to see him getting to his feet beside the bed. Thinking that he was leaving, she opened her mouth to protest. Her breath came out in a rush as he tugged his nightshirt off. Even in the dim light and without her spectacles, she could see that he was beautifully naked. Every drop of moisture in her mouth evaporated as her gaze roved down his muscular chest. Yes, she had seen him practically naked in her cottage, but he had been half-conscious at the time. Now he stood before her, a golden god.
When her attention dipped from his chest to his abdomen and then farther, she panicked.
Good God.
He laughed. “I don’t know whether to be embarrassed or proud of the expression on your face.”
He climbed back on the bed but didn’t cover her body with his. She looked at his face as he grabbed the bottom of her nightdress. Instead of pulling it off her as she suspected, he took it in his hands and slid it up her body, his palms brushing over her skin. A rush of tingles followed the same path. As he bared her, she didn’t feel the cold air. All she could feel was the warmth of his hands, the heat of his gaze. She tried not to think of him seeing her completely naked, but it preoccupied her when the edge of the nightgown rose about her hips.
She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the sensations he was causing.
When he reached her breasts, his palms skimmed the sides, just the briefest of touches, and his thumbs grazed over her hardened nipples. She shivered.
A moment later she was laid bare for her husband to see. Colleen opened her eyes, but Sebastian never noticed. He kneeled between her outspread legs.
As he stared down at her body, the look on his face erased all her doubts. Pure sensual hunger deepened the color of his eyes. At that moment, she didn’t care if she was plain Colleen Macgregor from York who accidentally married an earl.
All she cared about was that this man, her husband, wanted her. She wanted his skin against hers.
“Sebastian?”
He glanced up, smiling, but made no move to cover her. Instead, he brushed the backs of his fingers against one of her nipples. It tightened further, almost painfully. Again, her eyes slid closed as she allowed the sensation of his touch to seduce her body—her mind.
As he continued teasing that nipple, he leaned forward and took the other in his mouth. Relief filled her as she felt it close over her breast, but at the same time, frustration mounted. Liquid heat was now pouring through her, pushing her toward the pinnacle. Panic filled her chest, clogging her throat at the loss of control. It was true. She no longer held any control over her body. It was now Sebastian’s to use as he wanted.
Colleen wanted to protest, to tell him she didn’t like this feeling. At the same time, her body throbbed, clamored for his touch. Soon, he moved down her body, his lips brushing against her stomach, his tongue in her bellybutton, until he settled between her legs. She rose to her elbows, looking down at him.
His head was level with her most private parts.
“Sebastian. ”
He didn’t even glance up. Instead, he kissed each thigh, his tongue sneaking out against her skin.
“Sebastian, I really—”
Her protest ended on a groan as he pressed his mouth against her. His tongue slipped between her folds. She gasped at the sensation as he applied himself to driving her out of her mind.
By night, he becomes a mysterious stranger devoted only to her pleasure…and discovers she’s hiding a naughty little secret.
Naughty Little Secret
© 2006 Shelley Bradley
Now available in print and ebook