Free Magical Weddings by Leigh Michaels, Aileen Harkwood, Eve Devon, Raine English, Tamara Ferguson, Lynda Haviland, Jody A. Kessler, Jane Lark, Bess McBride, L. L. Muir, Jennifer Gilby Roberts, Jan Romes, Heather Thurmeier, Elsa Winckler, Sarah Wynde

still in the running, then? I was beginning to be concerned about your attachment to Lord Billings. Having you around all the time would take his mind off his digestion–though I’ll warrant you wouldn’t improve it.”
    How very like Simon–to be more concerned about Lord Bilious than about his own cousin. Celia would have made a face at him, but he swept her around in a graceful turn and she remembered how many people were watching, so she gave him a brilliant smile instead, and when the dance ended she demonstrated her best curtsy.
    He laughed at her and went off to dance with Jane. Lord Stone, in his stiff way, came across the room to partner Celia.
    Midway through the evening the orchestra took a break, and the ladies retired upstairs to check their hair. The Carew sisters’ bedroom door was open as Celia passed, and she saw Dimity’s maid on the floor at her feet, mending a torn ruffle
    “I believe her,” Dimity said firmly.
    “Which time?” Prudence asked tartly.
    “You didn’t hear her stumbling through the explanation. I’d swear she was sorry—”
    “Sorry she told us, yes. I suspect she thought better of it because she wants him for herself. Did you see the way she smiled at him when they were waltzing?”
    Celia knew she should have realized it wouldn’t be easy to fix the misunderstanding.
    But wanting Simon for herself? The idea was ludicrous. How foolish could two girls be?
    Well, it is the Carews. Perhaps that explains everything.
     
    ****
     
    Prudence snagged another country dance with Simon, as did Dimity–who must have come around to her sister’s way of thinking. Or perhaps she just wanted to preserve all her options. But when the time came for the supper waltz, Simon presented himself to Celia once more.
    She shook her head. “I can’t waltz with you twice in an evening.”
    “You don’t want to waltz with anyone else here. Draycott stepped on Miss Dimity’s hem. Lord Lockwood moves like an elephant. Lord Tavish can’t see beyond his bride, and Lord Stone…”
    “Go away!”
    “I am heartbroken,” he said, but he went–and all through Celia’s waltz with Lord Bilious–
Billings!
–she regretted her choice. The viscount rattled the entire time about the shortcomings of Lord Stone’s kitchen, which at least left her free to think.
    What was Simon up to? Was he
trying
to make the Carew sisters believe he was courting his cousin? Surely not–but he might be applying the advice Celia herself had given him, only in a different direction. She’d advised him to court the Carews so Lady Hester couldn’t take him for granted. But with the two sisters taking him far too seriously for comfort, had he decided to focus on Celia instead?
    What a buffle-headed, dicked-in-the-nob thing for him to do!
     
    ****
     
    When the ball finally ended, Celia dawdled till she was almost the last to go upstairs, but she had no opportunity to catch Simon alone. Tomorrow, perhaps?–but they’d be going to church, and Lady Stone had mentioned a picnic. Something had to be done now.
    Her maid was waiting in her bedroom, half-asleep by the fire, but Celia dismissed her. “I’ll get myself to bed, Daisy.”
    She waited anxiously, her bedroom door barely cracked open, until the house had quieted. Then Celia crept down the darkened corridor toward the room where Jane had directed Simon on the day they arrived. Her heart thundered at the audacity of what she was doing–sneaking into a man’s room, without even carrying a candle to make it seem she was on some legitimate errand, if someone were to spot her.
    But as she neared the corner where the two corridors intersected, Simon’s door creaked open. Instinct saved her, making her duck into a shadowed niche at the top of the stairs. She peeked out in time to see Lady Hester slipping into Simon’s room.
    Celia’s heart almost stopped. Not only was Hester visiting a man in his bedroom, but the pale pink ball gown she’d worn that evening had given