Magic and mayhem collect.., p.29
Magic and Mayhem Collection Volume 1, page 29
Where had she gone? Had she returned to Hollybrook Park? Must he follow her there to convince her to explain what he’d done?
Slowly he searched the area and listened, hoping she was in conversations with her ghosts, but he neither saw nor heard anything. Diana had vanished as quickly as Lady Isolda had at times.
He’d just pivoted to return to the ballroom when Lady Isolda appeared before him and slapped him across the face, leaving an icy sting.
“What the blazes did I do now?” he demanded. It was the second time she’d struck him.
“You slept with her mother!” Lady Isolda accused with disgust.
“Whose mother?”
“Miss Vail’s.”
James frowned in confusion. “The dowager Viscountess Lynwood?”
“Yes.”
James took a step back. “I’ve done no such thing.”
“Well, Miss Diana believes you have.”
“Who would start such a rumor?” James demanded.
“That I have no way of knowing but it’s the reason she rejected you. She learned that apparently while you were courting her, you were bedding her mother.”
James couldn’t believe his ears. “I did no such thing. Further, the idea never crossed my mind.”
Lady Isolda pursed her lips as if she didn’t believe him.
“I swear. I never touched that woman!” Did Diana honestly believe he’d done so?
He pushed his fingers through his hair trying to figure out where she had come up with such an idea. He barely tolerated the dowager and rarely went near her, and he certainly would never bed her. The woman had taken half the men in London to her bed and James had no desire to end up with the same disease Diana’s brother had died of.
“Tell me everything she said,” James demanded.
“There was something to do with Lady Lynwood having a heightened interest in you, and a mention of a wager until one gentleman proclaimed, and I quote from Miss Vail, ‘I’m afraid the time for that wager has already passed. I heard Lady Lynwood just the other day telling my mother over tea that Somerton was the best lover she’d ever had’. Diana fears that her mother will continue to pursue you, or worse, that you’ll compare the two of them, which was suggested by another, and she doesn’t want to live her life always worried that you’d wish to be with her mother, or might return to her bed.”
“I’d become celibate before I let that woman near me,” James insisted and nearly shuddered. “Why in the blazes would the dowager voice such a falsehood?”
Lady Isolda simply shrugged.
Of course, she wouldn’t know, but none of this made any sense. “I can assure you that I’ve never been that woman’s lover.”
“Why would she, or anyone else, make up such a story?” Lady Isolda demanded.
That is what he’d like to know as well.
Lady Isolda glanced at the clock. “You’ve not much time to make this right.”
“Time?”
“Less than an hour. If you fail, I’m stuck here for another year, but you won’t be seeing me again because I would have failed.”
“I will try, but will she even believe me?” James stepped into the ballroom looking for answers, or someone who could assure Diana that James had never been her mother’s lover.
How could she even think such of him? Not only was he insulted, but angry as well, but James set aside those emotions as time was of the essence for Lady Isolda.
Though, did he truly have a right to be angry with Diana? Nearly everything else she’d heard that night was true, and he’d admitted to those facts, so she probably assumed the rest was true as well. “Blast it all.”
Then he spotted his mother. The woman hated Diana because she hated her mother. Was it possible…? Determination coursed through James as he strode across the ballroom.
“What are you doing?” Lady Isolda demanded as she followed.
“I simply need clarification, but if I am correct, I’ll be able to tell Diana why she’s mistaken.”
“Just hurry,” Lady Isolda called after him as he requested a private audience with his mother.
“Why do you dislike Miss Diana Vail?” he demanded once they were sequestered in a small parlor.
“It’s not so much the chit, but her ghastly mother,” his mother sniffed.
“Why, what did she ever do to you?”
“She needn’t do anything. Her reputation is poor, barely better than a harlot and I’d not have you associated with that family.”
James hated to ask this question, but he needed to know and given his mother’s hatred, suspected she knew as well. “Were her and father lovers?”
The blood drained from her cheeks.
“Were they?”
“I won’t discuss this with you.”
“Were they?” he demanded.
“Yes. They were lovers and for a short time he was quite in love with her. Thankfully it didn’t last long, but our marriage was never the same afterward.”
Few marriages would be. “I’m sorry for what he did to you, but it isn’t Diana’s fault.”
“She is still that woman’s daughter. How do you know she won’t turn out to be just like her?”
James gaped at his mother as anger surged. How dare she infer Diana was little more than a whore. “It would be wise to hold your tongue in the future because I intend on making Diana my wife.”
She blinked at him, which James suspected was more due to his tone than his words for he’d never issued an order to his mother before. In truth, he avoided her whenever possible because she was so damned difficult and controlling.
“Don’t be hasty. Marriage is so permanent.”
“Only until a spouse is dead.” She had married a duke and when he died, married an earl who happened to be James’ father.
“That is uncalled for,” she hissed.
“Miss Vail will be my wife. I’ve thought of little else since London. You will either make peace with my marriage or don’t bother to visit us.” With that, he strode from the room, detoured around the ballroom, and then out into the gardens and called for Diana. Only silence greeted him.
