To Catch a Countess by Patricia Grasso

slightly breathless voice.
    “I love your smell,” he said, crushing her against him.
    “I smell?”
    “You smell like vanilla and jasmine and pure woman.”
    Victoria gave him a blank look, innocent to his meaning. She smiled, taking his words as a compliment.
    “We will be man and wife in less than four weeks,” Alexander said. “Now I wish your family and I hadn’t kept the betrothal a secret for so long. We could have been married months ago.”
    “Will we live at the Grosvenor Square mansion?” she asked.
    “Among other places.”
    “What did you think when my aunt suggested a match between us?” Victoria asked, almost afraid of what he would say, but wanting to hear it.
    A typical woman’s question, Alexander thought with an inward smile. His little betrothed needed to dissect every nuance of emotion and motive.
    “Well, I thought you were too young and—”
    Victoria laughed. “I thought you were elderly.”
    “Elderly?” Alexander echoed, surprised. “Twenty-nine hardly makes me ancient.”
    “Why did you say yes to the match?” she asked.
    “I wanted to make amends for Charles Emerson’s crimes against your family,” he answered honestly.
    Alexander knew his answer disappointed her, but professing his love would be lying. Real love—if there was such a thing—took time. After the twenty-fourth of June, they would enjoy all the time in the world.
    “Is there something wrong, Tory?”
    “During the year we’ve been betrothed, have you kept company with any women?” Victoria asked, fearing his answer.
    Alexander cursed himself for not seeing this question coming. “You sound like a wife.”
    “Kiss me again, please.”
    The impertinent minx closed her eyes, waiting for him to do her bidding. In her innocence, she had no idea how difficult being close to her was proving to him. And that was something he had not expected.
    “I want you in my bed,” Alexander told her, “but I want you a virgin on the day we marry. I want no scandal attached to my son. People will gossip if he arrives too early.”
    Learning that he was some unidentified nobleman’s bastard had felled him for months. He wanted no child of his to doubt his parentage or the legitimacy of his birth.
    “What makes you think I’ll—” Victoria broke off, too shy to continue.
    “Getting with child takes only one coupling.”
    Victoria sighed.
    Alexander didn’t know if she was disappointed or relieved. In spite of her passionate nature, Victoria Douglas was untouched, subject to a virgin’s fear of the unknown.
    Tinker opened the door when they returned to the mansion. “My lord, the other gentlemen have gone to the game room.”
    “Thank you, Tinker.” Alexander turned to Victoria, asking, “Will you ride with me to church tomorrow?”
    “Well, I have the beginnings of a headache,” she told him. “I may not attend church services.”
    “I want you to go directly to bed,” Alexander said, thinking how predictable she was. “I’m certain you will feel better in the morning.”
    Victoria stood on tiptoe and, wrapping her arms around his neck, drew him toward her. After planting a kiss on his lips, she turned and walked up the stairs.
    Alexander watched her climb the stairs. He turned away when she disappeared, but the majordomo’s voice stopped him.
    “My lord, when may I expect to receive my winnings?” Tinker asked.
    Alexander stared at him for a long moment. “I won.”
    Tinker raised his brows at him. “Without your permission, Lady Victoria escaped her chamber,” the majordomo said, “and you rewarded her with a diamond ring. I believe the lady won.”
    “I believe you are correct,” he said, smiling. “I will instruct Prince Rudolf to release the funds to you.”
    “True nobility is gracious in defeat,” Tinker said
    “Would you care to speculate on whether I’ll get her to church?” Alexander challenged the man.
    “I have a one-pound note that says you may get her to church but never to