His Wicked Ways

by Lorraine Beaumont

  Molly couldn’t help rolling her eyes.

  “If you like, you can use the groomsman’s room to freshen up. They are already at the mine.”

  “I really don’t have the proper clothing…”

  “Don’t worry about that.” She waved her hand dismissively. “You look divine,” Peggy assured him boldly.

  “Thanks.” He gave her a heart-stopping smile.

  In that moment, Molly felt a surge of jealousy towards her friend.

  “Oh…Lucian,” Peggy purred as though they were long lost friends, “would you be a dear and give our little Molly here, a ride over to the wedding? My cart is full.”

  “Sure.”

  “You’re the best.” She reached forward and gave him a big boob-squishing hug.

  Granted, Peggy had always been the more outgoing of the two women, which was why she was getting married in the first place. The first time Peggy laid eyes on Marshall, she informed Molly that he was going to be her husband. When Peggy saw something she wanted, she went after it. And sure enough, even though Marshall was in another relationship at the time, Peggy had boldly given him her number with a “if you break up with her, give me a call.” Low, and behold, not four months later Marshall called Peggy and they had been together ever since.

  It still amazed Molly it had been so easy for her friend. But Peggy was one of those people. She took chances and this time it had paid off tenfold. Now, they were the quintessential perfect couple, and Molly wished she too could find someone who loved her as much as Marshall loved Peggy. She thought she had found that with Dan, but of course, just like every other relationship she had, it didn’t pan out.

  “I better get going, wedding, and all.” Peggy let out another childlike giggle and took off across the parking lot in a flurry of toile and satin.

  “I’m sorry about that,” Molly said, her face flushed.

  “Don’t be,” he said. “I love weddings.”

  “You do?” Molly squeaked.

  “Sure.” He grinned and his eyes twinkled mischievously.

  “Are you messing with me?”

  His brow lifted. “I’m serious—I mean, what’s there not to like?” What the hell was the matter with him?

  CHAPTER NINE

  A river of sweat pooled in the valley between Molly’s boobs by the time she made it to the door of the quaint hotel. As she jerked open the door and walked into the lobby, a burst of cool air slapped against her, making gooseflesh rise on her sweat-dampened skin.

  An old fifties song warbled out of the overhead speakers as Molly shimmied across the marble tiles. She was sure her ass looked like two pigs fighting under a blanket of green taffeta as she made her way to the set of rooms reserved for the Bridal Party. “So where were you headed?”

  He gave her a questioning look.

  “When you nearly ran me over?” she elaborated.

  “You mean when you ran out in front of me?”

  Molly cringed. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

  “It’s not that big of a deal.”

  “So….” She gave him a questioning look.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Nowhere in particular,” said Lucian. “I was just enjoying the sights.” He didn’t mention he was dead broke and had no idea where he would go.

  “Oh.”

  “You from around here?” he asked.

  “Yeah, born and raised.” She cringed. God, she sounded like she was talking about livestock.

  By the time Molly stopped in front of one of the doors the conversation had dwindled and the silence was deafening. “You can freshen up in here.” She used the key card to open the emerald green door.

  “Where will you be?” He tucked his hair behind his ear.

  “I’ll be right next door.”

  “Is there a connecting door?”

  “Um, I think. Why?”

  A slow smile spread across his handsome face. “I was just wondering.”

  Molly’s belly flip-flopped. “Well, um, yeah,” she said lamely, wiping her sweaty palms on her dress. “I’ll meet you back here in say…”

  “Half hour?” he suggested.

  “Sounds good,” she said as she tried to move past him.

  Lucian stepped forward and blocked her escape.

  Molly looked up and her belly did another funky-flip thing. “Is something wrong?”

  “No.” He shook his head and stepped out of her way.

  “Okay.” Molly unlocked the door and slipped inside. Once the door was firmly shut, she leaned back against the cool metal. Smiling she took a breath and then rushed off to get ready.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Twenty-nine minutes and fifty seconds later, Molly stood outside of his door, well, the groomsman’s door. Taking a bracing breath, she lifted her hand to knock just as the door opened. “Oh.” She stumbled backward.

  Lucian noticed three things when he saw her. One: For some reason unbeknownst to him, he was unaccountably nervous. Two: He had a sudden urge to pull her into his arms and kiss that look from her face. Three: He decided he must be out of his ever-loving mind, because he never thought about shit like this.

  ”Hi there,” Molly said, smiling up at him.

  Lucian was momentarily mesmerized by the small freckle right beside her full top lip.

  “Are you ready?”

  He lifted his eyes back to hers. “Don’t I look ready?”

  “Of course,” she flustered. “Where did you get the jacket?”

  “One of the guys in the wedding party came back and gave it to me to wear.” Lucian pulled the door closed and made sure it was locked.

  “You look nice.” That was an understatement—he looked better than nice—he looked HOT!

  “Thanks.” A slight smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “You look beautiful.”

  A flush of heat climbed to her face. “Thanks.”

  He extended out his elbow. “Shall we?”

