His Candlemas Hope Read online

  “I expect she is with my wife, talking about the excitement of married life,” Felix murmured, his blue eyes dazzling. “Although you are right, perhaps you should go and find them, and keep them from finding trouble. Well, Lucky, go on…” She watched Lord Cary leave. The searing look he had given her had made her shiver. It had seemed as if his emerald green eyes had reached right down into her soul. He knew exactly what Desi had been getting up to, and he didn’t approve. They shared the same sentiment on that score at least.

  “I would love to dance with you, Lord Langford,” Desi said clearly, not waiting to be asked.

  Shocked, Lord Langford took but a trice to recover.

  “You shall have to find another willing gentleman, Miss Desi. I do not wish to dance with you. You are but a child, and I do not dance with children.” His blunt speech, caused Desi’s cheeks to go a bright scarlet. She opened her mouth to make a clever retort and no sound came out. For once in her life, Desi was at a loss for words. No one had ever mustered the nerve needed to refuse her. They usually didn’t want to hear her squawk, and they usually couldn’t fight the beguiling effect she had on them.

  Deftly, Lord Langford moved his attention away from Desi, and settled his gaze on Hope. Giving her a cheeky wink, was in Desi’s opinion, the last straw. She let out an indignant huff, and stomped away. Probably on her way to find another poor soul to harass. Hope should pursue her and keep her from causing anymore mischief, and yet, she didn’t want to leave Lord Langford, and then, the next moment, she wanted to run screaming for the hills.

  Hope’s heart fluttered in her chest. How could she escape this? She didn’t think she wanted to dance with Lord Langford. If she allowed him to take her to the dance floor, she might not ever want to leave it. And yet, she had to see things through. She had to give them a chance.

  “I do not think you should have treated Desi in such a highhanded manner,” she murmured, trying valiantly not to meet his commanding gaze.

  “She is just a little chit. Girls her age should still be at home in the nursery,” he snorted. “If she thinks I wanted to set my cap on someone like her, she has another think coming.”

  Evidently by the strangled scream that Desi let out, she was still within earshot. Hope smiled serenely, amused by the blow Lord Langford had dealt Desi.

  “My sister shan’t take kindly to your rebuff. I would watch out for her, my lord. She likes to see that her enemies are given what they deserve. She shall find a way to strike back against you, and she shall do it when you least expect it, and revel in every single moment.”

  His eyes danced. “I shall anticipate it,” he said devilishly. “I always welcome a bit of a diversion. I haven’t had any real fun in ages. I…I miss those days, and even now I desperately want to return to it. Only one person keeps me from leaving this ball and heading out to find a bit of adventure, and that one person is you. As for your sister, that little brat won’t want to play with me, Miss Fortescue. I…well, I can be rather prickly at times, and no one likes it if I am put into high dudgeon. I can be rather…annoying,” he chuckled.

  “Prickly?” she laughed. “I daresay I cannot imagine that. Your mood hasn’t changed any since we met in the Library. You are always serene. I haven’t that tranquility inside of me, not after all that has happened tonight. But you…you are a dab hand at it, you have worn the same expression from the time we met until the time we touched. Your expression only altered slightly after you and I connected. I wonder if anything ruffles your feathers. My sister doesn’t hold anything back. She shall go at you, claws and all. You shall not be prepared for it all. I have seen men try to fight her before, and none have succeeded.”

  “Ah, well,” he said easily. “She will have to have those claws trimmed, won’t she?”

  He didn’t seem at all concerned with Desi. That thrilled her, and troubled her a little bit too. She didn’t want to see him on the receiving end of Desi’s malicious personality. Desi would attempt to rip apart his world. She suspected he didn’t realize the full extent of her power to ruin someone’s life.

  Their father used to call Desi a mercurial pixie whenever she was in one of her bad moods. Likening one of her black moods to a cute little pixie out of the stories he used to tell Hope always made Hope sad. She supposed that pixies had to have tetchy attitudes, as they were locked in an endless war with the fairies. The fairies in her father’s stories were always the heroes. They were the ones who didn’t meddle in the affairs of their kind. They helped humans. They didn’t meddle with them to their own amusement. Or at least that was how her father regarded them. The fairies always won most of the battles, but as he said at the end of the every story—they hadn’t won the war.

