Bewitched by His Kiss (May Day Mischief) by Barbara Monajem Read Free Book Online

Alexis together,” Peony said, “I found it hard to believe that you love him...that way.”
    Lucasta forced a cynical laugh. “That’s why I’ve never asked him here. It was easy to remain properly formal in London, but here someone was sure to realize. He’s a dear friend, but marry him—no. I shall never marry. I’ll be happier that way.”
    Peony’s reproachful gaze made her stumble into further speech.
    “Are you worried about how he will feel?” said Lucasta. “You needn’t be. Alexis is just like me. He doesn’t want to marry. Our engagement is an arrangement for our mutual convenience, to keep matchmaking busybodies at bay.”
    There. She’d told the truth, and she could trust Peony not to betray her. At least she’d done one thing right tonight.
    * * *
    David wanted to drown himself in Blue Ruin, but since that was impossible, he settled for a stiff jolt of brandy from the flask he always carried with him. He doubted it would help him sleep.
    He wished his mother were alive. She had understood him and his unique blood as no one else could. Not only that, she’d told him, in stories and songs and just plain advice, everything she knew about love—the force, as she put it, which held the universe together.
    One of her warnings arose in his mind: Every gift , whether of fairy or human blood , brings with it the dangers of arrogance . Was that where he’d gone wrong? Damn it, he’d tried to show Lucasta how much he valued her intelligence and persistence, that he saw her as a partner, not an inferior. Shouldn’t that be enough to prove that he loved her?
    Perhaps his arrogance had been far more basic—in assuming that because he knew with his entire being that this was love, Lucasta must do so, too. And yet, how could she not? Love should override every other emotion...shouldn’t it?
    “Elderwood?” A soft knock sounded on his bedchamber door.
    That was Alexis’s voice. David opened the door a couple of inches, wary at his friend’s serious face. “What do you want?”
    “A few words,” Alexis said. “In private.” With a look of utter disgust, he added, “Christ, David, do you have a woman in there? Can’t you keep it in your breeches for two nights in a row?”
    Biting back the urge to insult his friend, floor him with a right hook and then shoot him dead, he drawled, “Only when I choose to.” If he didn’t get rid of Alexis now, he might lose the remnants of his control. “I’m tired. We can talk later.”
    “This is important. It won’t take long, and you’re certain to be vastly interested. It’s about magic.”
    “You wish to discuss magic?” Fine, as long as the conversations didn’t touch on Lucasta—and if magic was involved, it wouldn’t—David would put up with it. It might even distract him from his misery for a minute or two. He opened the door wide. “My dear fellow, what has come over you?”
    Alexis stalked into the room and rounded on him. “Is there a custom—a folk custom, I suppose you’d say—where a woman rolls naked in a meadow?”
    “Rolling in the dew? Yes, on May Day morning, to call her true love to her side. Why do you ask?”
    Alexis didn’t answer. Baffled now, Elderwood probed. Not many women risked that particular ritual these days—only those who believed in such magic. “Can it be...that you came upon a woman doing exactly that yesterday morning?”
    Again, Alexis said nothing.
    “You did! Do you mean to tell me who, or should I annoy you by guessing?” He was almost certain of the answer, but for his own pitiful sake, he said, “Somehow, I can’t see Miss Barnes indulging in anything remotely connected with magic.”
    “Lucasta? No, of course not.”
    Elderwood laughed with relief. “Then who was she? You may count on my discretion. I’m much better at keeping secrets than at controlling my wayward cock.”
    “This isn’t my secret to tell. I merely want to know how the custom works.”
    Noble of him to keep Miss