Magical Weddings by Leigh Michaels, Aileen Harkwood, Eve Devon, Raine English, Tamara Ferguson, Lynda Haviland, Jody A. Kessler, Jane Lark, Bess McBride, L. L. Muir, Jennifer Gilby Roberts, Jan Romes, Heather Thurmeier, Elsa Winckler, Sarah Wynde

your greatest delight has always been to bamboozle me…”
    He folded the letter and looked straight at her. “Perhaps because you’d be Lady Montrose?”
    Celia’s heart gave a strange little flutter. There was no glint of humor in Simon’s eyes, no tenacious dimple, none of the signs that ordinarily warned her that he was cutting a wheedle.
    She took the letter out of his hand and read it for herself.
    With the death of an unknown relative and a few strokes of a pen, Simon had officially gained a title, presumably some sort of landed estate, a seat in the House of Lords… and the sort of eligibility in the marriage market that plain Mr. Montrose could only have longed hopelessly to achieve.
    Simon Montrose. Viscount Montrose. My lord Montrose…
    Celia swallowed hard and made her curtsy. “My lord.” Her voice was raspy with strain.
    She wondered how long it would take Lady Hester to break off her betrothal to Lord Lockwood, now that the man she so clearly preferred was eligible after all. Even if Simon still had–what was it the Carew sisters had called it?–a whiff of trade about him, when the daughter of an earl wed a viscount, society did not frown. The
ton
might even call it a brilliant match.
    As indeed it is. He’s a wonderful catch. But then he always was.
    She sank down on the window seat once more, because her knees threatened to give way. A wonderful catch? How long had she thought of Simon in that way? And why had she never realized it?
    You could have had him, Celia. Now it’s too late.
    If she had smiled at him just a few minutes ago and agreed to marry him after all, it would all be settled–because Simon would never go back on his word.
    But she hadn’t. Now if she even hinted that she’d changed her mind, he would believe it was because of his new circumstances.
You’d be Lady Montrose.
    He didn’t really want to marry her anyway. His offer had been no more than a half-hearted attempt to console her. The best he’d been able to offer, the most promising thing about their potential union, was
At least we know each other’s faults.
It was hardly the sort of thing a girl wanted to hear from her suitor.
    Outside, the rain had stopped and the sky was growing light again. The storm had ended while she hadn’t been paying attention–just as she hadn’t paid attention as Simon crept into her heart.
    When had he stopped being a tormenting annoyance and become the only man she could love?
    At least now she understood why she had turned down Baron Draycott. It wasn’t because his offer was unwelcome, or because the man himself was a bore. She’d refused him because it had simply felt wrong to contemplate marriage with anyone who wasn’t Simon.
    There
had
been someone at the house party that she wanted. She wanted Simon. But she could never have him.
     
    ****
     
    After four consecutive evenings with the other ladies of the party, Simon had been looking forward to partnering Celia through their last dinner at Rockhill House. The girl might rear up like an excited colt when he teased her, but she was always entertaining.
    But tonight she was quieter than he had ever seen her. It seemed as though someone had taken a painting in brilliant oils and covered it with muted, muddy chalk.
    “Is Lord Bilious still bothering you?” he asked as he held her chair in the dining room. “I mean, are you fretting about what happened?–because if he were to dare approach you again, I’d knock him down.”
    She looked startled. “You would? No, of course it’s not bothering me. I’m very grateful for your sense of timing, however. How did you happen to come in just then?”
    “Something Hester said made me curious. I’m responsible for you, after all.” He watched a shadow flicker in her eyes, and a lump settled in his chest. “Celia, I am most damnably sorry. I was very awkward. Can we just forget what I said this afternoon and go back to the way things used to be?”
    “Forget…? Oh,
that
.” She