“And so they lived happily ever after,” he said, “and retired to their country estate and domestic bliss the very next day.”
She drew patterns on his chest with one forefinger. “There is one little thing I should probably have told you,” she said.
He groaned.
“When I once told you something I had said to discourage Mr. Gill,” she said, “you said I could not possibly be unladylike enough to have said any such thing. And so I did not tell you what I told him when I caught him trying to pinch Laura. I was afraid that you would be quite disgusted with me.”
He groaned again.
“It was really quite dreadful,” she said. “It makes me blush even to remember.” She chuckled nervously.
He set the back of his free hand over his eyes and sighed. “Abby,” he said, “do you think you could possibly confess all without taking ten minutes to do so? Get it off your conscience if you must, my love, and then let me sleep. I have just earned a good rest, haven’t I?”
She was giggling. “I can’t,” she said. “Oh, I can’t.”She held her nose. “It was most dreadfully vulgar, Miles. It would have you blushing.”
“Lord,” he said, addressing the canopy over their heads, “am I to be subjected to fifty years or so of this? What have I ever done to draw such punishment on myself?”
“You should have seen his f-f-face, Miles!” And she exploded with mirth.
The Earl of Severn chuckled, though he had no idea yet what exactly it was he was laughing at.
“I have married a madwoman,” he said. “This is to be the next secret you will feel impelled to confess, isn’t it, Abby? You have escaped from Bedlam and I have married you, Lord help me.”
“I am sure if he had leaned forward, his eyes would have p-popped right out of their sockets and bounced on the f-floor,” she said.
They clung to each other, helpless with laughter.
“You had better tell me what I am laughing at,” he said when he was able.
“I can’t,” she wailed. “Oh, I c-can’t.”
“Abby,” he said, hugging her to him, “I have done more laughing in the past two weeks than in all the thirty years previous to them. But I do feel something of an imbecile when I do not even know why I am doing so. Little idiot! I do love you, you know.”
“I told him I would pinch his bottom if he ever did so to Laura again,” she said quite soberly.
There was a moment of incredulous silence.
And then the Earl of Severn threw his head back against the pillow and bellowed with laughter.
About the Author
MARY BALOGH is the New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Slightly novels: Slightly Married, Slightly Wicked, Slightly Scandalous, Slightly Tempted, Slightly Sinful, and Slightly Dangerous, as well as the romances No Man’s Mistress, More Than a Mistress, and One Night for Love. She is also the author of Simply Unforgettable, Simply Love, and Simply Magic, the first three books in her dazzling quartet of novels set at Miss Martin’s School for Girls. Simply Perfect, the fourth book in the quartet, is available in hardcover from Delacorte Press. A former teacher herself, Balogh grew up in Wales and now lives in Canada.#p#分页标题#e#
ALSO BY MARY BALOGH
SIMPLY PERFECT
THE DEVIL’S WEB
WEB OF LOVE
SIMPLY MAGIC
THE GILDED WEB
SIMPLY LOVE
THE SECRET PEARL
SIMPLY UNFORGETTABLE
SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS
SLIGHTLY SINFUL
SLIGHTLY TEMPTED
SLIGHTLY SCANDALOUS
SLIGHTLY WICKED
SLIGHTLY MARRIED
A SUMMER TO REMEMBER
NO MAN’S MISTRESS
MORE THAN A MISTRESS
ONE NIGHT FOR LOVE
Read on for a sneak peek
at the next enchanting novel
in Mary Balogh’s series
featuring the teachers at
Miss Martin’s School for Girls.
Simply Perfect
CLAUDIA MARTIN’S STORY
On sale now
from Delacorte Press
Simply Perfect
on sale now
CLAUDIA MARTIN HAD ALREADY HAD A HARD day at school.
First Mademoiselle Pierre, one of the nonresident teachers, had sent a messenger just before breakfast with the news that she was indisposed with a migraine headache and would be unable to come to school, and Claudia, as both owner and headmistress, had been obliged to conduct most of the French and music classes in addition to her own subjects. French was no great problem; music was more of a challenge. Worse, the account books, which she had intended to bring up-to-date during her spare classes today, remained undone, with days fast running out in which to get accomplished all the myriad tasks that needed doing.
Then just before the noonday meal, when classes were over for the morning and discipline was at its slackest, Paula Hern had decided that she objected to the way Molly Wiggins looked at her and voiced her displeasure publicly and eloquently. And since Paula’s father was a successful businessman and as rich as Croesus and she put on airs accordingly while Molly was the youngest—and most timid—of the charity girls and did not even know who her father was, then of course Agnes Ryde had felt obliged to jump into the fray in vigorous defense of the downtrodden, her Cockney accent returning with ear-jarring clarity. Claudia had been forced to deal with the matter and extract more-or-less sincere apologies from all sides and mete out suitable punishments to all except the more-or-less innocent Molly.