Captivating the Countess

by Patricia Rice

  Here was a brilliant man offering her everything she’d ever wanted and a freedom she’d never imagined. She couldn’t let fear stand in her way, could she?

  “I. . .” She hadn’t even allowed herself to think it. To say it outright. . . Because she was too terrified to express herself.

  Bell took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Even knowing everyone watched and strained to hear over the music, she had to say what her heart was telling her. “What I need is for you to be happy,” she whispered.

  That didn’t sound quite right. She stammered and tried again. “I mean, it is your happiness that makes me happy. But if it is my happiness you seek, I need you to be happy about loving me,” she said a little louder. “Because I don’t want to love you if it will hurt you in any way. I couldn’t bear it. I need. . .” She wept, unable to express all the things she’d never learned to say.

  Rainford stood and lifted her. With both arms around her waist, he swung Bell into a waltz, and kissed her, kissed her hard and thoroughly and with so much enthusiasm that the crowd had to back away as they swung around the marble floor. “I love you, I love you today and I will love you more tomorrow forever and always. You can only hurt me by leaving me. Can you love a cold and unfeeling man like me?”

  Bell laughed in joy at such nonsense. “I love you now and forever and a day, and there is nothing cold and unfeeling about you, as I well know.”

  The entire enormous castle rang with laughter and applause until even the duke tottered out of his suite to look on.

  And the chandelier stopped swinging.

  Twenty-eight

  Rowans adorned with silver and gold ribbons filled the Castle Yates ballroom, creating a fairy forest.

  Still looking skeletal but standing without effort, the father of the groom stood in the center of this forest and gave the bride away—only one eccentricity among many.

  An orchestra played from the gallery above. The bride wore a shimmering gown of translucent gold gauze over a silver underskirt and train. Her face was more radiant than the jewels adorning her throat and hair. The groom, in black and white, with only a gold waistcoat to relieve the severity, could not drag his gaze from her beauty. The vicar speaking the service had to cough repeatedly to catch his attention.

  Guests waltzed in between the rowans as the couple vowed to love, honor, and take each other in equality.

  Lord and Lady Ives served as best man and matron of honor. Instead of bouquets—which were difficult to find in winter, especially after every blossom in the conservatory had been plucked—they carried bottles of champagne, which they opened as the groom kissed the bride. Champagne sprayed all their finery.

  The plum pudding was resurrected and served along with every delicacy the bride managed to name—although she asked for suggestions from the entire family before naming them.

  With no aisle for parading down, the flower girl simply limped where she wished, flinging bits of glittery ribbon and candies, until she grew tired and sat down to stick her thumb in the pudding. Her mother found her there and carried her off to the nursery, murmuring promises of more candies in the future.

  A bear of a young man with his beard newly trimmed and wearing a tailored suit that showed off his broad physique danced with a shy young widow. It was rumored she was only the daughter of a merchant, but she had a dowry to shame a princess and a mansion in London. And she watched the young man with obvious adoration.

  The chandeliers only tinkled once in a slight breeze. The duke lifted a glass of champagne in toast, and the gaslights flared brighter.

  The bride laughed, and the groom swept her away.

  In other words, it was a typical Malcolm wedding.

  “It’s working so well, I’m terrifying myself,” Rain whispered as he clasped Bell’s hand over her heart.

  They’d long since divested themselves of bridal finery and christened their marital bed—in the north wing, well away from the family chambers. They’d also christened a wall and a carpet in front of the fire and were currently in the bathtub covered in bubbles.

  “I can feel your heat.” Bell leaned her head back against her husband’s broad, naked, shoulder and let his healing touch burn through her. “It’s as if you’ve removed. . . I don’t know, a blanket? A wall? There’s a difference. Keep talking.”

  “Do you remember anything I told you about the clinic I want to open?”

  Bell absorbed his words as he painted his dreams. Perhaps it was just the promise of the future that warmed her heart, making her stronger. They had so very much to learn together, but she knew with all her soul that they would find a way, even if the ghosts had to come out of the woodwork to mark the path.

  Rain had so very much to give. . . he would make the world a better place. And she would be there to clear his path. She knew how to manage his family and his household while he shouldered broader achievements, the ones his wealth and intelligence had been designed to accomplish.

  Better yet, she knew how to reach into his heart and help him to release all the love he’d hidden so deep inside.

  Alicia had already asked Bell to persuade him to fund an organization for training women as teachers and secretaries. Bell was pretty certain Alicia meant to persuade her trainees to support women’s suffrage, but she didn’t think Rain needed to know that. Impervious to his sister’s blandishments, he didn’t really understand how persuasive Alicia could be.

  “I don’t want to let you go,” he whispered as the bath water cooled. “I’m having difficulty believing that after all these years, I’ve finally found the perfect woman.”

  “Thank your grandmother,” she whispered against his ear as she kneeled, then turned to face him. He soaped her breasts while she settled over his arousal.

  The glory of this joining could never be dimmed. Her brilliant husband’s intense concentration had more than one purpose. He rendered her mindless while holding her safe, even as her womb convulsed and drew his essence deeper.