  “Yes, of course.” Molly slipped her hand through his arm and lifted her gown with the other hand.

  “So, where is this Emerald mine?”

  “It’s not too far from here.”

  “I’m afraid riding my bike isn’t going to do much for your hair.” He gave her another sweep with his eyes.

  “I know,” Molly agreed. “That’s why we’re taking a golf cart.”

  He gave her a questioning look. “Peggy had one brought back up while you, I mean, we, were getting ready,” Molly explained.

  Digging in her confetti-sequined bag, she pulled out the keys. “Do you mind driving?”

  “Not at all,” he said and took the keys.

  When his fingers touched hers, another jolting tingle slid up her arm. She glanced at him to see if he felt it too but he didn’t seem fazed. Dangit.

  Once outside he helped her into the golf cart. Rounding the back, he rubbed his tingly fingers. “Keep it together,” he reprimanded himself and walked around to the driver’s side. The cart tilted slightly as he climbed inside. Putting the key in the ignition, he turned it on. The engine made a buzzing sound. He glanced over at her again. “You ready?”

  “Yes.” Her heart was beating really fast.

  He put the cart in gear and gave it some gas.

  The cart lurched forward and cut off.

  A flush of red crested his cheeks. He hit the gas again. The cart lurched and puttered out. “Am I doing something wrong?”

  “I think the emergency brake is on.”

  “Right.” Releasing the brake, he pressed down on the gas again and the cart jolted forward. “Hold on,” he said, laughing.

  “I am.” Molly was laughing too. She tightened her grip on the dashboard.

  Lucian’s long legs were cramped in the small space, and he had a hard time turning the wheel as he pulled out onto the main road.

  Molly was having a hard time, too. But it didn’t have anything to do with being cramped and more to do with trying to keep her eyes on the road. Instead, every few minutes, her gaze sli
d back to him. The black jacket he was wearing strained against his broad shoulders and muscled arms.

  “So,” he said, glancing over at her, “what’s with your friend having a wedding in an Emerald mine?”

  “Peggy and Marshall like to think of themselves as an unconventional couple.”

  “Well, they sound like it. I’ve never been to a wedding at an Emerald mine before.”

  “Do you go to many weddings?”

  “No.” He laughed and shook his head. “Not at all. This is a first for me.”

  “First wedding at an Emerald mine, or is it your first wedding?”

  “Both,” he admitted.

  “Oh.”

  “How about you?” He glanced over at her.

  “I’ve never been to a wedding at an Emerald mine before but I have attended a few weddings.”

  “How were they?” He pressed the brake, slowing the cart around another steep turn.

  “Depressing.” She made a face.

  Again, Lucian laughed. “That bad?”

  “Well, it does tend to get old.”

  He gave her a questioning look.

  “I’m always a bridesmaid or in this instance, the maid of honor,” she elaborated. “Never the bride,” she muttered. Once the words were out of her mouth, she wished she kept her big mouth shut because his expression changed completely.

  Lucian turned and looked back out the windshield. That was the last thing he needed. He had sworn off women, well, nice women, since Cecily. “Oh.”

  “I’m not one of those girls…” Molly blurted.

  “What kind of girl might that be?” His brow lifted.

  “The ones that only want to get married. I mean, I do, I guess, at some point, but only if I meet the right guy,” she was quick to assure him. “How about you?” she asked.

  His body visibly tensed. “I’m not the type to settle down,” he answered truthfully.

  “Oh.” Molly didn’t know why, but hearing him say that made her feel depressed. “So…” she hedged, “you never want to have kids?”

  “I never gave it much thought,” he admitted.

  “I don’t really think about having kids, either. Sometimes, I think there is something wrong with me.”

  His brows creased. “Why?”

  “I guess I should want kids at some point but I just don’t see what the big deal is. Peggy always talks about her maternal clock ticking, but I think mine is broke.”

  Lucian smiled at that. “Yeah, me neither.”

  “Since you don’t want to have kids, what do you want to do with the rest of your life?”

  “I don’t know. I guess travel.” The cart lurched as he slowed around another steep turn. “What about you?”

  “I don’t know, either. I might want to travel, too.”

  “Where would you like to go?”

  “Maybe Scotland,” she said. “I’ve never seen a real castle before, except Cinderella’s at Disney World.”

  His lips twitched.

  “What?”

  “I don’t’ think that qualifies as a real castle.”

  “Yeah. I know.” She shrugged. “So, I guess, if I could, I wouldn’t mind exploring a few castles, just to say I did.”

  “You’re not missing much,” he muttered.

  “Why do you say it like that?” Molly noticed how closed off he seemed suddenly.

  “I pretty much grew up in one.”

  “Wow.” She turned more in her seat. “That’s amazing.”

  “Not really.” He thought about Ravenhurst, the vast rooms and acres of floor space. A place he never felt like he could get any privacy.

  “Is it still in your family?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “My brother still lives there.”

  “All alone?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “He recently got married.”

  Molly remembered what he said. “You didn’t go to his wedding?”

  “I wasn’t invited.”

  “That’s terrible. Why not?”

