Spellbound

Spellbound

A Regency Romance

Jaimey Grant

Smashwords
Edition

copyright © 2008 Laura
J Miller (Jaimey Grant)


cover art © 2009 Laura
J Miller


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Other titles by Jaimey Grant
at Smashwords.com:

Betrayal:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1324

Heartless:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1385

Redemption:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1433

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ISBN: 1440414726 (EAN-13:
978-1440414725)

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The following is a
work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are
fictitious or used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons,
living or dead, events or businesses is coincidental and
unintentional.


January 1820

“It’s insane, Raven. He’s
insane. How can you even consider it?”

Raven Emerson stared at
Adam, her slightly raised brows the only sign of her annoyance.
Adam’s wife, Bri, was strangely silent. Normally, she was full of
ideas and opinions, some quite scandalous, but today she was
keeping her thoughts to herself. Raven was unsure why this was but
decided to spare her friend the necessity of giving her opinion in
front of Adam.

“I don’t see how my
decision is any concern of yours, Adam Prestwich,” replied Raven in
her throaty voice. Her expression revealed nothing.

“None of my concern?”
Disbelief was writ plain on the baronet’s handsome face. “And how,
madam, do you suppose that?”

His tone had taken on a
dangerous silkiness that Raven knew meant he was more than a little
perturbed. She didn’t care. She was no longer his to command and
she’d be damned if she’d let him try.

“I’m not your
responsibility now,” she told him. “You have a wife and children to
worry about. Leave me be.”

Adam stared at her. “You
may not be my mistress anymore but you’re still my friend and my
wife’s as well.” He paused but Raven said nothing. “You cannot have
thought this through!” he finally exploded.

“I assure you, I have,” she
told him quietly—and completely without truth. She caught the look
of surprise on Bri’s face but ignored it. “Lord Windhaven assures
me I will be well paid and have nothing to fear from his family
provided I play my part well.” A ghost of a smile crossed her lips.
“And there is little fear of that considering I’ve been an actress
for years.”

“But you have acted in
nothing for nearly a year, Raven,” Adam pointed out mockingly. “Are
you sure you remember how?”

Raven glared at him in
response. She was used to Adam’s callousness. She had been under
his protection for years before he met and married Lady Brianna
Derring, a titled lady in her own right and running from her
family. Adam’s hands had been full to overflowing with Bri’s
problems and while Raven had been of some considerable help to the
couple, she had also been in the way.

Adam released an
exasperated breath. “The man must be completely balmy to ask you to
impersonate a peeress, Raven. Either that or he views you as
expendable. Do you realize they will hang you if you’re discovered?
And his family will probably be the first to lead you to the
scaffold. Can he protect you then?”

Raven shrugged with seeming
nonchalance. “He’s a duke,” she said carelessly. Inside she was
frightened but she’d never reveal that to the odious man before
her.

A shiver of excitement
coursed through her. Her life had become a trifle boring of late—a
circumstance she blamed entirely on her past decisions and her
belief that she had a penance to pay for giving in to
temptation—once with Adam and once with…

She pushed her other
indiscretion determinedly from her mind.

While her thoughts were
wandering, Sir Adam Prestwich had rounded on her. “You will die,
Raven, duke or not. They will not hesitate to kill an actress grown
too puffed up in her own consequence. You know the aristocracy
prides itself in keeping out the mushrooms and counter-jumpers. It
doesn’t matter that you were once the toast of Drury Lane, you’ll
die.”

“Adam, please,” protested
his wife from her perch on the window seat. The actress had become
slightly pale during Adam’s diatribe.

Adam’s severe expression
settled on Bri’s pleading face. “Am I being too blunt, my love?
Should I sugarcoat it and pretend the situation is not as serious
as it seems? And what good, may I ask, will that do?”

Bri scowled at him.
“Nothing, I suppose, but this is Raven’s decision, you
know.”

“And what is your opinion,
madam wife?” he asked, but Bri clamped her mouth shut and refused
to answer. “Very well, my lady, don’t tell me. But be assured I
will hold you personally responsible if I find out you encouraged
her in this madness.”

Bri offered a feline grin.
Adam just shook his head and looked back at Raven. “If you insist
on this folly, despite my better judgment, I promise to help in any
way I can when you are found out. Which won’t be much, all things
considered.” With a mocking bow, Adam stormed from the room,
leaving the ladies alone.

“What do you think?” Raven
inquired casually. She studied her friend’s face closely and felt
an odd sense of relief at the smile lurking just below the surface
of Bri’s arresting countenance. Then Bri frowned, effectively
killing any sense of relief and starting a twinge of doubt in
Raven’s decision.

“Have you thought this
through?”

“Of course I have. What
sort of bufflehead do you think I am?”

