Courting Magic: A Kat, Incorrigible Novella

by Burgis, Stephanie

  It was a far cry from the events I’d been to in our little Yorkshire village, where six or seven families might come together for a dance from time to time, but nothing ever rivaled Squire Briggs’s massive Christmas festivities—which never boasted more than fifty people at once.

  Still, it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. I’d visited Elissa in London before, even if I hadn’t been officially “out” at the time. As I looked out of the closest carriage window, letting Stepmama’s nonstop stream of suggestions and commands pass over my head without remark, I knew perfectly well that I ought to calmly and quietly make myself ready for the evening ahead. There was so much to prepare for, after all, from remembering all the inane social rules my sisters and Stepmama had drilled into my head, to beginning the mission that Mr. Gregson had set for me.

  There was certainly no reason to waste any of my final moments on the memory of fierce green eyes finally meeting mine again after all those years of waiting…or on completely unproductive fantasies of how one particular young man might react when we met again that night.

  This time, I would actually be prepared.

  I hoped he was even more taken aback by my appearance than my family had been.

  I hoped…

  By the time we finally reached the Hadlows’ massive square block of a townhouse, I was ready to leap out of the carriage door just to escape my own spiraling, uncontrollable thoughts. I drew in a deep, steadying breath and waited to step outside like a lady, taking my place behind Stepmama and Elissa in the queue of people shuffling up the front steps.

  My attempt at dignity lasted less than a minute.

  “Kat! Kat Stephenson! Is that you?” A figure farther up the line started bobbing and waving frantically. “Kat?”

  As heads turned, I peered through the shadows, lit only by scattered torches. The figure ahead of me was blonde, round, excitable…but, no, it couldn’t possibly be… “Lucy?”

  “It is you!” My cousin-by-marriage, Lucy Wingate, came tearing down the steps, pushing important-looking personages out of her way, to throw her arms around me in a warm embrace. It was the first time I’d seen her in nearly six years, since her horrible mother had expelled her from the family for magical usage. “I can hardly believe it!”

  “I can’t believe it!” I said honestly as my family rustled in surprise around me. “I thought you’d been banished to Scotland and your great-aunts’ care forever!”

  “Oh, I was!” Lucy drew back, beaming. “It was the best thing that ever happened to me. My great-aunts are delightful. Do you see up there?” She pointed to where an eccentric-looking elderly lady in a bright purple-and-yellow gown and enormous spectacles was smiling indulgently down at us. “My great-aunt Sophronia decided to bring me down for a season in Town this year. Mama is outraged, of course, but as she cast me off years ago, she could hardly expect me to follow her orders and refuse the opportunity.”

  “Well…that’s wonderful, I suppose.” I shook my head in disbelief as I stepped back and took in the full view of Lucy, who looked astonishingly pretty in a demure white muslin ballgown, with flowers woven into her hair. “But…well, all the rumors, after what happened in Bath…is everything really all right?”

  Six years earlier, when she was fourteen years of age, Lucy Wingate had been witnessed in full view of the fashionable Bath Pump Room, engaging in public and extraordinary feats of magic. It was the most unforgivable sin any young lady could commit, by Society’s reckoning, and as much as I wracked my brains, I couldn’t begin to imagine how she had ever managed to secure an invitation to this ball.

  “Oh, I’m not Lucy Wingate anymore,” Lucy said in a cheerful whisper. “Great-Aunt Sophronia saw to that years ago by adopting me up in the Highlands, where no one had ever heard of me. I’m Lucy MacTavish now, and of course there aren’t any rumors about her. Better yet, as Mama and my sister Maria want everyone to forget I was ever a part of their family, they can hardly reveal my true identity to Society. Isn’t that fortunate?”

  “My goodness.” Stepmama waved her fan rather wildly, looking as if she were about to swoon as she finally made the connection. “Lucy, is that…can that be you?”

  Stepmama, of course, had been in the Pump Room that day all those years before, standing at her cousin Mrs. Wingate’s side.

