To Catch a Countess (2 page)

“I’ve had a letter from Australia,” Alexander said, referring to his exiled sister and father.

“Oh?” Duke Magnus said.

“Venetia has married a Harry Gibbs, one of the richest men in Australia, or so she claims,” Alexander told him. “Venetia and her husband are planning a trip to England.”

“The deal was that she and your father—”

“Charles Emerson is not my father,” Alexander interrupted. “He made that perfectly clear.”

Duke Magnus inclined his head and continued, “Venetia and Charles agreed to live in Australia in order to escape prosecution for attempting to murder you, Robert, and Angelica. Their greed hurt all of us, especially you.”

“We forced them to do that to avoid a scandal,” Alexander reminded the older man. “What do you propose we do? From her letter, I assume Venetia and her husband are en route to England.”

“Is Charles accompanying them?” Duke Magnus asked.

“Venetia didn’t mention him.”

“I think we should do nothing,” Duke Magnus said. “Let them come to England, and I’ll keep my agents watching them.”

“Will they be here for the wedding?” the duchess asked, looking worried.

Alexander slanted a glance in her direction. “I don’t know.”

“Your marriage to Victoria could be fortuitous,” the duke said. “As a newlywed, you won’t want them staying with you. They will be forced to stay in a hotel or rent their own house.”

“Your betrothal announcement appears in today’s
Times
,” Lady Roxanne said, changing the subject.

“Your Grace, I told you I wanted to tell Victoria,” Alexander said, irritation tingeing his voice.

“And you will,” the duchess said. “That’s the reason I planned this weekend.”

Alexander began to argue, “When Victoria reads the—”

“There is no chance of that happening,” Lady Roxanne interrupted. “Victoria never reads the newspaper. The invitations are going out on Monday, so you will have three days to break the news to her.” The duchess paused for a breath of air and then gushed, “Just imagine, my sweet Victoria will be the Countess of Winchester in less than a month and, a year from now, could be a mother.”

“I would never call Victoria sweet,” the duke said.

Alexander shifted his hazel gaze to the duke. The duchess had told him that his intended could be difficult at times, but he would never believe that her uncle would have difficulties with her. The chit was barely eighteen. How difficult could she be? Well, her behavior would calm once she married and delivered their first child.

“Victoria has a slight rebellious streak,” the duchess was saying.

“Slight? She’ll fight the betrothal if she believes we are pushing you on her,” Duke Magnus said.

“I suggest you charm her,” Lady Roxanne said.

“What if she fights it?” Alexander asked.

“No matter what, Victoria is going down that aisle on the twenty-fourth of June,” Duke Magnus said.

“Dear Alex, Victoria needs you desperately. She’s had little discipline in her young life and needs a strong man to curb her wilder impulses,” the duchess told him. “Because of her father’s decline in fortune, Victoria was only five when they moved from the Grosvenor Square mansion to the cottage on Primrose Hill. Her mother died the following year, and her father soon became sick with drink.”

And the fault lies with Charles Emerson, Alexander thought, for swindling a fortune out of the Earl of Melrose. That was one reason he had agreed to the duchess’s offer of marriage to her youngest niece. It was the least he could do to atone for Charles Emerson’s crimes against the Douglas family.

“Beginning today, you are in charge of Victoria,” Duke Magnus said. “Do whatever you think best to win her affection.”

Alexander inclined his head. His betrothed was going to learn who would be the boss in their household.

Duke Magnus cleared his throat. “Roxanne and I agree that once you become intimately acquainted, Victoria will prove her loyalty and remain steadfast.”

Alexander sat up straight. Unable to credit what he was hearing, he looked from the duke to the duchess and then back to the duke. “Are you giving me permission to bed her before the wedding?” What an unexpected turn of events. Most guardians protected their ward’s virtue.

“We are not encouraging anything,” Duke Magnus said, “but persuading her into marriage will be easier if—”

“—if you need to compromise her into pledging herself to you,” the duchess finished. “Sunday morning would be a good time if you aren’t leaving too early for London. Victoria never attends church.”

Alexander raised his brows at the duchess. “She refuses to attend church services?”

“Victoria never actually refuses to do anything,” Lady Roxanne told him. “She agrees to whatever you want and then does what she wants. At times, I feel I’m trying to catch an elusive butterfly.”

