To Wed a Rake

Previously published as A Proper Englishwoman in the anthology Talk of the Ton . Betrothed since they were children, Gilbert Baring-Gould, Earl of Kerr, and the Honorable Emma Loudan are not quite what one would call a perfect match. The whole Ton knows him to be a complete rakehell, hardly the ideal spouse for a lady. When he horrifies the Ton by announcing that he won’t go through with the marriage until Emma is carrying his child — or did he say that she was already carrying a child? — the gossips (and Emma) go wild. Obviously she should hand this Beelzebub his ring back directly. But curiosity, and a strong wish to teach her brazen-faced fiancé some manners, demand that she beat him at his own game. So she does. It’s the story of a reluctant bridegroom (engaged since childhood, and hasn’t seen his fiancée in years), a bride who’s losing her patience, and a wild night in which the said bridegroom meets a wicked, delicious Frenchwoman…or is she?