With a playful growl, he pinned her to the mattress. “Minx. You shall pay for that.” And he began to kiss down the side of her neck, nibbling across her collarbone until she sighed with pleasure.

“If this is how I must pay for it, my lord, you may guarantee I shall tease you a great deal in the coming months.”

“More than months, I hope,” he drawled, distracted by her lovely white br**sts. “Years. Decades, even.”

“Decades,” she repeated, awestruck. My God. He’s going to be my husband.

“Mmm-hmm,” he murmured against her skin before pulling away from her. “Which is why, despite how very difficult it shall be for me to leave you warm and lush in your bed, I shall console myself with the fact that, very soon, I shan’t have to do so ever again.”

She watched as he dressed, marveling at his magnificent form before he leaned over her to deliver her a soft, wonderful farewell kiss. “Will you be at the Chilton Ball tonight?”

“I had planned to be.”

“Excellent. I will see you then. Save me a waltz.” He kissed her again, savoring the taste of her. “Save me all of them.”

She smiled. “That will certainly cause a stir.”

“Indeed, but I believe our reputations can handle it.” He winked. “I shall have special license in hand by then. How would you feel about marrying tonight at Chilton House and being done with the whole thing?”

Warmth burst in her chest. “I think it shall give any number of members of the ton the vapors.”

“An added bonus, then,” he said, before giving her a long, lingering kiss. And then he was gone, leaving her dazed and exhausted and happy.

She was almost instantly asleep. And when she dreamed, she dreamed of him, and of their future together.

“Oh, Callie! A marquess!”

Callie rolled her eyes at her mother’s exclamation and looked across the carriage to her siblings for support. It didn’t take long to realize that they would be no help at all. Mariana was smirking, obviously thrilled that hers had been relegated to second-most-exciting upcoming marriage for the duration of the evening, and Benedick looked as though he was seriously considering leaping from the moving vehicle to avoid their mother’s chirping excitement.

“I cannot believe you caught a marquess, Callie! And Ralston at that! And you, Benedick,” the dowager countess turned her attention to her eldest child, “I cannot believe that you kept Ralston’s plans from me for so long!”

“Yes, well, Callie and Ralston were eager to keep their courtship a secret, Mother.” The countess burst into a flurry of chatter as Benedick raised an eyebrow and mouthed, From all of us.

Callie couldn’t keep her slippered foot from flying. “Oy!” Benedick exclaimed, reaching down to rub his wounded shin.

“Oh, I am sorry, Benny,” Callie said sweetly. “It must be the nerves making me jumpy.”

Benedick’s eyes narrowed as their mother spoke, “Of course it is your nerves! Oh! To think! Our Callie! Betrothed! To Ralston!”

“Mother, please do attempt not to make a production of the news this evening, will you?” Callie pleaded. “I shouldn’t like to embarrass Ralston.”

Benedick and Mariana let out twin bursts of laughter at the idea that the dowager countess was at all capable of such decorum. “A bit late for that, don’t you think, Callie?” Benedick teased, as the carriage rolled to a stop and he leapt out to hand down his mother and sisters.

Before she exited the carriage, the countess placed a comforting hand on Callie’s leg. “Nonsense, Callie. Ralston’s been around long enough to know how these things are. He’ll forgive an elated mother.”

Callie groaned as her mother exited the carriage. “I should have asked Ralston to elope.”

Mariana grinned broadly. “Now you know how I feel.” With a wink, she was gone, after the dowager countess.

By the time Callie was out of the carriage, her mother had already started up the steps to Chilton House to eagerly share her news with anyone who would listen, and Callie had a sinking feeling that this was going to be the most awful night of her life. She looked into her siblings’ laughing eyes, and said, “You two are no help.”

The eldest and youngest Hartwell children smiled, unable to contain their amusement. “Shouldn’t you try to find Ralston, Callie? Before Mother has worked her magic, that is,” Mariana said helpfully.

“Is that what it is? Magic?” Callie turned to watch as their mother, a beacon in lime green—complete with enormous lace-and-ostrich-feather headdress—spoke excitedly to Lady Lovewell, tapping her fan excitedly against the arm of the most-renowned gossip of the ton. “Dear Lord,” Callie breathed.

“I’ve tried prayer myself,” Benedick said genially. “It doesn’t seem to work with her. I believe she’s made a deal with the Maker.”

“Or with someone else,” Callie posited, adjusting her shawl and following in her mother’s wake, the sound of her siblings’ laughter trailing behind her.

Once inside, Callie tried desperately to find Ralston in the crush of people that filled the ballroom to bursting. She stood just inside the room attempting to appear casual as she turned in a slow crescent, searching for him. Her height, or lack thereof, made the task particularly difficult, however, and eventually, with a sigh, she instinctively made for Spinster Seating.

She had just rounded the corner of the ballroom and had Miss Heloise and Aunt Beatrice in her sights when at her shoulder, a deep, familiar voice spoke quietly. “Where are you off to, Empress?”