  “It’s a long story,” he said and that was the end of that.

  A long silence stretched between them as the cart chugged up another hill.

  “Did you have servants?” Molly asked suddenly, hoping to break the silence.

  “Yeah, we did, for a while.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “Not really.”

  “Oh.” She didn’t know what to say to that.

  Another long silence stretched between them.

  “Is it in Scotland?” Molly asked.

  “No. It’s in England.”

  “What’s it called?”

  “Ravenhurst.”

  “Oh.” Molly brows creased. She wasn’t sure why the name sounded so familiar to her, but it did. “How old is it?”

  “It’s rumored to have been erected in the time of King Arthur.”

  “Wow. Seriously?”

  Lucian glanced at her, seeing her excitement. It warmed him. He never much thought about what it might sound like, especially to someone like Molly that he had grown up in a real castle. “It doesn’t really look like a castle anymore. A lot of the owners through time have added to it and now, it looks more like a Gothic monstrosity with spires and gargoyles.”

  “That sounds amazing.”

  He shrugged. “It has a dungeon, too.”

  “Shut Up!”

  Lucian laughed. “I’m serious. Even though I have to admit that I have only seen it once. It was pretty creepy.”

  “I’ll bet. Did it have torturing devices or chains with shackles hooked to the walls?”

  “I’m not sure. I was very young when I saw it. And before I could really explore it, my father found me. He scolded me for being down there.”

  “Did you try to sneak down there again?”

  “Once….”

  “Well…” she asked expectantly. “ What did you see?”

  “I didn’t really see anything, but I heard something strange—something that didn’t sound quite right.”

  “Like what?”

  “Not sure.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I ran like the dickens and never went down there again.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah,” he said, nodding.

  “What do you think was down there?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing, I guess.”

  “Oh, come on,” she said. “You have to have a theory.”

  “You’ll think I’m crazy.”

  “I won’t,” she was quick to assure him.

  “Well, it seemed like someone was there, even though I couldn’t see them.” His body visibly tensed. “I had a feeling that someone was beside me, watching…waiting…”

  “For?”

  “I don’t know. And I’m afraid I didn’t wait around to find out.”

  “Do you think it was a ghost?”

  His brow hitched up a notch. “You believe in ghosts?”

  “I don’t know… maaybeee.”

  “Really?” Now it was his turn to look surprised.

  “Yeah. I kind of do,” she admitted.

  “Huh?” He gave her a curious look. “I didn’t figure you for the type of girl to believe in ghosts.”

  “I don’t’ know if I do or not. But I sometimes watch the reality shows on haunted houses and castles on the Discovery channel…or is it the History channel…?” she mused. “Well, never mind.” She waved her hand. “It doesn’t really matter where I’ve seen it, only that there seems to be a lot of evidence that points to things like that.”

  “Ravenhurst is presumably haunted.”

  “Well,” she said. “Then you should know what I’m talking about.”

  “Not really. I always chalked up the strange noises I heard as a child to my young, over active imagination.”

  “But what about the reality shows then? Do you think it’s a hoax?”

  “Not sure. I guess it could be.”

  “Don’t you think it has
to be based in some kind of fact?”

  “Depends.”

  “On…”

  “Whether you believe in that kind of stuff or not,” he said and glanced over at her—his eyes sparkling.

  Once again, her heart made an involuntary flutter. “What is supposedly haunting Ravenhurst?”

  “A Knight, maybe.” He shrugged.

  “A Knight?” she repeated.

  “Well, yeah,” he said. “When Ravenhurst first came to be, a Knight inhabited the castle and then one day he disappeared.”

  “Where did he go?”

  “No one knows for certain.”

  Molly pondered that for a moment, her mind spinning tales from a forgotten time.

  “It is also rumored to have a treasure as well.”

  “A real treasure?” Molly’s mind came back to the present. “Like from a pirate ship?”

  “I don’t think it came from a pirate ship.”

  “Where did it come from?”

  “The Knight,” he said.

  “How did he get a treasure?”

  “He won a lot of battles.”

  “What does that have to do with treasure?”

  “As the saying goes… “To the victor go the spoils…”

  “So, he robbed people, like Robin Hood, but instead of giving it to the poor he kept it for himself?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Wow. That’s crazy.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “It kind of is. But it gets even better…”

  Molly turned more fully towards him.

  “There is a legend, too.”

  “What does the legend say?”

  “It’s more of a riddle.”

  “I love riddles,” she said, getting excited. “What is it?”

  “It goes something like, “Locked within for all time may no other find peace of mind.”

  She shivered. “That sounds more like a curse.”

  “Yeah, I thought so too.”

  “What does it mean?”

  “That’s the million-dollar question. No one knows for certain.”

  “Huh.” Molly chewed on her lip and looked out the windshield.

  “I’m sure it’s just a load of rubbish, anyway.”

  “Yeah, I suppose.” Molly didn’t tell him that she too had heard that story somewhere before. Something her father had told her a while ago. She never much paid attention to it when he told her, but now she wished she had.