“It is time,” Lady Isolda whispered. “It was good to have known you, Lord Somerton.” And before he could ask where Diana had gone, Lady Isolda disappeared. She didn’t even give him a chance to say goodbye.
Panic rose as the ghosts were running out of time and he called for Diana again before returning to the ballroom. As soon as he spotted one of her younger sisters, he hurried over to her. “Have you seen your sister?”
Miss Cordelia blew out a heavy sigh. “She said something about trying to stop some ghosts from doing something foolish.”
James’ heart nearly stopped. If what Miss Cordelia said was true, then Diana was going to try and stop the knights from fighting.
What if she ended up like Lady Isolda? “Thank you,” he said as he rushed from the castle and headed toward the cliffs. He had to get there before she was the one who did something foolish and got herself killed.
Chapter 15
Diana hated that Sir Orwen and Sir Gilbert would have to relive their deaths and she wished she could save them, but when she’d searched for Somerton, he was not to be found.
Not that telling him the truth would have been easy, but she had promised the two, even though it would change nothing, and now it was too late.
Unless she could stop them somehow.
Just because she’d not found love didn’t mean they couldn’t be free. They’d tried for three hundred years so certainly the witches could pardon their grievance if she acknowledged her love for James to the ghosts. Certainly, that should be enough to free them all.
After telling Cordelia that she needed to save two ghosts from doing something foolish, she left the castle and ran to the cliffs.
As much as Sir Orwen and Sir Gilbert had irritated her, she did want this for them. Someone should be happy after what they had endured and as it wouldn’t be her, it should be them.
Diana heard the steel of their blades before their forms were illuminated by the flash of lightning in the distance. The winds whipped around her, pushing Diana back, but she pressed on. She had to bring this curse to an end.
“Stop!” she cried when she drew near enough, but they acted as if they hadn’t even heard her. “Sir Orwen. Sir Gilbert. Stop now!”
Still, they continued in battle, their forms more human than ghost, sweat dripping from their brows as if they were alive.
“I love him,” she cried. “Do you hear me? I love Lord Somerton. I have for a very long time so there is no need to continue fighting. You are free.”
Yet they continued as if she were the ghost and not them.
That’s when she saw the woman, also calling to them, begging them to cease and promising to choose one. She must be Lady Isolda, the ghost who had been pestering James. But none of them appeared to be ghosts, not even their swords that clanged with each strike. They were as real as she and not one of them noticed her.
“Lady Isolda,” Diana cried. “Listen to me. I’m in love. I love Somerton. He loves me. Stop this madness.”
Why wasn’t anyone listening to her? She was proclaiming the very thing they needed to hear but it changed nothing.
As panic rose that she’d not be able to stop their deaths, Diana circled and continued to try and gain their attention, yelling louder and louder until she was nearly screaming at them.
They shifted toward the edge of the cliff, as did Lady Isolda and Diana cried out a warning to her, just as her own foot slipped over the edge.
By the time James caught up to Diana, she was circling the two knights locked in battle, yelling at them, but he was still too far away to hear what she screamed at them. Further, they weren’t ghosts at all and appeared very real, and at the edge of the cliff stood Lady Isolda, but none of them appeared to even notice Diana, who stood far too close to the edge.
She needed to move further inland and away from the fighting knights before harm came to her.
“Diana?” he called.
She didn’t respond and James wasn’t certain if it was because she was ignoring him, or she simply couldn’t hear over the crash of the waves on the rocks below.
He rushed forward so that he could pull her to a safer place, as there was nothing either of them could do to stop what was unfolding before them. As he did, more thunder rumbled as lightning lit the sky and the wind pushed against him.
Diana took a step back and he fought against the wind to get to her.
When the lightning flashed again, she was gone.
Heart in his throat, James ran to the edge of the cliff and fell to his knees, afraid that he’d find her crumpled on the rocks below, just as Lady Isolda had died.
Instead, she held tight to rocks in a crevice just within his reach, not that his panic lessened, as he still needed to bring her to safety. James reached for her. “Take my hand, Diana.”
She glanced up at him. Terror filled her emerald eyes and he never wanted to see that fear in them again. He had to save her.
“I can’t,” she cried.
“I will not let you fall.”
She looked to his hand, then into his eyes. “I’m too afraid to let go.”
Her situation was precarious, but if she didn’t reach for him, soon she’d slip and he’d lose her forever. “I am too but trust me. I will not let you fall.”
“What if you miss or can’t hold on?”
As she said the words, her right hand began to slip from the crevice, and he feared she’d lose her grip before she reached out to him. It wasn’t as if she had anything substantial to hold on to, only a flat surface carved out of the stone, which was becoming wet from the splash of the sea against the rocks.
“You must trust me, Diana. I will not let you fall.” And he prayed that he could grab her hand, hold on and pull her to safety.
At his words, her right hand lost its grip, and she reached up to grasp again before both hands slipped and she fell to her death.
“Trust in me, Diana. I will not let you fall.”
Her left hand started to slip.
“Do not leave me,” he ordered. “I love you too much to let you die. I don’t care that you loathe me, but I love you. I need you.”
