“A mild chill, was it?” Hal said, looking at the ghosts. Roland crossed his arms and returned the look with bland indifference. Nell smiled and shrugged at Hal. “And do you suffer still?”
“Not enough to mention,” she said. The way she held her shawl gave lie to that.
“Lady Morgan,” he said, dismounting, tying Keystone’s reins to a low-lying branch, “I fear I have stumbled into something here, at Keyvnor, that is not quite . . . ” He took a breath and tried again. “A will reading is not a social event. I should never have come at such a time. I mean to say,” he said, twitching his elbow to keep Nell away from him. Nell was breathing down his neck, literally.
He wanted to court the girl. He could not properly court her with ghosts at his elbow. During a will reading for a close family member.
He could not stop looking at Morgan’s mouth. She had the most delicate mouth set atop the most elegant little chin.
“You are leaving?” Morgan said, taking a step nearer to him. They stood upon the grass now, the wood behind her, the sea behind him. From the reflection in her eyes, he could see the slow melting of the sun into the sea. “You will not stay? Have I been too abrupt a hostess? Truly, I have not felt quite myself since we arrived.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Hal said, elbowing Nell again.
“Kiss her,” Nell whispered. “She wants you to kiss her.”
“He is not going to kiss a girl to whom he is not affianced,” Roland said.
“He already has done!” Nell said, not whispering any more.
“And nearly paid the penalty for doing so!” Roland snapped back. “The man will not be forced into marriage, and thank God for that.”
“Lord Blackwater?” Morgan said, looking up at him, lifting her delightful little chin. “You appear agitated. I hope I am not the cause.”
“She’d like nothing more than to be the cause,” Roland said. “Women live for such moments.”
“Do you know,” Nell said, rising high into the air, her hair blowing in the wind, “I think I am relieved we did not marry. You are a most contentious, most ill-tempered man, always giving in to pouts and tantrums.”
“A man does not pout!” Roland said, rising to match her height and drawing close to her, their vapors entangling.
“Then you should stop pouting!” Nell screamed in his face.
The roiling of their anger, their passion, swirled in the air around them and encompassed the whole cliff top. But that was not the reason Hal did it. He did it because he wanted to. He was not proud of it, but at least he was being honest about it.
Hal reached for Morgan, his hands on her face, and she seemed to melt toward him. He took that as a good sign.
“You, Lady Morgan, are the cause of everything. You are the reason I can’t sleep. You are the reason I am cold and hot by turns. You are the reason I find myself kissing girls without a by your leave.”
“You’ve been kissing girls?” she asked, her voice a breathy whisper against his mouth.
“One girl. You,” he said, and then he kissed her again. She seemed to like it. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him close, enveloping them both in her paisley shawl. The shawl tightened around them, beyond where her hands were, and he knew the cause. He hoped she did not.
When he stepped back from the kiss, or as much as the strangling shawl would allow, she wore a worried frown.
“I do not know if we align very well, Lord Blackwater,” she said. “I do not believe in ghosts and I am afraid that you do. Castle Keyvnor seems to inspire that sort of thing, all the legends that accrue to an old dwelling and so forth.”
He was shaking his head before she had finished speaking, pulling free of the shawl and giving a brushing motion to the ghosts with his hand behind his back. “I do not believe in ghosts.”
“Do you not?” she said, her voice hopeful. Then, looking at the sky, she said, “It has grown quite chilly, hasn’t it?”
“Warm her up, man,” Roland said. “We can’t let the little thing cool off.”
“Will you let the man propose?” Nell said.
“The sun has set,” Hal said. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“And I can see the moon rise in yours,” she said, relaxing in his arms.
He kissed her again. He felt like doing nothing more, and it kept her from asking questions about ghosts.
“Did you hear that?” she said, when he lifted his mouth from hers. “Did you hear bells ringing?”
He pulled her against his chest, burying her face there, kissing the top of her head. Nell and Roland were hovering on the edge of the cliff, quite far off now yet quite visible in the twilight sky, the rays of the sun striking the clouds from behind the ocean’s rim with all the force of a sword thrust.
“Do you want to know what I believe in?” he said, distracting her from the bells, because he had heard them and he was afraid they signaled more ghosts on the cliffs of Keyvnor, and Morgan did not need to have her beliefs shaken if he could prevent it. He wanted to protect her from everything, and he intended to do just that, for the rest of his life.
“What do you believe in?” she said, snuggling into him.
“I believe in us,” he said, and then he turned to face the sea and the rising Halloween moon. “I think that must be enough for any man.”
“And now we have to fix that idiot Mary,” Nell said. “I know just what she needs: a husband.”
Roland sat down on the edge of the cliff and hid his face in his hands. “A husband is your answer to every problem. ‘Tis like a sickness in you. Can’t we just see this one couple leg-shackled and off the place? I can tell you now, we are going to have to watch Banfield for the wolf he is. He’ll try to cheat Blackwater in the marriage settlement. Banfields are known for sharp dealing.”