“The chit has a repertoire of maladies, a different complaint for each week of the month,” Duke Magnus said, unable to suppress a smile. “The first week Victoria suffers from the headache, and the following week she’s felled by a stomach ache.”

“Victoria rouses herself the third week but suffers a dizzy spell before we leave,” Lady Roxanne said, “The final week of the month, she has menstrual cramps.”

Alexander burst out laughing. His betrothed sounded highly entertaining, “Where are we in the cycle?”

“Victoria is due for a headache this week,” the duchess answered.

“Except for weddings and christenings, I’ve never seen Victoria in church,” Duke Magnus said, a grudging smile on his face. When Alexander laughed again, the duke warned, “I wouldn’t laugh yet. You’re the one who needs to tame her.”

“Victoria has some slight trouble with her eyes,” Lady Roxanne continued. She glanced toward the windows, adding, “It isn’t a major difficulty, merely an inconvenience.”

The duchess is lying.
Alexander wondered what the duchess found so threatening, that she would lie. He wasn’t about to cry off at this late date.

“What exactly is her trouble?”

“Victoria has a reading problem,” the duchess told him. “She doesn’t see some letters clearly.”

“That’s it?”

The duchess nodded. “Yes.”

“Victoria doesn’t need perfect vision for marriage and motherhood,” Alexander said, giving the duchess a lazy smile.

Lady Roxanne rose from her chair and wandered across the study to the window overlooking the rear gardens. “There goes Victoria now.”

Rising from his chair, Alexander crossed the study to see her. With flute case in hand, a slender young woman, with a mane of fiery curls cascading to her waist, started to cross the lawn nearest to the house. She was immediately surrounded by her nephews and nieces.

Alexander smiled, enchanted. His future countess set her flute case down and formed a circle with the children. They held hands and, dancing to the left, sang, “Ring-a-ring o’ roses, a pocket full of posies. A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down!”

Victoria and the children fell down on the grass when the last word slipped from their lips. Then they started to laugh.

“I’m glad she likes children,” Alexander said.

“Victoria adores her nieces and nephews,” Lady Roxanne said. “I’m positive she will be an excellent mother.”

Alexander watched Victoria stand and grab her flute case. Waving at the children, she started to walk away but crashed into a hedge. The children laughed uproariously.

Her next stop was her brothers-in-law who were practicing golf swings. Prince Rudolf called something out to her, and Victoria laughed. Then she headed in the direction of the woodland.

“Where is she going?” Alexander asked, delighted by what he had witnessed.

“Victoria likes to wade in the stream in the woodland,” Lady Roxanne answered. “I’ve told her dozens of times that ladies do not wade, but she refuses to obey.”

“If you will excuse me,” Alexander said, turning away from the window, “I would speak to her.”

“When will you tell her about the betrothal?” Lady Roxanne asked.

“I’ll tell her when the moment is right.”

Alexander left the duke’s study and walked downstairs. He hadn’t seen any evidence of Victoria being headstrong. In fact, she appeared as if she would obey his every command without hesitation. Apparently, the duke and the duchess didn’t know how to handle a spirited young lady.

Outside, Alexander waved to the children and started to cross the wide expanse of lawn. He paused to speak with his future brothers-in-law, still practicing their golf strokes.

“Welcome to the family,” called Robert Campbell, the Marquess of Argyll, the duke’s son.

“Does everyone know why I’m here?” Alexander asked.

Prince Rudolf flashed him a wicked smile. “Everyone except the bride knows.”

“I will take care of that before leaving Sunday morning,” Alexander told him. “Where is this stream?”

“Walk down the path behind the gazebo,” Prince Rudolf told him. “Then follow the sound of flute song.”

*    *    *

Humming a sprightly tune, Victoria peeled her shoes and stockings off when she reached the stream. She grabbed her flute, hitched her skirt up to her knees, and sat down on a rock at the edge of the stream.

Victoria dangled her feet in the cool water and sighed in pleasure at the warm, early June afternoon. She lifted the flute to her lips and began to play the tune she had been humming. The melody was a jaunty air, the sounds of springtime songbirds and chuckling brooks lending the song a bewitching charm.

“Hello, Victoria.”

