"That's right," Hew agreed. "As long as we call no attention to ourselves, he won't notice us."
Keely suffered a powerful urge to slide beneath the table and hide. Afraid to look across the room, she fixed her gaze on the wine goblet. Uncomfortably, she felt the lord's intense scrutiny—or was it her imagination?
Unable to endure the uncertainty another moment, Keely summoned her courage and forced herself to look across the room. The lord appeared deep in conversation with his friend, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that he watched them.
Keely's gaze slid to the earl's dark-haired companion. A disturbing image of lurking evil shrouded in dark mist formed in her mind and made her shiver.
When the two men stood abruptly, Keely's lips formed a silent perfect O. Odo and Hew were caught and would be hanged. If only she'd been blessed with her mother's unworldly talent, she would have correctly interpreted her vision and her cousins would not be coming to this tragic horrifying end.
The earl stood and called a friendly farewell to the tavern's owner, then turned to follow his companion to the door. His gaze flicked past them and then returned to Keely. She watched in growing horror as the earl changed direction and advanced on their table.
"No weapons," Keely whispered to her cousins. "We'll talk our way out of this."
Though she tried to appear casually unconcerned, Keely was unable to tear her gaze from the approaching earl. His copper hair was the brilliant radiance of Father Sun, and his disarming emerald eyes the green of her beloved forests in springtime. His features were ruggedly, handsomely chiseled and his lips sensuously formed. Walking toward their table, he moved with a hunter's predatory grace. Holy stones! The man was a pagan god sprung to life before her eyes.
"Trust the king who wears a flaming crown and possesses the golden touch...."
Keely gave herself a mental shake to banish her mother's prophecy. This was no king, no pagan god, merely a man. And an odious English earl to boot.
Stopping at their table, Richard ignored Odo and Hew and gazed down at Keely, who stared through large violet eyes back at him. Richard smiled then and turned the fall force of his charm on her.
"My lady," he greeted her with a slight incline of his head. Taking her hand in his, he bowed low over it and said without taking his gaze from hers, "Like a siren's song, your rare beauty called across the chamber to me."
Keely blushed furiously. She didn't know whether to be flattered by his outrageous compliment or insulted by his arrogant boldness. No man had ever spoken such intimate words to her—and no man had ever possessed a smile as radiant as his.
"Richard Devereux, the Earl of Basildon, at your service," Richard introduced himself, gazing deeply into her violet eyes, fully aware of his effect on her. "And who might you be?"
That smile could light a whole castle, Keely thought as she stared into his incredible emerald eyes. She couldn't seem to find her voice.
"My lady?" Richard prodded.
"I am—" Her voice came out in the high-pitched squeak of a nervous soprano. Richard grinned.
Keely blushed and cleared her throat. "I am Lady Keely Glendower," she finally managed to say.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Keely," Richard said. He glanced at Odo and Hew who, certain they were about to be arrested, squirmed in their seats. "I sincerely hope, my beauty, that neither of these gentlemen claims you as his wife."
"My cousins," Keely replied. "Odo and Hew Lloyd."
Richard shook hands with each of them in turn and then remarked, "You do seem vaguely familiar. Have we met somewhere before?"
"Impossible," Keely spoke up, drawing his attention from her cousins. "We've only just arrived from Wales."
"Are you in London for business or pleasure?"
"Neither. My cousins are escorting me to my father's home. You see, my mother recently passed on to the Great Ad—" Keely broke off, shocked at what she'd almost revealed. "I'm to live with my father in London."
"Who is your father?" Richard asked.
"An Englishman."
Richard's lips quirked. "I gleaned as much. I only ask because I might know him."
Keely forced herself to smile as winsomely as she could. "Many Englishmen crowd London's lanes."
Though he considered himself an expert at prying information out of people, Richard realized with a start that she hadn't actually answered his question. He tried again, asking, "Will you be staying long at the Rooster?"
Keely shook her head. "In the morning I will present myself to my father."
