Anne was certain two weeks had never felt so interminably long. She toyed with the ruby ring Frederick had given her as her maid fussed with her hair and her sister paced before her.

“Are you certain this is what you want?” Claire asked for the millionth time. Her pretty features were furrowed in a fretful expression that seemed to grow more anxious as the wedding drew near.

Anne held back a sigh. After all, her sister just worried about her, and rightfully so, she supposed. It was her right as an elder sister.

But in this case, Claire had no need to fear. Anne had never been so certain of anything in her life. “I promise I have no doubts,” she said.

Their other sister Georgie bounded into the room. “Davenport is here!” she cried breathlessly.

Anne’s stomach fluttered with nervous excitement at the announcement that her groom had arrived. This was it, the moment she had been waiting for.

“Really, Georgie,” Claire scolded gently. “Davenport has been arriving on our doorstep every day for a fortnight. This news hardly warrants such theatrics.”

Georgie, effusive by nature, ignored Claire and rushed to Anne’s side. “Oh Anne, isn’t it marvelous?”

Marvelous seemed an understatement to Anne. In a matter of days her life had been upended. Her world had been flipped upside down. Her family had been saved from ruin, her sister no longer bore the burden of marrying for money, and she had found love. True love. The kind of love she hadn’t been certain existed until Frederick came along.

She met Georgie’s smile and reached out to squeeze her hand. “I wish the same for you one day.”

Georgie’s eyes were brimming with tears of joy. Unlike Claire, their middle sister never had been much good at keeping her feelings hidden. “You deserve this happiness, Anne.”

It was a sweet platitude. Heartfelt and kind. Anne was certain Georgie had no idea the lovely words would rouse her deepest insecurities.

Did she deserve love? Did she truly deserve this happiness which seemed too good to be true? She swept aside that age-old doubt. Yes, she did. Frederick had helped her to see that. She might be illegitimate and she may have been unwanted by her parents, but she was wanted. She was loved.

Without him at her side, it was not as easy to forget all those years of being told she was unworthy, in words and in actions. Frederick and his unconditional love were helping her to understand that she did not just deserve love, but happiness, and good fortune, and respect, as well. When he was near, she understood that completely, and luckily, one hour from now she would never have to leave his side.

Hopefully one day soon she wouldn’t even need him to remind her, because she would know it to be true, without a hint of doubt. And hopefully the same would be true for him. She knew that she had given him the same gift. Every hour they spent together she saw him grow more confident in the fact that he was loved. That he could be the man she knew he was deep down. The good man, the kind husband, the honorable earl.

But while she and Frederick had discovered how transformative love could be, she couldn’t help but say a prayer that her brothers and sisters found the same. They might not all have been illegitimate, but they each had suffered from growing up in a home with such a loveless marriage.

Some siblings more than others.

“We all deserve this kind of happiness.” She said it to Georgie but she cast a meaningful look in Claire’s direction as well. But Claire missed it, her focus on her own reflection in the mirror as she adjusted one of her long blonde locks.

Claire, she knew, had suffered in her own way. Being raised to believe that the weight of their fortune rested on her slim shoulders could not have been easy. Her sweet sister had become the perfect lady, in preparation of one day being the perfect wife. She had a spent a lifetime trying to live up to their mother’s impossibly high standards. While Anne had been harboring dreams of marrying for love, her eldest sister had been learning to banish any hope of marital bliss. She’d watched silently as her sister locked her heart away and hid the key, possibly even from herself.

Though Anne had resigned herself to the fact that it was not her fault that Claire had been in the position she had, she still wished more for her. If only there was something she and Frederick could do to help Claire find happiness of her own.

A knock at the bedroom door had them all turning to look as the door swung open and Frederick walked in. All thoughts of her siblings and their futures temporarily vanished in the face of her own radiant joy.

Anne shot out of her seat, heedless to her maid’s cries of dismay that she had not finished with her hair. She couldn’t help it. When her soon-to-be husband was in sight, she could not stay away. He was the center of her world, just as she knew that she was his.

At this moment, Frederick’s smile was all she could see. His happiness mirrored her own, and seeing the love in his eyes never ceased to give her a thrill. She expected it never would, not even when they were old and gray and watching their grandchildren play.

He opened his arms and swept her into an embrace that made her heart thump painfully in her chest. Would it ever ease, this overwhelming longing? Even in his arms, she wanted to be closer, aching to be one.

“How is my beautiful bride?” Frederick murmured in her ear. They both ignored Georgie’s pleas that he leave the bride to her preparations. They had never cared a wit for propriety during their courtship, they could hardly be expected to heed proper etiquette now.

“I’ll be happier when we are married once and for all,” she whispered back. “Then we will never be apart.”

She felt his laughter beneath her cheek as she rested her head against his cheek.

“We have barely been apart as it is,” he reminded her.

She hoped her sisters hadn’t heard. Though they had most likely caught sight of him sneaking in and out of her bedroom in the early hours of day, they had been doing an exceptional job of feigning ignorance.

“Still,” she said, tilting her head up to meet his gaze. “After today, we can be together wherever and whenever we want.”

“That sounds heavenly,” he said. Then his grin turned wicked. “Though it may be quite a while before I let you out of our bedroom.”

She felt heat flood her cheeks and lifted her head to see that her sisters had moved to the other side of the room and were pretending to be absorbed in rearranging the objects on her vanity.

Looking up she met Frederick’s burning gaze and she felt a now familiar fire flare up inside her in response. “That sounds heavenly,” she repeated.

She had a feeling that her smile was equally wicked. “You, my almost husband, may be a bad influence on me.”

His smile widened and laughter made his dark eyes dance. “It’s only fair, my angel. After all, you were the one who tamed this devil.”

She feigned a pout. “I hope you haven’t decided to become too good and proper.”

His low laughter made her insides clench. “Of course not. In the ballroom I aim to be the upright earl and the dutiful husband you so deserve.” He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “But send your sisters away and I will show you just how wicked I can be... in the bedroom.”

She grinned as she called out. “Ladies, would you mind giving us a moment alone?”

Claire’s sigh was to be expected and she paid it no mind. Anne suspected that beneath that prim and proper exterior of hers, Claire might just have the heart of a rebel.

“Please?” she called sweetly, her eyes never leaving Frederick’s.

“Oh, all right,” Claire conceded with a sigh. She led the way, ushering Georgie and the maid out into the hallway ahead of her. “I suppose you two will be married soon enough, and then your reputation is no longer my concern.”

When the door clicked shut behind them, Anne let out a sigh of her own, but hers was one of relief. “Alone at last,” she said. “Now… whatever shall we do?”

He leaned down and kissed her. When he pulled back she saw a devilish glint in his eyes. “I have some ideas.”

She went up on her toes so she could return his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did. When his lips met hers again she marveled at the perfection.

He was her devil, all right, but he was also the man of her dreams.

Thank you for reading Earl of Davenport! If you enjoyed it, reviews are greatly appreciated.

Interested in seeing what happens to Anne’s sister, Claire? Find out in , the first full-length romance in a new series.

Keep reading for a sneak peek of the next book in the series, by Amanda Mariel.