  I coughed pointedly. “Actually, Stepmama…” I turned to include the rest of my family in the introduction. “…And Papa and Elissa and Mr. Collingwood…may I present Miss Lucy MacTavish? A very old friend.”

  “Of…of course.” Stepmama’s fan sped up, but she pinned a determined smile upon her face as the others made their greetings. She interrupted a moment later, though, to say, “My dear, I believe your companion is waiting for you.” She pointed with her fan to Lucy’s great-aunt, who was nearing the front door of the townhouse and gesturing to Lucy in a hurry-up motion.

  “Oh, bother. Well, I’ll find you later, Kat!” Lucy squeezed both of my hands. “I’m so delighted to see you here! We shall have such fun together, just like last time!”

  Stepmama let out a moan of horror.

  “Well, not quite like last time,” Lucy reassured her.

  Then she lowered one eyelid in a wink at me…just as the silk reticule that hung over my arm gave a sudden, mischievous bounce, hidden from view between our bodies.

  Aha. That answered my final question.

  Lucy hadn’t lost a single spark of the wild magic that had possessed her in Bath five years ago…nor a single ounce of her delight in it.

  I had never expected to be smiling as I walked into my Society début.

  My smile was decidedly worn about the edges, though, by the time we finally made it through the queue of stately presentations in the front hall and emerged into the massive ballroom. There must have been hundreds of tall candles scattered throughout the room as well as hanging in the giant chandeliers, and their light reflected brilliantly off the dozens of mirrors set about the walls. An orchestra was scraping away in the far corner, while at least thirty couples circulated around the dance floor and hundreds more jostled around the edges of the ballroom, packing every inch of empty space. The combined smells of sweat and beeswax and different gentlemen’s colognes and ladies’ perfumes were enough to make me grateful my new corset wasn’t any tighter.

  For the first time, I wished I had actually agreed to bring a fan.

  “There you are!” My other brother-in-law, Frederick Carlyle, swept in behind us to seize my arm. “Kat, you look stunned. Are you about to swoon? Or fire off a pistol just to thin the room a bit? Tell me you’re ready to liven up this gathering.”

  “Don’t encourage him, Kat.” Stepping up behind her husband, Angeline rolled her eyes at me as she brushed a minuscule speck of dust off the shoulder of his dark blue coat. “He is in an absurd mood tonight.” Still, her lips kept twitching upward into an irrepressible grin of her own…especially when he did something I couldn’t see, and she gave a little jump, letting out the kind of helpless giggle I’d almost never heard from her before. “Really, Frederick!”

  Raising my eyebrows, I turned to Elissa for elucidation. She gave a tiny head-shake—no, she didn’t know what was going on with them, either—but her lips held a curve of amusement as she said, “Angeline, I believe we were meant to serve as good examples for Kat tonight.”

  “Well, then.” Angeline pointedly detached herself from her husband’s side, just as the musicians ended the latest dance and a stream of couples began to form and re-form on the dance floor. “Frederick, why don’t you do your brotherly duty and dance with Kat? Perhaps the exertion will calm you down.”

  “But of course.” Frederick swept me a flamboyant bow and pulled me into our place at the bottom row of the set.

  If I didn’t know my brother-in-law so well, I’d have wondered if he had been drinking. His eyes were glittering with a strange, bright light, and he kept sneaking glances back at Angeline when he didn’t think I was watching. When it was our turn to promenade dow
n the floor past the other couples, I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “What exactly have you two been up to? You’re definitely keeping secrets.”

  “Who, us?” Frederick grinned down at me. “I’ll have you know, young Kat, that your sister and I are a very staid and proper old married couple. I can’t imagine what sort of secrets we could possibly have.”

  “Now that was convincing,” I said, and rolled my eyes. “Perhaps next time you’re trying to deceive me, though, you might actually consider…”

  My voice cut off as my throat dried up.

  “Yes?” Frederick prompted. He tilted his head, releasing my hand as the dance parted us again. “Alas, I’ll have to wait until our next turn for your wise, sisterly advice.”