"Lady Keely, your uncommon beauty has given me great pleasure," Richard said, bowing over her hand. "I'm quite certain we shall meet again." Without another word, the earl quit the tavern.
Keely stared at his retreating back—his magnificently masculine back. For her cousins' sake, she sincerely hoped they'd never meet again. And yet—
Keely sighed. Dreaming about things that could never be was useless.
"He's gone," Odo said.
"We're safe," Hew added. "You can stop shaking now."
Keely managed a faint smile. Though she hadn't eaten since the previous evening, the sight of the stew set before her made her stomach churn. "I don't feel well," she said. "I'm going upstairs. Enjoy your supper."
Clutching her satchel, Keely stood up and made her way through the crowded tavern. On shaking legs, she climbed the stairs to the second floor and walked the length of the corridor, then entered her chamber.
Without bothering to light a candle, Keely crossed the dark chamber to the cot and pulled her ceremonial white robe out of the satchel. She wrapped the hooded robe around herself as if it could offer her protection.
Keely looked at the cot and sighed. Between the earl's unnerving appearance and the frightening prospect of confronting her father, Keely knew that sleep would elude her that night.
She lay down on the cot anyway, and her thoughts traveled through space and time to Wales. Memories of her childhood and her wonderful mother crowded into that tiny chamber. Keely recalled that, no matter the season of the year, Megan and she would wander the woodland surrounding the Lloyd estate and study the special divinity of nature. Each afternoon they would sit together beneath the mighty oaks where her mother passed the Golden Thread of Knowledge to her.
Tears welled up in Keely's eyes and spilled down her cheeks. Surrendering to her sorrow, she wept until sobbing exhaustion put her to sleep.
Keely awakened during those hushed magical moments before dawn. Her chamber held the crisp bite of late September's early morning chill. Wrapping herself in her white ceremonial robe, Keely wandered to the room's tiny window. The eastern horizon blazed with orange light as dawn quickly approached.
Her gaze dropped from the sky's oceanic horizon to the narrow lanes below. Civilization? Keely thought. How could these English even breathe? She felt as though London's crowded conditions were suffocating her.
Keely's thoughts drifted to the man she would meet that day. What kind of man had sired her? Could she really find happiness as an English lord's daughter? It seemed a preposterous notion, yet her mother had seen it.
Bright streaks of orange light crept higher over the horizon. The rising sun, different each day of the year, seemed especially inspiring on this fateful morn. Was that a good omen?
Keely drew the hood of her robe up and covered her head. If only she could be outside to feel the rising sun.
"Myrddin, greatest of Druids, guide my words," Keely began her greeting of the dawn. Trying to get closer to the rising sun, she pressed the palm of her hand to the window pane and chanted, "Father Sun kisses Mother Earth.... Father Sun kisses Mother Earth."
After completing this morning ritual, Keely sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to concentrate on the impending meeting with her father. Unfortunately, a certain copper-haired earl paraded across her mind's eye instead, and that made her think of the danger threatening her cousins. The Earl of Basildon had remarked that Odo and Hew looked familiar; it would b
e only a matter of time before he realized that her cousins were the culprits who'd robbed him.
Keely pondered her dilemma. According to her mother's teachings, she could cast the magic circle and beg a favor. A single favor—anything more insulted the Goddess's generosity.
Keely sighed. She had planned on asking for her father's acknowledgment, but now her cousins faced life-threatening danger—the earl's retribution. Her choice was no choice at all.
Fetching her satchel, Keely withdrew a black cloth bag and emptied the holy stones it contained into her hand. From these she chose nine: one white agate for spiritual guidance, two dark carnelians for courage and protection, two rose quartzes for healing, two black obsidians for positive power, and two purple beryls for breaking bad luck. Then she pulled her tiny golden sickle from the satchel.
Keely walked to the center of the room and made a makeshift circle with the stones, keeping only the white agate and the golden sickle in her hands. Entering the circle from the west, she closed it with the agate and said once again, "All disturbing thoughts remain outside."
