Authors: Melissa Lynne Blue
Bewitched (3 page)
“And why not?”
“Come, Marie, surely you’re too practical to believe in magic and hokum.”
Marie pressed her lips together, expression thoughtful
.
“Do you believe in miracles?”
Pen
elope shrugged
.
“I suppose
.”
“Then have you ever considered that miracles are a form of magic?”
“I suppose not
, but—”
“But nothing
.
Now go to it.”
Penelope began to point out that miracles were few and far between, but held her tongue
.
There would be no deterring her cousin
.
“How
will I get him to drink this
?
” she asked instead
.
“
It is hardly customary for a woman to offer a man a drink.
”
“You’ll figure something out.
”
Marie gave Penelope a shove toward Colonel Holbrook
.
Caught off guard, Penelope teetered on her modestly heeled shoes
.
The glass tipped precariously and amber liquid sloshed over
the edge. A few drops darkened
her hem.
“Don’t spill the wine,” Marie scolded.
“Don’t push me,” Penelope
shot back
.
Heart hammering
,
she stalled for a moment to regain her balance and her bearings
.
She squared her shoulders, smoothed her skirts, took one step toward Colonel Holbrook, and stopped dead in her tracks.
Straight in front of her, not ten steps away
, stood
Colton
Breckenridge
, Duke of Havenward
.
Tall,
resplendent, devastatingly dark,
and… alone
.
Three
For one heart stopping instant
Penelope’s gaze
collided
with
Colton’s
.
Time all but stopped as shivers glided down her spine and gooseflesh prickled her arms
.
Oh, but he was
so
handsome. T
he sheer sight of his face
could
liquefy her knees
.
Garbed in a black waistcoat
and silver vest
,
he appeared every inch the refined and noble duke
.
Some gossiped that he possessed a condescending, snobbish manner, but Penelope knew differently
.
She’d sampled his
wit
and carried on the
most
ordinary
conversations with him
.
How she longed to do so again
.
Staring into his unreadable expression, f
lutters erupted in her chest with such force
she was certain he must see
her heart pounding beneath her dress.
Penelope gulped, contemplating the crossroad stretching before her
.
T
o
her
left
stood
the kindly Colonel Holbrook—the safe choice, a man who would never break her heart—and situated directly before her
was
the man who’d wrecked her
.
And wrecked or
otherwise
,
she could not drag her
attention
away from the duke
.
The level of excitement he elic
ited within her must be a sign
.
The wine reste
d heavily in her sweaty fingers, tempting her,
and w
ithout another thought, Penelope marched forward,
her
gaze
never wavering from
Colton
’s
.
She was a fool, bu
t at the moment she didn’t care
.
At that moment she felt alive inside and she wanted
to
grab hold of that feeling and never let go.
“Good evening,
Your
G
race.
”
Penelope stopped a respectful distance from
Colton
, dipping into a small curtsy
.
“Lady Penelope,” he murmured, shifting his gaze out over the crowd
.
N
o doubt searching for his fiancé’
s prying eyes
.
The duke set a
full
wine glass identical to Penelope’
s on the white clothed table beside them
.
“I trust you are well this evening.”
She smiled and covertly placed the gypsy wine beside his glass
.
“Quite
.
Are you having a pleasant time?”
“Yes.
”
He glanced briefly into her eyes
.
“I plan to join a card game in a few minutes.”
“How nice.
”
Penelope nonchalantly lifted his wine glass from the table and took a delicate sip, hoping the action would prompt him to lift the other glass and drink as well
.
He didn’t.
Not to be deterred
,
Penelope took another taste from the glass
.
Colton clasped his hands behind his back and cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable
.
Frustrated
,
Penelope smiled sweetly and searched for something,
anything
, to say before he excused himself and strode away from the wine
.
“Right then,” he said in a bright voice—too bright
.
“It was very nice to see you this evening
.
”
He plucked the glass from the table, tipping it to her in subtle salute
.
