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Chapter One

Lord Blakely Everbee, The Viscount of Viceroy, sat next to Miss Ada Chase as they both watched her cousin walk down the aisle toward his friend, The Earl of Exers Vice bloody hated weddings And he especially despised theible wo to cry

He nearly spit as he spied the little drop of water for in the corner of her eye Then she did what all ladies did With a delicate dab of her kerchief, she let out a s soft “Isn’t this just beautiful?”

Vice had to confess that while the wedding itself was dreadful, the sight of her wasn’t terribly awful It was rather nice, in fact

He didn’t dare credit her with any more than nice, however He was considered by elic And he held the woh standards They were the land and wider Europe for that ypsy known for her ability to read cards with deadly accuracy and drink vodka with the best men

He’d carried on with the most famous actress in all of London, been with a Russian princess as rich beyond his wildest is All in all, the list of women he’d shared a bed as an accomplishment in and of itself One he was proud of

And Miss Ada wasn’t list-worthy Yes, she was lovely with her pale auburn hair glireen eyes that only appeared ure was supple, the perfect amount of soft curves with an a lip as she stared at the bride and grooht taste like And the tiny noise of satisfaction she emitted sounded like the sweetest pillow talk he’d ever heard But Miss Chase wasn’t acconificance…and therefore was not his sort at all

“That kiss” She turned toward him, her eyes a bit drea”

Vice’s ?” His ravel Why did wo so naively romantic? That was another trait most women he dallied with decidedly lacked They understood the world for the harsh place it was Not like Ada…

Ada tapped his arht touch that ainst his arm with a bit of tickle “Don’t you see it? The color in her cheeks Her breathless smile It’s just—”

“Beautiful?” Vice filled in the word she’d just used moments before His voice held disdain rather than dewy-eyed optimism “You’ve already told us”

She angled toward hi at the corners “You don’t think so?”

He assessed her features Her high cheekbones were flushed with a pinkish brown hue that accentuated the tiny spattering of freckles across her nose They were not to his usual taste at all, giving her an air of innocence, but he found he’d like to count theenerally a bore And even worse, all I can think is that the grooiven up all the fun in life to take care of a woman and a passel of brats that are soon to follow”

Ada sniffed, turning back toward the front “My goodness, you are dreadful, aren’t you?”

His best friend, the Baron of Baderness, sat two seats away, next to Ada’s cousin, Lady Grace Now Grace was a woht make his list The features of her face were a perfect mask of feed to highlight her high cheekbones with their perfect pink coloring Bad leaned over,eye contact despite the two ladies between theht use the word insufferable,” Bad h for the four of them to hear him