Walking clockwise around the inside of the circle, Keely pointed the golden sickle toward its invisible periphery and fused it shut. She walked to the center of the circle, faced the east, and whispered: "Stones of power, love, and lore, aid my spell, I do implore.... Spirit of my journey, spirit of my ancestors, spirit of my tribe—aid my cause. Keep Odo and Hew safe from harm. Let Richard Devereux drink without injury from the River of Forgetfulness." Bowing her head, she added, "I give thanks to these holy stones, my venerable spirits, and this sickle of gold."
Keely walked to the circle's western periphery and picked the agate up, breaking the enchantment. She gathered the rest of her stones, put them back into the cloth bag, and sat on the edge of the bed to meditate on her father and await the appointed time.
At noon, Keely and her cousins dismounted in the front courtyard of Talbot House, London's most magnificent mansion. Keely looked up at the sun riding high in a cloudless blue sky. She knew that forever afterward, the midday sun would remind her of the day she finally met her father.
"Maybe we should have left our belongings at the tavern," Odo remarked, remembering what had transpired at Ludlow Castle.
Keely shook her head. "If Robert Talbot refuses to acknowledge me, we will return to Wales."
"Are you certain?"
"My mind is set."
"I hope that earl we robbed doesn't live nearby," Hew said, glancing around nervously. The tavern's proprietor had already informed them that all of England's nobles kept residences in the Strand, London's most elite section.
"Harbor no fears on that account," Keely told them. "I've invoked the Goddess's power for your protection."
"Too bad you didn't ask her to make us invisible," Hew muttered.
"Why, cousin," Keely said with a smile, "I never thought of an invisibility shield."
"No dallying," Odo said. "Time to meet your father, little girl."
Keely paled at his words but nodded. She was as ready as she'd ever be. Together, she and her cousins entered the duke's mansion. Surprisingly, no one stopped or questioned them. Inside the main foyer, servants hurried past them while a couple of men-at-arms stood near the wall on their left and talked together.
When they tried to enter the great hall, a servant blocked their path and demanded, "Who goes here? What is your business?"
"We want the duke," Odo replied.
"Is there a problem, Meade?" a man's voice called from inside the hall.
Meade glanced over his shoulder and said, "No, Your Grace." Turning back to the three intruders, he snapped, "The duke has guests and cannot be disturbed. Now, get out!"
Keely's heart sank, and her bottom lip quivered in her valiant struggle to control her aching emotion. She was being turned away. Again.
"We've traveled many miles to see his high-and-mighty," Odo growled at the man.
"We aren't leaving, you turd," Hew added.
Keely stifled a nervous, horrified giggle. "You mean toad," she whispered.
"He means turd," Odo said.
"Take your doxy and leave," Meade ordered, pointing a finger toward the door, "or I'll call the guard."
"Call all the guards you want," Odo said, lifting the hapless servant by his neck and flinging him into the hall, where he crashed on the floor.
A woman screamed.
A man cursed.
A third voice boomed, "What is the meaning of this?"
With Odo and Hew marching in front of her and blocking her view, Keely walked into the great hall. The scene wasn't exactly as she'd envisioned, but she'd made it inside.
"Are you the Duke of Ludlow?" Odo demanded.
"Yes."
At that, the Welsh giants stepped aside, and Keely found herself standing only inches before a powerfully built, middle-aged nobleman. His startling violet eyes and thick ebony hair matched hers.
"Are you Robert Talbot?" Keely asked in a small voice.
The nobleman paled, and his eyes clouded as though he were caught in the midst of remembered pain. "Megan?" he asked in an aching whisper, one of his hands reaching toward her. "Is it you?"
"My name is Keely," she told him. Oh, why did he seem so tortured? He had, after all, deserted her mother.
Duke Robert shook his head as if to clear it. His imagination was playing a cruel prank on him. Megan had been dead these past eighteen years.
"Where did you get that?" the duke asked, dropping his gaze to the dragon pendant, glittering against the crisp whiteness of her linen blouse.
"My mother gave it to me," Keely said. Her hand shielded the pendant. It was her mother's legacy to her, and she'd rather die than let anyone take it away, sire or not.