Penelope’s heart skipped a beat, maybe two
.
H
e was going to drink the gypsy potion
!
“If you’ll excuse me, I—”
“Colton!
”
Another man’s voice boomed
.
Startled, Penelope and the duke turned in tandem
.
A young, dark haired man in simple but elegant
black
evening attire strode purposefully toward them
.
Penelope didn’t readily recognize the gentleman though he did bear striking resemblance to Colton
.
“I read your letter,” the stranger grumbled, stopping directly before Colton and ignoring Penelope entirely
.
“The answer is no
.
Absolutely not
.
I cannot believe you would have me—”
“John,” Colton interrupted quickly, a gl
immer of panic lighting his eye. “W
hy don’t we discuss the matter further in private.”
“There is nothing more to discuss,” John replied, stance rigid.
Colton, still holding the full glass of wine, shifted his attention back to Penelope
.
“Please forgive the rude interruption, Lady Penelope, my brother has been away from polite society entirely too long.
”
He glanced back to his brother
.
“
Lord
John,
I don’t believe you’ve met Lady Penelope
Hale
.”
John grunted in response, scarcely sparing her a sideways glance
.
How rude!
“
Lady
Penelope, my brother
,
Lord
John
Breckenridge
.”
Penelope gave a slight bob
.
“My lord.”
She knew very little of Colton’s younger brother other than that he was a military office
r who’d recently served in India
.
G
iven his less than civil manner
,
she would just as soon have gone
on without
making his acquaintance
.
There was
no excuse for blatant rudeness
.
While not quite as tall as the duke,
Lord John
was broader in the shoulders and much thicker—brawnier—with the
scarred, calloused hands of a
working
man
.
He
shared his brother’s dark hair and eyes
and a
similar
aristocratic
bone structure, but other than looks he seemed to be Colton’s exact opposite.
Colton smiled pleasantly down at her
.
“If you’ll excuse us, Lady Penelope, my brother and I need a moment alone.”
“And I need a drink,” John muttered
.
“Give me that.”
Without preamble he reached out, took the wine glass from Colton’
s hand and—to Penelope’
s absolute horror—drained the contents of the glass
.
Every… last… drop
.
“No,” she gasped.
John’s eyes flicked
to her and he lifted the glass
.
“Does this wine taste like cinnamon to you?”
“
Er
, I…
”
She looked down into her own wine at a total loss
.
“N
o.”
“Hm.
”
He grunted again, shrugged
,
and finally set the glass down on the table
.
Without
further
adieu
Lord John turned on a heel and marched
directly
through the
line of merry dancers, throwing several off step
.
Colton shook his head and followed, skirting the dance floor
.
Penelope stared after them
.
“Oh, dear God,” she muttered
.
“What have I done?”
“
Penny
!” Marie’
s urgent voice sounded directly behind her
.
“What happened to Colonel Holbrook?”
Penelope gulped
.
“I changed my mind, but
Colton didn’t drink the potion.
His brother did.”
“Oh, no.”
Marie
,
too
,
stared after the departing men
.
“Was he amiable?”
“Not at all.”
Penelope turned to her cousin
.
“I’ve never met a man more unpleasant or rude in my entire life.”
“Did he look at you?”
“Immediately.”
Marie pursed her lips
.
“We’ll talk to my maid
and s
ee if there is a way to reverse the potion.”
“Or maybe it won’t work,” Penelope offered hopefully
.
It wouldn’t work
.
Couldn’t possibly
.
And yet
the impending sense that disaster was about to strike refused to
dissipate
.
“Good evening, Lady Penelope.”
Sparked from the depths of her thought, Penelope glanced up to find Colonel Holbrook standing
before her, a warm grin adorn
ing
his face
.
Internally she groaned
.
This was the last thing she needed
.
Another potential suitor
.
Not that John or Colton were necessarily suitors… at the moment she wasn’t entirely certain what the brothers were, but the whole situation felt terribly complicated
.
