The Kiss of a Viscount — Linda Rae Sande

Having inherited a viscountcy, George Bennett-Jones knows he must find a bride, preferably the daughter of an aristocrat. His mistress Josephine insists on it. Through a series of lessons, she instructs George on the finer points of meeting and pleasing a woman. Josie has the ear of a politically powerful marquess, and his daughter, Lady Elizabeth, would suit perfectly. Elizabeth, though, has her sights on the handsome Earl of Trenton. When he returns to London for the Little Season, she is sure he will propose. Elizabeth has secretly founded her own charity, Finding Work for the Wounded, using bribery to secure employment for ex-soldiers. The first beneficiary of her charity knows George. “You'd like her,” he says, his words prophetic, for when George spies the woman dancing with Trenton at a ball, George experiences love at first sight. When a duke suffers a mishap while dancing with Elizabeth, George steps in as her partner. Not particularly handsome, he intrigues Elizabeth with his wit and conversation. As per Josie's lessons, George doesn't reveal his title to Elizabeth. Thinking he is merely a well-to-do cit, she confides that she has experienced her first kiss, and it was awful. The earl kisses like her best friend's dog! George hints there is an art to kissing. At Elizabeth's request, he proves his art ability in the library, and she is left awestruck. Emboldened, she wonders if George can satisfy her curiosity about the pleasures that can be had in a marriage bed. When George vows he can bring her to ecstasy without taking her virtue, Elizabeth agrees to the assignation. Knowing he has only one night to court Elizabeth, George enlists Josie to help make the evening's arrangements. She acts as a chaperone, assuring Elizabeth she is safe with George, and shares information she has learned from Trenton's mistresses. Elizabeth is nervous as she and George share supper. He follows the itinerary he promised, undress her by ten, pleasure her until midnight, allow her to rest until one and have her home by two, and uses the skills Josie has taught him to bring Elizabeth to ecstasy. Despite his desire to take her virtue and her insistence that he do so, he resists temptation, to a point. Elizabeth is stunned when he claims he will ask for her hand if she doesn't accept the earl's suit. Doesn't he realize she cannot marry him? The next day, her father informs her Trenton will be paying a call. Anxious, Elizabeth is sure she will accept his suit. But when he arrives, Josie's words come back to haunt her. Deciding she doesn't want to marry Trenton, she dismisses him before he can propose! When the marquess finds his daughter in tears, Elizabeth explains her reasons for not choosing Trenton and admits to having begun her now-successful charity. Knowing George's intentions, her father informs Elizabeth there is a viscount who wishes to marry her. Elizabeth is stunned; no viscount has courted her, until her father sets her straight about George. Sure Elizabeth has accepted the earl's suit; George appears to wish her happy and takes his leave. Stunned, Elizabeth is bereft until Josie arrives to escort her to George's coach. Admitting her love for George, Elizabeth proposes marriage. He gladly accepts.