Bri’s left eyebrow quirked
slightly. “Honestly, you’re attics to let for entertaining
acceptance for more than a second. But,” her lovely face split into
a grin, “I would be a liar if I told you I was not the least bit
intrigued. And Lord Windhaven is very handsome. One must wonder why
he should have to purchase a bride. Even a pretend one.” Her
emerald green eyes twinkled wickedly.

Raven smiled back. “Don’t
let Adam hear you say that. He’d likely call the duke out for
daring to be handsome enough to catch your eye.”

Bri laughed at that. Raven
frowned slightly. “I have only one problem.”

“Linnet.”

“Yes. His grace doesn’t
know about her and I can hardly foist an unknown girl on him when I
am supposed to be Dunston’s long-lost daughter. I highly doubt she
would turn up with another young woman in tow.”

“I agree. You can leave her
here. I know Callie would love to have her friend. And Adam adores
your sister.”

“Thank you. I admit I would
feel more comfortable if she is here.”

“I have to know, Raven,
what will you do if someone hears of your “reappearance” and
chooses to investigate?”

“Lord Windhaven assured me
that his family has not left his primary estate for years and the
only one that might actually recognize me would be his brother who
has not even visited the estate in five or six years.”

“I can’t say I really care
for those odds, Raven.”

“Nor do I. But,” she said,
searching her mind for something to say, “there was something in
his expression that struck me as…desperate. I don’t know quite how
to explain it.”

“And you long for
adventure,” murmured Bri shrewdly.

Raven smiled. “Don’t we
all.” Her smile disappeared. “There is a mystery there somewhere,
Bri. And I mean to find out why a handsome and wealthy duke feels
the need to trick his family into believing he is engaged to
marry.”

A plain carriage arrived in
Mayfair one mild winter day about a week after Raven’s introduction
to the Duke of Windhaven. It stopped before one of the more modest
homes and picked up a young woman dressed in a plain black cloak
and drab bonnet. A few boxes and trunks were loaded into the boot
and then the carriage pulled away and disappeared.

Some who knew said it was
that actress that left. She had caused a minor sensation when she
had moved into the respectable neighborhood of Mayfair. Many wanted
her gone. They simply assumed their prayers had been answered. They
cared not where the carriage was taking her as long as she was
gone.

Raven sat inside the plain
but well-sprung carriage and let her mind wander at will. Linnet
had been sad to be parted from her beloved older sister but her
excitement at living with her very good friend, young Callie
Prestwich, was a balm. Raven could be glad for it.

Adam’s farewell had carried
a phenomenal amount of disapproval. Raven shrugged at her thoughts,
determined to ignore the uneasy feeling Adam’s displeasure caused
her. It wasn’t that she felt she had to please him. Even with
Adam’s innate cynicism, he was usually at least partially correct
in his feelings.

Bri had withheld her true
feelings on the matter and emanated an air of vague indifference
that Raven was sure did not fool Adam in the least. She just hoped
he would not be too hard on her.

The journey into Kent was
not particularly long and Raven soon found herself at what would be
her home for the next few months, provided her masquerade lasted
that long. First, the carriage passed through the village of Lower
Kempworth, near Tunbridge Wells.

Raven stared out the
window, being careful to stay out of view of anyone happening to
pass by. The village was small, consisting of only a mercantile
that served as post office, haberdasher’s, linen draper’s, and
general store, a livery stable for anyone desirous of hiring a
mediocre hack or boarding their own hack, and a small inn that had
only three rooms available for passersby and visitors. Raven
doubted the livery even had a post chaise for rent, it was so
small.

Raven was surprised when
her conveyance stopped before a tiny cottage on the outskirts of
the town. She was about to raise the trap and ask the coachman what
he was about when the door was flung open and a pretty girl of
about eighteen climbed in. She sat down on the seat opposite Raven
and smiled brightly.

“My name is Meg, milady.
His grace hired me to act as your maid since you’ve not yet hired
one.”

Raven said nothing and just
stared at the bubbly girl. She had not thought of such a thing and
was secretly surprised that the duke had. It was something she
should have realized. The fact that she hadn’t made Raven wonder if
she was making the biggest mistake of her life to date.

“Don’t talk much?” asked
Meg. “That’s alright. I can talk enough for the both of us, I
reckon.”

Raven had no doubt of this.
“Do you know who I am, then?”

“His grace told me, milady,
that he did. He said as how I was to make sure you was taken care
of proper like and not made to feel uncomfortable.”

“Did he?”

“Oh, yes, milady. His grace
is ever so kind and con-consid-considerate!” she finished
triumphantly.

“Indeed?”

“Oh, yes, milady. Everyone
says so. Even old Mrs. Barkley down the lane says there is no
gentleman kinder than the Duke of Windhaven and she hates
everyone.”

Raven’s black brows rose
slightly at this bit of insight. Her only knowledge of the man came
from her one interview with him and he had been so mysterious, she
had not really known what to think. Anything this effervescent girl
might tell her would be welcome.