  But I wasn’t thinking of any advice, good or bad, as I turned, blindly following the figures of the dance.

  I was feeling Alexander’s gaze on me with every move…and it felt as if it burned my skin.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  By the time the set finally came to an end, I was breathless, and not from exertion. Alexander’s unwavering gaze had been fixed on me the entire time as he stood, watching, near the edge of the dance floor. Even Frederick, for all his distraction, had taken note.

  “Don’t look now, Kat,” he said, during our final promenade, “but you seem to have already attracted an admirer. Shall I call him out for his impudent attentions? Or demand to know whether his intentions toward you are strictly honorable?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” I snapped. Then I winced at my own tone. “I mean, no. Thank you. But it really isn’t necessary.”

  “Hmm,” said Frederick. For the first time in the dance, he was watching me instead of Angeline.

  “It’s nothing,” I said. “I mean, I know him.”

  “Hmm,” repeated Frederick. Now he was grinning.

  I glared at my infuriating brother-in-law. “Go back to making eyes at your wife, if you please. You needn’t worry about me.”

  Alexander was only waiting to do his duty, obviously. That was, after all, the only reason he was here. It wasn’t as if it actually meant anything.

  No, it didn’t mean anything at all, I told myself, as I straightened from my final curtsy at the end of the dance and saw his tall figure approaching me inexorably through the crowd.

  “Frederick,” I said, “why don’t you go and find Angeline?”

  “Oh, I think not.” Frederick gave me a saintly smile. “The laws of etiquette require me to escort you back to your chaperones at the end of the dance, you know.”

  I sighed. “And you’re entirely ruled by etiquette, as we all know.”

  “Oh, believe me, Kat, I wouldn’t miss this for the world.” Tucking my hand into his arm, he ushered me toward the rest of my family in as stately a march as if he were escorting the Queen.

  There was no chance of escape, and my luck for the evening had evidently run out: they were all still there. Even Papa! Why couldn’t any of them have set off to dance or play cards in another room? Instead, Elissa and Angeline were chatting away as we approached, while Stepmama bobbed about, getting an eyeful of all the other ladies’ gowns and Papa illicitly read his book, against all of Stepmama’s strictest orders beforehand, only half-hidden behind Mr. Collingwood’s back.

  Every single one of them looked up as we returned from the dance…and none of them were looking at me.

  “Miss Stephenson.” Alexander’s voice spoke behind me, deep and resonant.

  Frederick signaled Angeline before I could stop him. Her eyes lit up as she moved forward. Elissa had already stiffened, visibly shifting into chaperone mode. Even Stepmama’s peacock feather seemed to be vibrating with excitement.

  Sighing, I turned around under the combined gaze of nearly my entire family. Thank goodness at least Charles was still hard at work in his country parish with his wife and babies. The last time Charles and Alexander had met, my overprotective older brother had knocked Alexander to the ground. Any repeat of that event would definitely set the wrong tone for our mission.

  “Mr. Harding,” I said. My throat felt strangely tight as I took in the full view of him in his elegant evening attire. Mr. Gregson had certainly done a good job with his new wardrobe. Alexander’s shoulders looked even broader in the close-fitting black coat, and the pale gold waistcoat underneath looked dangerously strokable.

  I was glad for the opportunity to look down as I curtsied, to catch my breath.

  Of course, looking down made my gaze fall to his skin-tight knee breeches and hose.

  Whatever he had been doing for the last five years, he had clearly been engaging in a good deal of physical exertion.

  My cheeks flamed as I jerked my gaze back up and shoved my wandering thoughts back into line.

  “May I have the honor of this dance?” Alexander asked. A line of red ran along his cheekbones, and he wouldn’t meet my eyes as I looked up at him. He held out his hand, though, which looked even larger and stronger than the last time I had held it, five years ago.

  I nodded wordlessly as I reached to take it.

  Angeline cleared her throat behind me, and I jumped back.

  “Katherine, dear,” said Stepmama, in a tone like steel, “shouldn’t there be some introductions first?”

