Once Upon an Accident 01 - The Accidental Countess by Melissa Schroeder

Plain, yes and with principles set so high no one could measure up to her ideals. She dressed like a spinster and kissed like a courtesan. He knew she didn’t want to face the truth, but there would be no annulment. Even she would understand marriage was the only option. Annulment would make a scandal for him, but it would devastate her standing in her small village. And the news would make it here, especially now that he was an earl.
    Her even breathing and relaxed posture told him she had fallen asleep finally. He gently pulled her onto her back. For a moment, he studied her sleeping face. In sleep, she looked innocent. Her skin was translucent. For the first time, he noticed the dark smudges beneath her eyes. She’d been through a tremendous upheaval this week. Prior to that, she’d nursed him back to health.
    Peace settled over him. There should be no reason why they could not make a go of this marriage. True, it wasn’t a love match. He didn’t believe in the silly emotion anyway. But he’d proved tonight he desired her, at least to himself, and she was levelheaded for the most part. Once they were settled in London, he’d explain what needed to be done. She was a good girl with a mind of her own, but she would understand.
    She rolled onto her side and cuddled against his bare chest. Her sweet breath warmed his neck as she molded her body to his. Instantly, his member hardened.
    Yes, she would agree eventually. He would convince her. As he wrapped his arms around her, he smiled, thinking of all the ways he could convince her and just how much pleasure both of them would gain from his plans.
     
    *
     
    Six days later, they arrived in London, travel worn and much worse the wear. His Amazon bride did not travel particularly well in a coach. Within ten minutes of stepping foot in the carriage, she became violently ill. And the trip didn’t improve. Each night, he’d carried her to her room, placed her on her bed and left her to the ministrations of Betty, his sister’s maid. Never in his life would he have suspected strong, hard-willed Colleen would turn into an invalid.
    He lifted Colleen down from the carriage and experienced the same heady rush. Blood flowed through him like hot molten lava. He just didn’t understand it. Never in his life, even while courting the beautiful Elizabeth, had he felt this surge of awareness of a woman. And for it to happen with this woman—a plain, sharp-tongued spinster—still shocked him.
    He stepped down from the carriage and up the steps of his uncle’s London residence. Now his by chance. A wave of nostalgia and pain lanced through him. He would never hear his uncle laugh again—never go hunting with his cousin. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He had busied himself with caring for Colleen the past few days and avoided the pain. And he would continue. He had a mess of an estate and a grieving aunt to tend to. And, he thought, as he shifted Colleen’s slight weight, a new wife.
    Fitzgerald, the butler of the Penwyth estate for as long as anyone could remember, stood by the massive doors that led into the mansion. Tall, though not as tall as Sebastian, with a wealth of grey hair and bright green eyes, he’d worked for the Penwyth estate his entire life, following in his father’s footsteps, and his father before him.
    “Fitzgerald, good to see you.”
    “As well as you, sir.” He looked at Colleen, speculation and disapproval dripping from him. Fitzgerald had very high standards.
    “I would introduce you to the new countess, but she’s not much of a traveler.”
    Colleen mumbled and shifted in his arms to look up at him. Her clear grey eyes went from confusion to irritation to embarrassment within a moment. Then, in resignation, she closed them.
    “Where are we?” Her voice was so quiet he wasn’t sure anyone else heard her but him.
    “We are home, Colleen.” He stepped over the threshold, relishing the warmth of recognition that rushed