  And then there it was, that tiny shimmering bolt of lightning, a magic shot in the dark in that part of her that made her woman. Her eyes widened briefly as the spirit filled her.

  “Your grandmother wasn’t a twin, was she?” she murmured later as Rain lifted her from the cooling water.

  “Not that I’m aware of.” He wrapped her in a heated towel. “Why?”

  It was too early to tell him of her vision.

  But if all went well, in nine months’ time, she’d bear him a girl and a boy —and they’d be Malcolms.

  Characters

  Jasper Winchester, Marquess of Rainford (Rain)—heir to Duke of Sommersville

  Douglas Winchester, Duke of Sommersville—Rainford’s father

  Isobel (Bell) Malcolm Ross, Lady Craigmore—countess, steward

  Theodore (Teddy) Winchester Jr.—Rainford’s artist cousin

  Honorable Araminta Rutledge—Rainford’s almost fiancé

  Victoria, Lady Delahey—Rainford’s oldest married sister

  Estelle, Lady Garland—Rainford’s next oldest married sister

  Mrs. Salina Lombard—Rainford’s youngest married sister

  Lady Alicia Winchester—Rainford’s youngest sister, unmarried

  John Davis—steward, Rainford’s cousin

  Winifred Malcolm—Bell’s friend

  Carla Bianco—Teddy’s opera star mistress

  Franklins—butler and housekeeper

  Sir “Harry” Harrison— Rainford’s bachelor friend

  Lady Pamela—Teddy’s recent actress conquest

  Martha Button—lady’s maid and seamstress

  Helen, Lady Dalrymple—Rainford’s distant widowed cousin

  Drucilla Dalrymple—Helen’s crippled daughter

  Philippa Malcolm Damon—governess

  Lawrence Nevins—young bachelor; friend of Lady Dalrymple

  School of Magic Series

  Lessons in Enchantment

  Book 1 of School of Magic

  Can a straitla
ced engineer, three psychic children, and a lonely witch find love?

  * * *

  The daughter of an earl, Lady Phoebe Malcolm Duncan has the ability to talk to animals. She longs to be a veterinarian, but education requires more coin than she possesses. When the walls of her home come tumbling down, she has to take two steps back—to servitude.

  Inventor Andrew Blair keeps his nose to the grindstone, knowing his friends and family depend on his talent for turning machines into money. He is about to embark on his biggest investment yet—rebuilding crumbling tenements in Old Town Edinburgh— until his beleaguered cousin begs him to hide his precocious children from a killer.

  When the School of Malcolms sends Lady Phoebe as governess for his wards, Drew’s well-ordered beliefs are upended. Ladies don’t live in slum housing like the one he’s about to tear down, nor do they command ravens or encourage children to talk to dead mothers. It might take a vengeful ghost to show the disparate pair how to join forces, fight their fears and their enemies, and reveal a path to love.

  Buy Lessons in Enchantment

  A Bewitching Governess

  Book 2 of School of Magic

  She’s the mistress of illusion; How can he trust her lessons on love?

  * * *

  Lady Olivia Malcolm Hargreaves is a viscountess, a widow, a governess, the adopted mother of a disabled toddler—but above all else, she is a survivor. When the father of the young children she’s been caring for arrives on Christmas Eve, drunk and ranting, his aura and her own sad experience tell her he’s dangerous.

  Heart hardened after the murder of his beloved wife, Simon Blair is an industrialist who has no use for another psychic Malcolm. His late wife’s weird family is more than enough interference. But his twin daughters are talking to their mother’s ghost, his son and heir is floating objects that shouldn’t float, and he’s beleaguered by aristocrats who refuse to acknowledge his plebeian existence.

  When Simon learns that Lady Olivia is in a position to help him obtain the land he needs for his business, and she recognizes that by helping him, she might regain the home she’s lost, they must fight their respective prejudices and forge an uneasy alliance. It might take a ghost, an army of children, and a criminal gang to force them to recognize that they want far more than real estate.

  Buy A Bewitching Governess

  An Illusion of Love

  Book 3 of School of Magic

  Victorian Edinburgh belongs to staid professors, not the daughter of a Hindu princess.

  * * *

  Apparently lacking the psychic ability of her Malcolm father’s gifted British family, Azmin Dougall feels like a pigeon in a family of peacocks. Returning to her ancestral home of India, she finds solace in photography—until her film mysteriously reveals that a woman is being abused by her powerful husband. Helping the wife escape, Azmin flees for the safety of Scotland.

  Dr. Zane Dare is done with risk. Because his work introduced disease to his family home, his sister is dead and his niece suffers from the results of the same infection. Louisa has been left in his care, but the bachelor physician has no time to educate an adolescent while he researches a cure. In desperation, he asks the School of Malcolms to provide a governess. The school sends Azmin—the defiant sprite who enchanted him a decade ago.

  That long-ago summer crushed both their dreams, leaving them unwilling to open their hearts again. Zane’s position at the university is already precarious—introducing a rebellious Hindu princess to his household will only jeopardize his research. Azmin cannot trust a man who scoffs at the psychic abilities she’s just discovered, except his frail niece wins her love.