  Oh, curse it. Yes, by all the laws of propriety, Alexander should have requested a proper introduction before he requested a dance, shouldn’t he? Well, never mind. “I already know Mr. Harding,” I explained, moving toward him again, “so…”

  Angeline’s loud sigh halted me in mid step.

  Frederick’s eyes gleamed with amusement as he explained, “But we don’t know him, Kat, remember?”

  Oh, he was definitely savoring this moment.

  There were times when I would have loved to throttle every member of my loving family.

  “Papa,” I said, through gritted teeth, “may I present Mr. Alexander Harding? Mr. Harding, meet my father, the Reverend George Stephenson, my stepmother, Mrs. Stephenson, Mr. and Mrs. Peregrine Collingwood”—I nodded to Elissa and her husband”—and Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Carlyle.” There.

  Starting forward again, I added, “Mr. Harding is an acquaintance of mine from…ah…Edinburgh,” I finished, barely half a second later than I should have. “I met him there during my summers with our aunt.”

  “In Edinburgh? Truly?” Elissa, usually the most courteous member of our family by far, had a faint frown on her face as she studied Alexander. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Harding, but for some reason I can’t quite place…” She shook her head, frowning harder. “Haven’t we met? You look so familiar.”

  Oh, Lord. Of course, Elissa and Mr. Collingwood had both been on the beach with us that night in Devon, five years ago. I’d only hoped that they had been too distracted by other events at the time to have taken much note of Alexander’s features in the darkness…or of The Kiss.

  Not that that kiss had deserved capital letters, obviously. Even in my head.

  I opened my mouth, already puzzling together a good story, but Alexander spoke before I could. “I’m afraid not, Mrs. Collingwood. I don’t spend much time in London.”

  “So your own family lives…?” Stepmama prompted.

  I winced as I saw Alexander’s face stiffen. Of course, he had no living family anymore, and what family he had once possessed he could hardly claim in public tonight. The natural children of lords were not invited to dance at high society functions, to say the least.

  “He’s a connection of Mr. Aloysius Gregson,” I said quickly, grabbing Alexander’s arm, which had fallen to his side. It was warm and strong under my grasp, but better yet, it was my avenue to escape. “You’ll all remember Mr. Gregson, I’m sure. Now, shall we dance, Mr. Harding?”

  “Really, Kat—!” Stepmama began.

  At the same moment, Angeline began, “Mr. Gregson, did you say—?”

  But I was already dragging Alexander through the crowd toward the dance floor. Maddeningly, I could hear Frederick’s laugh rolling o
ut behind me. I didn’t have to turn around to know that both of my sisters’ piercing gazes were fixed on my back at every step.

  Families!

  “I beg your pardon,” I said as I released Alexander’s arm to take my place on the dance floor opposite him. More and more couples took their own places as we waited, men and women facing each other in two long lines. In the distance, near the far end, I spotted Lucy, who looked perfectly delighted to be there despite her ancient-looking dance partner. I frowned as I watched him leer down at her. “I’m afraid my family…”

  “…Is trying to protect you,” Alexander said quietly. “There’s nothing to apologize for in that.”

  I made a disgusted face as I turned back to him. “I hardly need protection!”

  One corner of his mouth twitched upward in a half-smile. “You certainly didn’t need it five years ago, did you?”

  I tried to look into his eyes, but he still wouldn’t face me properly. His gaze was directed somewhere above my right shoulder.

  Honestly, if I left things to him, this could take all night. I would burst if I had to wait that long.

  So I sighed and gave up on subtlety. “Do you find something amiss with my gown tonight?”

  “What?” His gaze finally shot to my face. “What do you mean?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not covered in pins this time, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  He frowned. “How unobservant do you think I am?”

  “How could you possibly have observed anything about me?” I retorted. “You haven’t looked at me once since you came over.”

  He mumbled something under his breath.

  I leaned forward, across the empty space that stretched between the two lines of dancers. “What was that?”

  “I said, I’ve looked at you,” he said tightly.

  Finally—finally!—he met my gaze for the first time that evening.

  A long shiver ran down my back.