Penelope forced a smile
.
“Good evening, Colonel.”
“Would you grant me the pleasure of this dance?”
Complicated indeed.
Bewitched
Four
“Jesus, man, I didn’t realize decorum in the military had sunk so low as to slight women.”
John Bre
c
kenridge leaned against the dark fireplace m
antel and crossed his arms, glaring across the private room
at his austere elder brother.
“The answer is no,” he said
,
ignoring Colton’s
jibe
and
cutting straight to the point.
“I am not going to court some woman you carried on with and then cast aside
just because
you
have a guilty con
s
cience
.
”
“Come now, John, I’m no
t asking you to marry the girl.
Just call on her a time or two
, and bring her a few trinkets.
Make her feel liked and special for a couple of weeks.”
“You
’re an ass
.”
Colton
flashed a self-
deprecating smile
and
ambl
ed
across the room with the
assured confidence o
f a man who always got his way.
“So I’ve been told.”
A moment of silence reigned
before he met John’s glare
.
“It wouldn’
t hurt for you to get back
on the horse
, Johnny.
It’s been five years.
”
John
gritted his teeth and shoved away from the mantel. “I don’t need to be reminded.”
An iron poker rested beside the cold fireplace
.
H
e
wrapped his fingers around the handle and lifted it, contemplating the dulle
d tip.
“
Is all this some elaborate means of shoving
a
woman down my gullet?”
“No.
Tho
ugh I think you could use one.”
Colton paused,
dropping a pointed gaze to
John’s
trousers.
“
Wouldn’t want your cock
to fall off from lack of use
.”
“Shut up, Colt.”
John dropped the poker before the
cold hearth.
“Not all
of us feel
the need to crow every
time he takes a woman to bed
.
Do you need a following of unsuspecting young misses to
feel like a man
?”
A dan
gerous gleam lit Colton’s eyes.
“At least I know what to
do with a willing woman.
You’re so cynical a common whore wouldn’t bed you.”
John scoffed
and strode toward the door.
He had no desire to swap
insults with the spoiled duke.
As one of the most powerful
Penny
rs
in Britain few told Colton
no
.
“Wait.” Colton reached out, the gesture all but begging John to stay.
“I can make it worth your while.”
“Money won’t fix all
of
your problems, Colt.”
“If you
pay
court
to
Lady Penelope I will give you the Egyptian urn.”
John ground to an immediate halt, whipping back to face his brother. “You jest.”
The
smooth
black u
rn with gold inlay outlining intricate
hieroglyphics
flashed through John’s mind
.
“I
a
m dead
ly
serious
.
If you do this for me I will give you the urn.”
A hint of desperation marked Colton’s
typically unfettered appearance, piquing John’s interest
.
John f
olded his arms over his chest.
“What the hell did you do?”
Colton raised a hand
as though waving off John’s concerns
. “It’s not what you think.
I’ve done nothing untoward
, but…”
“But?”
“It’s all rather complicated and I’d rather not discuss it
.”
Colton raked a hand thro
ugh his perfectly combed
hair, mussing the dark locks,
a
nd released a beleaguered sigh.
He sank into a cushioned chair and draped h
is arms over the wooden sides.
The young duke looked, for lack of a better word,
tired
—r
umpled
and tired—w
hich
surprised John.
Up until this very moment he hadn’t believed a serious bone existed in his
carefree
brother’
s body.
“
You of all people should understand that.”
John drew a long, slow breat
h, contemplating the situation. Something was amiss.
The Egyptian
u
rn was a prized possession in the Breckenridge
family dating back generations.
For Colton to relinquish the piece…
“Fine,” John said abruptly.
“You’ll do it?
You’ll court Lady Penelope?”
“For the
u
rn.”
O
bvious relief washed over
his brother’s perfect features.
“Excellent.”
