To Catch a Countess (34 page)
Read To Catch a Countess Online
Authors: Patricia Grasso
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Historical, #General
“Lord Emerson?”
Alexander saw Dr. Smythe walking toward him. The physician did not look happy.
“My lord, I’m sorry,” Dr. Smythe said. “I am losing mother and child.”
Alexander stared in disbelief at the physician. “I don’t under—”
“Your wife is fighting the birth,” Dr. Smythe told him. “She’s struggling to keep the baby from being born, and both are tiring. The child will come, but I fear too late.”
“Why would Victoria fight it?” Alexander asked, panicking at the thought of losing her. “She’s been anticipating the baby’s arrival. Good God, she knitted twenty-three blankets.”
“I think she fears losing the baby,” Dr. Smythe said. “Your wife keeps mumbling about your taking the baby from her.”
“That is ridiculous,” Alexander said. “Why would she think that?”
“You did intend to divorce her,” Duke Magnus said.
“Do you love Victoria?” Robert asked.
“Well, of course, I love her,” Alexander said, flushing. “She’s my wife.”
“Have you ever told her?” Prince Rudolf asked.
“A thousand times in a thousand different ways,” Alexander answered.
“Unless one of those thousand was saying the words
I love you
, then you haven’t told her,” the prince said.
“Lord Emerson, you must convince your wife that you do not intend to take the baby from her,” Dr. Smythe said. “If you can’t do that, she and the baby may die.”
Alexander bolted out of the room and took the stairs two at a time. He burst into the bedchamber, startling her aunt and her sisters, and approached the bed where his wife lay writhing in the midst of a contraction.
Leaning close to her, Alexander took her hand in his and brushed sweat-soaked wisps of fire off her forehead. She had the desperate look of a fatally injured animal.
“Tory, listen to me,” Alexander said, his voice calm and gentle though his nerves were rioting.
Victoria turned pain-glazed eyes on him.
“Tell her to push when the pain comes,” the duchess said. “Then pant when it stops.”
“Tory, please don’t die and leave me alone,” Alexander pleaded, his eyes brimming with tears. “I love you, Tory, and I don’t want to live without you.”
“You love me?” Victoria echoed, her grasp on his hand tightening.
Alexander nodded. He didn’t bother to wipe the tears streaming down his face.
“Why are you weeping?” she whispered.
“I’m afraid I’m going to lose you. Please, love, push when the contraction comes. I’ll stay with you the whole time.”
“I hurt, Alex.”
“I know you do,” he said, “but if you push when you feel the contraction, the pain will soon be over. If you love me, Tory, you’ll push with the contraction.”
“I hurt,” she said, her voice mirroring her panic. Her hand tightened on his painfully.
“Tell her to push,” Dr. Smythe said.
“Push, Tory,” Alexander whispered against her ear. “Push, now.”
Victoria cried out as she bore down. Alexander could see her whole body trembling with the strain.
“Tell her to stop.”
“Pant, Tory,” Alexander said. “Catch your breath.”
“Again,” the physician told him.
“Push, Tory,” Alexander ordered. “Help our baby be born.”
Victoria pushed, and the baby slipped from her body. Hearing the wail of a baby, she lay her head back against the pillow, and the physician set the squalling infant on her belly.
“We have a son,” Alexander said to her. “A big strong boy. We did it.”
“I did it,” Victoria said, her fatigue evident in her voice.
“Yes, you did.” Alexander dropped a kiss on her brow. “I love you, Tory.”
Victoria crooked her finger at him, beckoning him closer. “Does he look smart?”
“Victor Douglas Emerson looks like a genius.”
“You want to name him after me?”
Alexander touched her cheek and smiled. “I want to name him in honor of the woman I love . . .”
* * *
The next afternoon, Victoria sat in bed and leaned against the headboard. She held her sleeping son in her arms.
The door swung open, admitting her husband. Behind him walked Darcy, Fiona, and Aidan who stood beside the bed to catch their first glimpse of the baby.
“Do you like your brother?” Victoria asked.
“Those fairies and pixies know what they’re doing,” Darcy said.
“Why is Victor so small?” Fiona asked.
“And wrinkled,” Aidan whispered.
“Victor will grow and his wrinkles will smooth,” Victoria told them.
“All babies look like this,” Alexander added, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“I never looked like that,” Darcy said.
“Neither did I,” Fiona said.
“Not me, either,” Aidan agreed.
“Well, Mama Tory, how does the baby get out of the mother’s belly?” Darcy asked.
Victoria looked from Darcy to Fiona and then Aidan. All wore expectant expressions. “I’m sorry, daughters,” Victoria said, “but the stork made me promise to keep the secret.”
Their expressions drooped.
“Stork gave me a message for you,” Victoria told them. “Stork said you will learn the secret in the not-too-distant future.”
“Mama Tory and Victor need to rest,” Alexander told his daughters. “Your nannies are waiting to take you downstairs for cider.”
After they’d gone, Alexander leaned against the headboard. “Have I said the words today?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I love you, Victoria Emerson.”
“And I love you, Alexander Emerson.”
“I love you more,” he said, lowering his head to claim her lips in a lingering kiss.
It melted into another. And then another. Until, Victor Douglas Emerson screeched for his mother.
Victoria bared her breasts and touched her nipple to her son’s mouth. The infant quieted instantly.
“Victor is a lucky man,” Alexander said. “And so am I, my love.”
About the Author
Patricia Grasso
sold her first novel after five years of writing for nothing but love. Since that time, she has sold eighteen novels and won several awards including the National Readers’ Choice Award, the New England Readers’ Choice Award, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice and KISS Awards, and the B. Dalton and Bookrak Awards for best-selling author. Her novels have been translated into fifteen languages and sold in twenty countries.
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