"And where did she get it?"
"My sire gifted her with it," Keely told him, her violet gaze locking meaningfully on his. "Eighteen years ago."
"What is her name?" the duke asked, looking as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Megan Glendower."
"Does your mother still live?" he asked, unable to mask the eager, hopeful tone in his voice.
Keely shook her head. "She's been dead these past two months."
Duke Robert closed his eyes against the rush of tears welling up in them, and an anguished moan escaped his lips. He took several deep calming breaths, cleared his throat, and gave her a wobbly smile. From beneath his shirt, Duke Robert pulled his own pendant. Diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and gold formed the dragon's lower body and tail.
"This is your pendant's mate," he said, his violet-eyed gaze searching hers for any sign of the love that already swelled in his heart for her.
Determined to save herself from the heartache of another rejection, Keely flicked a glance at the pendant and feigned indifference, saying, "Yes, I see."
"Child, I am your father," Duke Robert announced.
"Her father?" sounded another voice.
"Damn," Odo muttered behind Keely.
"Double damn," Hew echoed his brother's sentiment.
Keely turned toward the owner of that strangely familiar voice and froze. There stood the earl whom her cousins had robbed. "Triple damn," she murmured, realizing her magic had failed her.
Ignoring the earl's outburst, Duke Robert looked around at the crowd of curious spectators lingering about and shouted, "Get the hell out of my hall!"
The Talbot retainers and men-at-arms tripped over each other in a mad scramble to obey their lord. Almost instantly, the hall emptied.
"After eighteen years," Duke Robert said to Keely, "what have you to say to your father?"
"I have no father," she replied, her voice tinged with bitterness, her gaze never wavering from his. "You sired me, nothing more. If Megan hadn't made me swear to present myself to you, I would be far away from here now."
Her insolence brought an instant reaction from the duke, but not the one she would have expected. Something flickered in his intense gaze, and then his chiseled lips split into a broad
grin.
"Chessy, did you hear that?" Duke Robert called to the voluptuous woman standing beside the earl. "She's got my proud spirit, don't she?"
"I can see that she does, Tally," the woman agreed with a smile and a nod of approval.
The pride in the duke's voice touched Keely's heart, and for the first time since her mother's death, she felt hope and optimism stir within her breast. "I hope your man is uninjured," Keely said. "Odo and Hew are fiercely protective of me."
Duke Robert glanced at his majordomo who, at that very moment, was limping out of the hall. "I believe Meade will survive." He turned his attention on the giants. "For delivering my daughter to me, I am forever indebted to you," he said.
"Oh, Tally," gushed the woman. "How utterly heartwarming."
"Come, child." Duke Robert held his hand out. "Meet my friends."
Keely looked at the outstretched hand for an excruciatingly long moment. Finally, she smiled shyly at the duke and placed her hand in his.
"I present Lady Dawn DeFey, the Countess of Cheshire," Duke Robert said.
Though she appeared to be in her early thirties, youthful beauty still clung to the countess. Auburn-haired and brown-eyed, Lady Dawn was voluptuous of figure. When she smiled as she did now, two adorable dimples decorated her cheeks and made her look even younger. She wore a red and gold brocaded gown, more suitable for a court gala than an afternoon in front of the hearth. Diamonds and gold draped her neck, earlobes, and fingers.
"I am pleased to make your acquaintance, my lady," Keely said, curtsying. "You were aptly named for the day's most beautiful moments."
"Tally, the dear child is as sweet as an angel," Lady Dawn complimented her. "So much pleasanter than that bitch you sired.... Take my advice, Devereux. Look to this daughter instead of the other."
"Morgana cannot help the way she is," the duke said in defense of his absent daughter. "She takes after my late wife's family. You'll see, my dear. She'll come around."
Duke Robert turned Keely to his other guest. "I present my neighbor, Richard Devereux, the Earl of Basildon."
"The kindest of fates have brought us together," the earl said with an easy smile, stepping forward to kiss her hand. "I knew we would meet again, my beauty."
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