Interest
regarding
Colton’
s predicament and odd behavior piqued, John dropped into the
chair across from his brother.
“Who is this Lady Penelope?
I’ll need
to know a thing or two about her if I’m
to play the love struck swain.”
Dear God…
the thought alone was enough to make him sick.
“You just met her in the ballroom,” Colton replied.
“Did I?”
John had little patience for parties and rarely paid attention to the
simpering misses in attendance.
“You mean the green skirt?”
Colt
on
rolled his eyes.
“She
was wearing a green gown, yes.
Is that truly all you noticed?
”
John grunted. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
He’d been too vexed
by
his brother’s summons
.
F
urrowing his brow,
h
e
thought back to the ballroom.
For the life of him he could not remember what the girl conversing with Colton looked like
.
“You have no appreciation for
the fairer sex,”
Colt muttered.
“We’ll have to remedy that.”
*
*
*
Sunlight streamed through the
bay windows
of the Landon
parlor, illuminating what was undoubtedly the largest bouquet of
flowers Penelope had ever seen.
White roses
bound with brilliant red ribbon spilled from
a pretty woven basket
,
while little pink and blue buds splashed color throughout the arrangement
.
One… two… three…
“There must be two dozen roses in that bunch,” Penelope murmured, more than a lit
tle overwhelmed by the display.
The
delicate array
must have cost a small fortune.
She fingered the calling card
still concealed in the cream colored e
nvelope.
Wide-
eyed Marie reached out and brushed the
enticing
, buttery
ribbon.
“Who sent
them?”
Penelope gulped,
unsure whether or not sh
e even wanted to open the card.
What if
Colton'
s unpleasant brother, Lord John,
had
sent this massive arrangement?
Or what of Colonel
Holbrook?
He’d made no
secret of his interest in her.
Or
… and here was the truly dangerous notion… wh
at if Colton sent the flowers?
Her heart pattered a beat faster
.
Stee
ling her courage, Penelope flipped open the tiny enve
lope and slipped out the card.
Her gaze settled on the name and she did not know whether to feel elated or devastated
.
“Colonel Holbrook,”
she read aloud.
At least Lord John hadn’t s
ent them
.
She shook her head.
How foolish to suspect that he might
offer gifts
simply because he drank the Gypsy
brew
.
“It seems the Colonel
intends to court you in earnest,” Marie murmured, casting Penelope a questioning glance
.
“Indeed.”
Pene
lope chewed at her bottom lip trying to convince herself that
if she could not have Colton then
this
is what she wanted—f
or a comfortable man to court her.
The thought sat hollow and unconvincing in her breast.
“Pity the colonel did not call in person,” Aunt Laura said
, a calculating gleam in her eye
.
Penelope glanced back down at the elegant me
ssage scrawled across the card.
“The note says he was unavoidably detained but will call later in the week.”
“We shall invite him to my
dinner party tomorrow night.”
Laura tapped her finger against an end
table.
“I’ll see to it you and the
Colonel are paired for cards.
With any luck he’ll offer for you by the month’s end.”
Engaged by March?
Penelope’s
spirits sank.
It all seemed so fast. She straightened a bit.
No.
To be courted by an earnest gentleman was exactly what she neede
d to
get her mind off Colton.
After their
uncomfortable encounter
last night
,
it was painfully
obvious the duke had moved on.
The time had come for Penelope to do so as well
.
“It may be a good thing Colonel Holbrook did
n’t call in person after all.”
Marie spun from th
e window, green eyes sparkling.
“I suspect
Penelope has another caller.”
The imposing figure of Lord
John flashed through her head.
“No,
”
Penelope blurted.
Marie grinned like a cat served warm cream—
she loved nothing more than to be right
.
“Yes.”
Impossible.
Penelope swiftly closed the distance to the large windo
w and
Penny
red
through the glass.
Oh, dear heavens.
Striding down the sidewalk, garbed to the very last stitch in black, was Lord John Breckenridge
.