Startled by a man’s voice, Victoria whirled around so fast, she nearly fell off the rock but managed to steady herself. Alexander Emerson leaned against a tree a few feet from where she sat.

“Hello, Alexander,” Victoria said in a soft voice. Gawd, she sounded breathless, like one of those female pinheads who fawned over the bachelors at society functions.

“I heard your siren’s song and came in search of a wood nymph,” Alexander said.

Victoria didn’t answer. She’d fixed her blue-eyed gaze on his physical attributes. Now that she intended to flirt with him, he seemed different, as if she was noticing him for the first time.

With his blond good looks, Alexander had pleasing features—hazel eyes, full lips, straight nose. His broad shoulders accentuated his tapered waist, and those tan breeches fit his well-muscled thighs like a second skin.

“Do you like what you see?” Alexander asked, a smile lurking in his voice.

Blushing, Victoria snapped her gaze to his. She was certainly making a mess of this flirting business. Since she’d mucked up her flirting, she decided to make a joke of it.

“I apologize for staring. I was supposed to stare intensely and then pretend shyness by dropping my gaze.”

“Why?” he asked, wearing a puzzled smile.

“Do you want to hold my hand?”

Alexander looked surprised. “Do you want me to hold your hand?’

Victoria ignored his question. “Could you possibly tell me how much kissing is too much kissing?”

Alexander burst out laughing. “What are you talking about?”

“My sisters were teaching me to flirt,” Victoria told him. “Those were some of the rules.”

“I didn’t know there were rules for flirting,” Alexander said.

Victoria brightened at that. “You don’t know how to flirt, either?”

Alexander laughed. Victoria didn’t know if she should be insulted or not.

“I’ve had some flirting experience,” he told her. “Why were your sisters teaching you to flirt?”

Victoria blushed. “I wanted to flirt with you this weekend.”

Something flickered in his expressive hazel eyes. Victoria felt as if his gaze on her had warmed by several degrees.

“Did you wish to flirt with me specifically?” Alexander asked. “Or would any gentleman do?”

Victoria stared at him, her face crimson. An unexpected excitement leaped to life in the pit of her stomach.

“I wanted to flirt with you specifically,” she told him.

“Come closer,” Alexander said. “I’ll flirt with you.”

Victoria hesitated. “Couldn’t we flirt from a distance?”

“Come here,” Alexander said, his gaze fixed on hers.

Victoria heard the quiet authority in his voice and, for the first time in her life, obeyed an order without arguing. Holding the skirt of her gown, she stood and waded out of the stream. She returned her flute to its case and walked the few feet that separated them.

And then she wished she hadn’t. Alexander was intimidatingly tall. She needed to tilt her head back to look into his eyes.

“Please don’t tell my aunt I’ve been wading in the stream.”

“Wading is forbidden?” The hint of a smile appeared on his lips.

“Young ladies of good breeding do not wade,” Victoria drawled in a perfect imitation of her aunt.

Alexander laughed, amusement lighting his eyes. “Your secret is safe with me . . . for a price.”

“I don’t have any money,” Victoria told his chest.

“I don’t want money.” Reaching out, Alexander gently forced her to look up at him. “I want a kiss.”

Victoria’s heart slammed into her chest, and the excitement in the pit of her stomach fanned into a flame. She felt every nerve in her body tingling and dropped her gaze from his hazel eyes to his lips.

“I—I don’t know how.”

Alexander cocked a brow at her. “Has no young man stolen a kiss?”

“His Grace and my brothers-in-law won’t let any young man near me except for Rudolf’s brothers,” Victoria said, shaking her head. “Viktor, Mikhail, and Stepan are more family than eligible bachelors.”

“Would you like to learn to kiss?” Alexander asked.

The flame in her stomach grew, warming by several degrees. Unfortunately, her self-consciousness grew apace with the flame.

“I don’t think so,” Victoria refused. “I am tempted but would hate to see my brothers-in-law’s protection go to waste. I’m sure you understand my dilemma and won’t be offended.”

With a smile playing on his lips, Alexander dropped his gaze to her mouth. Leisurely, his gaze drifted from her mouth to her breasts, lingering for a long moment, and then traveled down her body to her waist.

When Alexander raised his hazel gaze to hers, his eyes held a possessive gleam. Victoria felt an invisible connection between them.