“I shall make an agreement with you,” Nell said, pushing Roland’s arms aside so she could sit upon his lap. “You watch Banfield regarding the marriage portion, doing whatever you think best to him on Blackwater’s behalf and not your own endless revenge, mind, and I’ll not interfere. Just you leave Mary to me.”
Roland’s eyes grew huge in his face. “You’re not going to kill her, are you?”
“Don’t be absurd. How would it help me to do so? You know she’d stay about the place, moaning and weeping and screaming about something every hour of every day. She’d make a miserable ghost. No,” Nell said, catching her hair in her hands and winding it into a loose coil, “what she needs is a husband.”
“Of course you’d say that. What other solution could there be for any female trouble? But what man would have her?”
Nell ignored the question. “And once she has a husband, she’ll have a pack of children at her feet for the rest of her life. She won’t have a moment to think of her ghost lover.”
“I was never her ghost lover,” Roland said.
“‘Tis true. Her heart was all for Benedict,” Nell said, and then she laughed right into Roland’s face. Dare she say it? His pouty face.
About Claudia Dain
Claudia Welch/Claudia Dain graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA in English. While there she became a member of Alpha Phi, one of the oldest sororities in America. A two-time Rita finalist, she has won numerous writing awards and honors since her first novel was published in 2000. She has lived for most of her life in Los Angeles, called Connecticut home for a decade, and currently lives in North Carolina with her husband.
Connect With Claudia
@Claudia Dain
Claudia.Dain
www.ClaudiaDain.com
The Earl of Banfield’s Last Will & Testament
In the Name of God, Amen, I, Jonathan Hambly, Earl of Banfield, of Bocka Morrow in the County of Cornwall, resident of Castle Keyvnor, on this 11th day of August, 1811, being of weak body but of sound mind hereby declare this to be my last Will and Testament.
Gentlemen, first I will that all my just debts and funeral expenses shall be paid by m
y Trustees and Executors hereinafter named.
I charge my second cousin Allan Hambly, with the care of my wife, Evelyn DeLisle Hambly, shall she survive me. Allan Hambly shall see to her care and comfort within Castle Keyvnor for the remainder of her days. Allan Hambly shall continue to employ the servants who currently serve and see to her care and comfort.
I give and bequeath to my second cousin Allan Hambly the sum of twenty thousand pounds of Lawful money of Great Britain, the same sum my wife brought to the marriage, for her care, comfort and for wages of the servants tasked with her care.
I give and bequeath to my sister Octavia North Barrows the cameo that belonged to our mother.
I give and bequeath to Daniel Goodenham, Viscount North Barrows, the sum of one thousand pounds of Lawful money of Great Britain.
I give and bequeath to my nephew Peter Priske, Earl of Widcombe, my 1721 edition of The Works of Geoffrey Chauceras.
I give and bequeath to my niece Gwnedolyn Beck, Marchioness of Halesworth, the blue and gold porcelain tea service.
I give and bequeath to Blade Hambly, controlling interests in two cooper mines and my collection of papers by astronomers William Wolleston, William Herschel, Pierre Simon Laplace and John Goodricke.
I give and bequeath to Lucien De Roye, my holdings of stock in the East India Dock Company.
I give and bequeath to Clive DeLisle, the red, orange, blue, green, gold and silver monstrosity of a vase.
I give and bequeath to Christopher Deering, Marquess of Brauning, my marbled clay pipe.
I give and bequeath to Jane Hawkins, the Kirkbourne estate.
I give and bequeath to Viscount Sutton, my 1725 edition of Homer’s Odyssey.
I give and bequeath to Baron Dinedor, ten thousand pounds of Lawful money of Great Britain.
I give and bequeath to Mr. Gryffyn Cardew, the parcel of Lancarrow land as laid out in the original sale.
I give and bequeath to Adam Vail, the land currently occupied by the Boswell gypsies.
I give and bequeath to St. David’s Church in the village of Bocka Morrow, two thousand pounds of Lawful money of Great Britain, for their roofing fund.
I give and bequeath to my servant and valet, Mr. Simpkins if he lives with me at the time of my Death all my wearing apparel and one years wages above what may be due to him at my Decease.
Likewise I give to my servants, Mrs. Bray, Mr. Drake, Mrs. Woodead and Mr. Morris, if they live with me at the time of my Death, one years wages above what may be due them at my Decease.
All the residue of my personal Estates of what nature or kind whatsowever and wheresoever I give to Allan Hambly and I Hereby Charge both my Real and personal Estates with the payment of my Just Debts and Legacies.
Lastly, I nominate and appoint Allan Hambly as Sole Executor of this my Last Will and Testament revoking all other wills made by me.
In Witness whereof I, the said, Jonathan Hambly, Earl of Banfield, to this my Last Will and Testament have set my Hand and Seal this 11th Day of August in the year of our Lord one Thousand Eight Hundred and Eleven.
MORE - The Haunting of Castle Keyvnor
Vexed
Bedeviled
Mystified
Spellbound
Spellbound Page 26