Teresa DesJardien

A hasty marriage to redeem her reputation was bad enough, but Alessandra’s punishment for an innocent moment in the park was not to end there. Only if she and her new husband Jeffery Huntingsley managed to share sleeping quarters for a month, yet leave their marriage unconsummated, would Alessandra’s father  agree to an annulment.  A needless tedious exercise, Alessandra fumed, since it was a matter to remain at arm’s distance from a husband she scarcely knew. Although he was a most handsome and agreeable gentlemen. And the nights did seem inexplicably colder, longer, and lonelier than ever before.

Observing the terms of the “annulment agreement” should have presented no difficulty for a gentleman like Jeffery Huntingsley. All it took was a scrupulous consideration for Alessandra’s sensibilities, a modicum of self control, and a few pillows dividing the marriage bed down the middle. If all else failed, a midnight card game or two ought to do the trick. But the sight of his bride, adorably attired in the modest nightgown, was distinctly unsettling. Alessandra was proving a decent sort, and Jeffery would be a scoundrel indeed to take advantage of her innocence, despite the inviting warmth he was convinced he saw in her eyes…