  There would be no more stories from her father, and he hadn’t finished the last tale he had regaled her with before he had died. Had the fairies in his stories ever made peace with their pixie enemies? She had searched through his papers to find the end to no avail. If he had ended it in his mind, he hadn’t committed it to paper.

  Lord Langford extended his hand to her and pulled her out of her reverie. Shaking her head, she looked at as if it might burn her. “I promise you, I am a good dancer, I shall not tread on those dainty little feet of yours.” Dainty? That wasn’t exactly what she would call her feet. Nonetheless, his compliment was well served and well received. Butterflies fluttered through her. She was so nervous.

  Desi snorted, edging closer to them. She hadn’t found anyone to dance with, and the quadrille that Miss Duffy and Lord Chorley were dancing was almost over. She closed her eyes and prayed that the floor would swallow Desi up. She couldn’t be that lucky.

  “My sister has two left feet. She cannot dance nearly as well as me. I wouldn’t want her as a partner, she is a real clodhopper. She dances like Lord Blessing,” Desi said, her usual snide tone in her voice.

  “Ah, but I am not you,” Lord Langford said softly. “And do you know, Miss Desi, Lord Blessing is one of the best men I know. As long as Miss Fortescue shall have me as her dance partner, I shall not be deterred. Shall you have me, Miss Fortescue?”

  “Aye,” she whispered, heat warming her face.

  Desi’s attempt to humiliate Hope had failed. It looked as if Lord Chorley and Miss Duffy were going to remain on the dance floor to for the next dance called. Hesitantly, Hope accepted his hand, and allowed her to lead her out onto the floor. They bowed and curtsied to their partners. The dance was called, and her heart sunk.

  It was a waltz cotillion.

  *****

  Lucky wanted Hope all to himself.

  Her pale cheeks were growing more flushed as the dancing continued. The atmosphere of the ballroom was quite relaxed. There was no Master of Ceremonies, and it seemed that Hope’s mother, Lady Ashburton was leading them from one dance to the next, instructing the band on what they should play. He supposed that Fanny didn’t have a problem giving her aunt such a place of power. He wished they were back in the calm atmosphere that the Library provided, instead of out here where everyone was laughing, talking, and the music was perpetually playing. He was usually all for an atmosphere of merriment, but not tonight. Tonight he just wanted to sit with Hope and gaze at her loveliness—in silence…just the two of them.

  Perhaps, he was too romantic for his own good. He had all of these grand ideas of what falling in love should be like and yet, he was the only one out of his closest circle of friends that remained unattached. He had told Felix that he wasn’t in any hurry to become leg-shackled, and that had been a terrible faradiddle. He did care. He cared too damn much.

  The dance ended, and Hope curtsied and parted from him. He watched her slip through the crowded ballroom. Her hair seemed to glitter with almost a red sheen beneath the candlelight. He had to go after. He had to have her.

  He rushed through past all of the guests, praying that no one would delay his chase.

  Lewis met him as he exited the ballroom.

  “Gil, might I have a word with you, somewher
e more private?” he asked softly.

  Gil looked around them, sighing, he nodded his head.

  Lewis led him through the house to the room that served as the Colonel’s study. He carefully shut door behind them. They were pitched into darkness. With a wave of his hand, Lewis used his gifts to light the candles in the room.

  “What is with all of the secrecy?” Lucky asked. He looked nervously about him. He knew that Lewis was a witch, and yet, he liked it better when Lewis behaved himself.

  “You…you need to stay away from Miss Fortescue,” Lewis was trying hard to keep his voice emotionless. And he was failing.

  “I don’t want to,” Lucky said stubbornly. “And, the last time I checked, I didn’t require your permission.”

  “It matters not what you want, Lucky. You have to set aside your desire for her. You must show some restraint, man. You cannot…” his voice wavered, “you cannot have her. Do you understand?”

  “You are speaking pure twaddle. You…you are pitching the gammon. I know you are.”