Tears spilled from her cheeks.
“Blast it all! Take my hand before you fall.”
Before he could finish the words, her left hand slipped just as she brought her right arm up. He stretched out as far as he dared and grasped her right forearm before it was too late. She tightened her hold on his arm as James braced himself so that he didn’t tumble forward and then he lifted Diana, who now clung to him with both hands. The muscles in his shoulder and arm burned, but he continued to lift until he was finally able to pull most of her body up and over the edge, then he moved back, taking her with him until they were both far enough away that they no longer risked falling.
James collapsed to his knees, breathing hard and Diana threw her arms about him and sobbed into this neck.
He drew her close and held tight, whispering his love in her ear, giving what comfort he could, but the panic had not yet left his body either.
After a moment she drew back, her cheeks wet with tears. “Thank you.” She burst into tears again. “I don’t know what I would have done…I would have died without you.”
“I wouldn’t have wanted to continue to live if I’d failed. If I had lost you,” he confessed.
She placed a hand on his cheek. “Do you love me so very much?” she asked as if she wasn’t certain she could believe him.
James turned his face and kissed her palm. “I love you more than life itself. I only wish that you could love me.”
Her tears welled again, and his heart sank as he anticipated her rejection.
“But I do, James Bryant, Earl of Somerton. I do love you. I loved you in London and as hard as I try not to love you, I still do.”
Instead of shouting in triumph, which was his first instinct, James pulled Diana close and kissed her deeply. She was now his and he was never going to let her go.
Chapter 16
“A pox on you Sir Orwen,” Sir Gilbert cried out. “I always knew you’d win.”
Diana jerked away from James to see Sir Gilbert crumple to the ground, a hand over his heart. Lady Isolda rushed forward and cradled the knight’s head in her lap. “Oh, Sir Gilbert, I’m sorry that it came to this.”
“One kiss from your sweet lips and I can leave this place in peace.”
Lady Isolda bent forward, her blonde hair cascading about them as her lips touched his.
Sir Orwen sank to his knees. “I’m sorry, my friend. I hadn’t meant death for you.”
“Yet, death is the gift you gave. Care for her or I’ll haunt you the rest of my days.” With that, he gave his last breath.
Before their eyes, Sir Gilbert stepped from his body as it disappeared and Lady Isolda and Sir Orwen turned to ghosts once again.
The three turned to Diana and James. Sir Gilbert executed a deep bow, flourishing his hat, the red feather brushing the ground. Lady Isolda placed a hand over her heart, tears shimmering in her eyes, then blew a kiss of thank you. And Sir Orwen smiled. The first that Diana had ever seen upon his face and bowed as well.
“They are free,” Diana whispered.
As their forms began to fade, Sir Orwen turned to Sir Gilbert. “If you thought I would win in the end, why didn’t you just concede and save us all?”
“I did not truly believe you would. I simply wished to grant you a boon in the end.”
“It matters not. I still beat you and won the hand of Lady Isolda,” Sir Orwen argued.
“She’s not agreed, but I did gain a kiss,” Sir Gilbert laughed.
“I’ve suffered the presence of both of you these last three centuries and I have no intention of enduring either of you for all of eternity,” Lady Isolda announced, though her voice grew faint, and soon, Diana could no longer hear the three of them bickering.
“They are free,” James finally said.
“Yes, they are.” And Diana was happy for them.
Now that the crisis had passed, the ghosts were gone and Diana’s pulse had calmed, she’d realized that in her relief, she’d confessed her heart to James. It was what had finally freed the ghosts. But it still didn’t change any of her fears.
“It wasn’t me.”
James knew the moment he spoke the words that Diana would pull away from him, but it was a discussion they must have if they were to have any kind of future.
“What wasn’t you?”
“It wasn’t me with your mother. It was my father.”
She blinked. “How did you…they weren’t supposed to speak of it. At least, I thought they’d hold my confidence.”
“They did.” He took her hands in his. “Lady Isolda was listening and told me.”
Diana looked away and even though it was dark, enough moonlight reflected off the ocean that he could see the stain of a blush upon her cheeks.
Moonlight? James glanced to the sky. The storm was gone completely and there was barely a cloud in the sky. Had it gone with the ghosts?
He shook his head. It no longer mattered. What did matter was before him.
“Lady Isolda confronted me and as I knew I’d barely ever spoken to your mother, let alone anything else, I asked my mother and she confirmed that your mother and my father had been lovers at one time.”
She simply stared at him, suspicion still in her eyes.
“I swear to you, Diana. It was never me.”
“But the man was so certain of what he’d heard,” she insisted. “And, unfortunately, I’m all too aware of my mother’s reputation.”
James winced. “If you don’t believe me, ask her. Ask your mother which Lord Somerton had been her lover.”
Diana pulled back and stared at him, then frowned. “I wish I had when we were still in London.”
“Would she have told you?” James asked in shock.
Diana snorted. “Mother made no secret of her lovers, and never even attempted to keep the information from me. If asked, I’m certain she would have provided names.”
