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‘Is Alex—Lord Weybourn—not co like panic, which was foolish

‘He has gone up on the box Said sorunt

At least ht No rooh, then I can ask Alex to sendhouse I have enough ive me a reference

The church was ancient and siht and allery the band was readying their instru from the fiddles, the deep boom of the serpent, the quick tootle of a flute

Tess followed the fareat box pew at the front of the nave and settled into a corner created by the pew butting up against a ies of a knight in ar on the top

‘That’s Hugo de Tempest,’ Maria whispered

Tess was grateful for the embroidered cushion on the hard oak bench seat and the carpet on the stone floor The hassocks were embroidered, too, and she knelt on hers and did her best to calhts and turn theaze on the haughty profile of the recu four feet away from her

Alex sat, knelt, stood and sang with his ation settled down for the serhtly on the pew so he could see Tess’s profile

She was no longer his little nun She was groomed and well dressed and had found the confidence to fit in with his fa the still, cal of the to about beauty, and yet he had always expected it of any of the women he had kept over the years

He was dazzled by her body, there was no denying it, but it was Tess he had fallen in love with, not her face His fa she ith the staff in his own house She would be a perfect countess—if only he could persuade her that she would be accepted Damn the Ellerys Why they had to build Sethcombe Hall next door and not in furthest Northumberland

Alex was not certain afterwards when the idea had come to him Possibly at so, certainly before he had shepherded his small flock down the aisle and abandoned his mother to Matthew’s support while he took his father’s arm

‘Stop fussing, Alexander’