  “No, I am not. I am serious. You must set aside whatever you feel for her, and show some restraint. Being restrained is usually your second nature, so…I am surprised you are acting with reckless emotion.”

  “Bollocks. You didn’t show any restraint concerning Iris,” he pointed out stiffly. “You were quite the naughty little witch as I recall.”

  “Iris and I were a completely different story. Miss Fortescue isn’t like most of the other ladies in the ton. She…she isn’t like them at all.”

  “I know she isn’t. That is why I want to court her. That is why I want to make her my wife.”

  “She is different, Gil,” Lewis’s voice was strained, and his eyes were crackling with tension.

  “Different how?” he asked, exasperation flooding through him.

  “I…you won’t believe me if I say it. Trust me, Gil. You cannot marry her…the two of you…you wouldn’t balance each other out. You would…damnation, I have said too much already. The less you know, the better. It’s always been that way, and I am sticking to my guns on that score,” Lewis said, his voice strangled with emotion. “Pray listen to me, and abandon all hope you have for Hope Fortescue.”

  “Listen, Doc, I don’t want to hear you prattle on anymore. If you don’t want me to settle down and find happiness just say it. Don’t string me along like this. I always thought you wanted what was best for me. I simply don’t understand why you think Miss Fortescue and I are ill matched…unless…but no, you have moved on from your snobbish ways…I thought you wanted me to be happy like Felix and Freddie are…”

  “I do. I want you to be happy. Don’t think I am some selfish bastard, who has decided that what your future should hold. Pray, just trust me. Believe in me like you have always done in the past. Trust me when I say that you need to stay away from that girl. She is different. She is dangerous—and coupled with you—well, the two of you would be doubly dangerous and I don’t want to see that. No, indeed not.”

  “How is that sweet little lady dangerous?” he asked, resisting the urge to plant a facer on his longtime friend. He knew how he was dangerous, but Lewis was making no bloody sense. That sweet and innocent creature couldn’t be a danger to him.

  “I…” Lewis sighed. “I cannot say.”

  “You won’t say. It’s not that you can’t tell me. Spill it. Confess all, mate. I will believe you. We are alone. You have made quite certain that we are alone, whatever you say, will be between us, and it will stay between us. You can say whatever you have to say without it going beyond the two of us.”

  “I…I don’t know how to say it. I never thought I would have to give this warning to any of my mates. I prayed I wouldn’t have to. You…you cannot fathom what she is, it’s something that is beyond your reckoning…and maybe that’s my fault. Mayhap, I have been keeping too much from you all of these years. I…now, I don’t know if any of the decisions I made were the right ones.”

  “Stop talking in riddles and just spit it out,” Lucky insisted.

  “Don’t hate me for what I have to tell you. Remember I derive no great pleasure out of what I have to say.”

  “Fine. I understand. I don’t think I could ever hate you anyway. Why do I need to stay away from Miss Fortescue?”

  “Because the lass is touched, Gil.”

  Now he was fed up. He had had all that he could bloody well take. It took a lot to rattle him, and Lewis had just managed to do that.

  “Touched? Speak plainly, Lewis, pray what is she touched with?”

  “Magic.”

  Chapter Five

  Lucky laughed. He couldn’t seem to stop laughing.

  He walked away from Lewis, and stood over by the Colonel’s desk. “Felix put you up to this, didn’t he? Oh, it’s a fine little jest, but you have had your jolly. Now allow me to go back to finding Miss Fortescue.”

  “She is better off staying lost. Trust me,” Lewis muttered.

  “No. I shan’t trust you. Not when it comes to this,” Lucky exclaimed, attempting not to lose his temper. He rarely lost his temper, and tonight of all nights, he didn’t want to lose it. “You are as you say, touched by magic, and yet, we all chum about with you. What makes her so dangerous? She doesn’t have the plague, you know.”