  But when Azmin’s photography reveals an abusive man may be courting Louisa, Zane and Azmin must set aside their differences to protect the girl who could teach their hearts to love again . . .

  Buy An Illusion of Love

  The Librarian’s Spell

  Book 4 of School of Magic

  Can a timid librarian and a bold engineer save a castle's toppling tower of books?

  * * *

  The stereotypical reserved librarian, Lydia Wystan has only one true love, the books that whisper to her. But unless she can understand the whispers, she cannot become what she wants to be more than anything—the Malcolm Librarian.

  Maxwell Ives has a disastrous gift for attracting women, a trait that has resulted in three sons and a desire for solitude. Returning to England to find a school for one of his boys, Max seeks privacy in the isolated Malcolm library. But to Max’s dismay, the old librarian dies, leaving Miss Wystan, a female, in charge. Before he can run far, far away, he learns the library tower is in danger of toppling, and his cousin is stealing from his mother’s School of Malcolms.

  To save the library and Max’s family funds, Lydia must claim to be what she is not—a real librarian. Fascinated that his magnetism doesn’t affect the one woman who can help him, Max must choose between his freedom and his family. In the process of helping others, Max and Lydia just might learn that sometimes, love is the secret that makes magic happen.

  Buy The Librarian’s Spell

  Entrancing the Earl

  Book 5 of School of Magic

  Release Date May 18, 2021

  * * *

  Can an impoverished earl find treasure with the aid of a runaway bride and a ghost?

  * * *

  Refusing to fill her drunken stepfather’s coffers by marrying a wealthy American, Lady Iona Malcolm Ross flees her Highland estate for Wystan castle, a home for stray Malcolm females. She’s quite content to tend her precious queen bee and hives there—until the day the castle’s owner returns.

  * * *

  Unless Gerard, Earl of Ives and Wystan, can squeeze more income out of his estate, he’ll have to close the family’s deteriorating castle and evict the tenants. The sharp-tongued beekeeper who nearly kills him with her bees is simply another good reason. But lately, an artifact in his pocket weirdly whispers of treasure at Wystan, in the knowledgeable voice of a Roman soldier.

  * * *

  A busy man with interests in law and archeology, Gerard isn’t much inclined to believe that he’s one of his family’s psychic eccentrics. Until news of a ten-thousand pound reward for the return of Lady Iona, a runaway bride, introduces a whole new perspective to the word treasure.

  * * *

  Even if he weren’t allergic to Iona’s bees, he needs to marry money, and she is penniless. But surely, between them, they can claim the reward and still turn her wicked stepfather’s plot on its head—without endangering their lives or hearts.

  Buy Entrancing the Earl

  The Magical Malcolms

  READ THE ORIGINAL SERIES ABOUT THE MAGICAL MALCOLMS AND THE SCIENTIFIC IVES--Merely Magic is scheduled for re-release on Aug 10, 2021

  * * *

  “Patricia Rice employs wicked wit and sizzling sensuality to turn the battle of the sexes into a magical romp." -Mary Jo Putney, NYT Bestselling author

  Merely Magic

  Magical Malcolms Book #1

  * * *

  Can a cynical scientist and an illogical enchantress find happiness?

  * * *

  Lady Ninian Malcolm Siddons, a healer and herbalist, has dedicated her life to the welfare of her ancestral Northumberland village. Both her class and calling have isolated her from companionship and love. But according to legend, her beloved village cannot thrive without a magical Malcolm in residence.

  Drogo Ives, Earl of Ives and Wystan, cares only for honor, science, and reason--unlike his unruly brothers and the illogical and untrustworthy female of the species. Love and marriage are two unknowns he has no desire to explore. His married brother can inherit.

  But fate and Drogo’s meddling stepsister bring Drogo and Ninian together for one night...with shattering consequences. Having dealt with the inconvenient result of his father’s bastards, Drogo has vowed to marry any woman who carries his child—and now the irresistible Ninian does. Only, the last time a Malcolm mar
ried an Ives, disaster destroyed Wystan and both their families. With all the odds against them, can they find a place where science and mystery meet, and build a bridge into a future where love saves both their families and their homes?

  Buy Merely Magic

  Unexpected Magic Series

  Magic in the Stars

  Unexpected Magic, Book 1

  * * *

  He’s a scientist who studies the stars. She’s an astrologer who predicts the future. Can a lonely witch save a handsome unbeliever from his own doom?

  * * *

  As an astrologer, Lady Azenor Dougall sadly realizes her stars are a danger to her beloved siblings and has banished herself from her Scots home. As the Malcolm family librarian, she dutifully creates zodiac charts for her often eccentric and mysterious relations—until the day she realizes a dire conjunction of planets spells a fatal threat in a distant branch of the family.

  Buy Magic in the Stars

  Whisper of Magic

  Unexpected Magic, Book 2

  * * *

  The death of Celeste Rochester’s father on the voyage from Jamaica to London leaves her and her young siblings nearly penniless in a foreign country. Forced to battle lawyers for her inheritance and the roof over their heads, Celeste’s only weapon is her mysteriously compelling voice.