  “I am different. Much different. I am not touched by the kind of unstable magic that surrounds her. The magic I wield is not as mercurial. It can be easily controlled. More than that, I have been taught to control it. She doesn’t…she hasn’t…she…has only been taught a little of what she should know, I don’t think she is skilled in her talents but then, again she could be masking her abilities. She could want me to think she’s untrained, I don’t know anything for certain…not when it comes to what she is, and she does know about what runs through her blood, she’s not like some people who are completely ignorant to it…I have said too much…” he trailed off, and impatiently raked his hands through his ginger hair. “Why can’t you just listen to me and stay the bloody hell away from her? I can’t be with you at all hours, and if you stay with her, you put yourself into danger the likes of which you cannot imagine.”

  “I…I fear I have fallen in love with her,” he confessed, feeling hopelessness invade his heart. He couldn’t think about being kept away from Hope. The thought sucked all of the happiness out of him. “I need a ruddy drink. How can I stay away from her if I am in love with her?”

  “Love doesn’t come that quickly.”

  “It did with you and Iris.”

  Lewis looked pained. “Iris and I are unique.”

  “That’s what everyone thinks when they are love.”

  “No, that’s just it. I don’t think you are in love with that girl. She might have made you fall in love with her. Or rather, she has made you smitten with her. I doubt you are actually in love.”

  “Oh, so now you are saying she has bewitched me. Rubbish, Lewis. I cannot believe that woman would have cast a love spell on me. How could she? She hasn’t even left the house. Wouldn’t she have to…I don’t know have a cauldron or something?”

  Lewis’s face widened with shock. “Have you ever seen me use a cauldron?” he chuckled. “No, you misunderstand. If she has done that to you, she hasn’t done it on purpose, or at least I don’t think she has. Zounds. I suppose I don’t know if she is doing it consciously or not.”

  “Will you please stop talking in riddles? How is she different from you?”

  “She has a different sort of magic going through her blood. Mine is witch magic. I have control over it. She may or may not have control over the magic that flows through her blood. It is ancient magic. Far older than mine…and hers while it has been diluted through years of being mixed with human blood, it is still there, waiting…waiting for the time for it to be strong once again.”

  His words made a shiver go through Lucky. Lewis sounded as if he was talking about something far larger than either of them could realize. He wagered he didn’t want to know any more about
it, but he had to keep prodding. He had to know everything.

  “Oh, fine. I shall champ on that bit. What kind of magic is going through her veins?”

  “Fay.”

  Lucky looked long and hard at his old friend. “Fay? As in the little people, the fair folk, fay? Fairies that flit around and are the size of bugs?”

  Lewis looked pained. “Well, that’s not exactly how they are, but aye, I speak of fairies.”

  Lucky was stunned. He couldn’t quite believe what he had just heard. It was like he’d stepped into another fairy story, and according to Lewis, he had. “You have finally cracked. You have gone quite potty, my friend.”

  “No. I have not.” A muscle danced in Lewis’s cheek showing the extent of his irritation. “I am quite in control of my faculties. All of my faculties,” he said, looking at him pointedly.

  “I don’t care,” Gil said flatly.

  “You don’t care? How can you not care? You cannot involve yourself with such a dangerous young woman.”

  “Why not?” he asked again, feeling as if they were going through an interrogation. The problem was, he didn’t know which one of them was the interrogator. “You forget the dangerous line I walked during the Wars, Lewis. I am not a stranger to it.”

  Lewis sighed heavily, and raked his hand through his hair. “You are too damn stubborn for you own good, you know that? You cannot remain with her because as long as you are with her, you are not safe, and I cannot allow that.”

  “Life is hardly safe. I have seen worse things and lived to tell about it. I have seen some bloody strange shit in my time, Doc. You and I both have. I have seen you heal those who should have died. I even thought I saw an angel out on the battlefield one day. She was bathed in light and she wore a dress that wasn’t quite from our time. But not considering that, even if I didn’t think back on all of the unexplainable shite I have seen, you, yourself, are a mystery that most wouldn’t like solved. We stuck by you after you revealed yourself as a witch. Not one of us in the Angels of Death believed you were a danger. We actually believed that you kept us out of danger. We all thought we had a magical hound set to sniff out peril from us, and charm our lives in the process. None of us ratted you out. None of us ever looked at you differently.”