Not Wicked Enough by Carolyn Jewel Read Free Book Online Page A

been married, and you could not have run away with him to become his Gypsy queen.”
     
    “Well. I suppose you’re right.” She stood with her head tipped to one side, as if she’d never considered the possibility. Perfect, an absolutely perfect picture of innocent confusion. “It’s fortunate I did not run away.” Her eyes twinkled. “In any event, he was so grateful he gave me this medallion.” She held up the ribbon around her neck, high enough to display a gold circle the size of a guinea that hung from the end of the ribbon. “You see?”
     
    He leaned closer to examine it, taking the metal in his hand, angled so the moonlight illuminated it. One side was engraved with a bow and arrow. He turned it over to show a cherubic face on the obverse.
     
    “The medallion is magic,” she said. “He promised me that.”
     
    Mountjoy glanced up. They stood quite close. “Will it bring you riches and good health for all your life?”
     
    She took the medallion from his hand and studied it. “Hetold me that whoever possesses this charm will be united with the individual with whom she or he will be happiest in love. Ginny says I must sleep with it under my pillow.”
     
    Mountjoy said, “Isn’t that how such charms work?” Her future husband would take her to bed. He’d cover her body with his and put himself inside her and make love to her. And she would enfold her husband in her arms, kiss him, caress him, and if the man were not a dolt, she would sigh and call out his name.
     
    “Oh, the medallion can’t work for me.”
     
    He held her gaze. “Why not?”
     
    “I have already met the man I was destined to love.”
     
    “The Gypsy king?”
     
    “No.” She stood motionless with no sign of her previous animation.
     
    “If you are in love, Miss Wellstone, why haven’t you married the man?”
     
    “I meant to. We intended to.”
     
    His heart clenched because he remembered too late that she had admitted she’d lost someone dear to her. Whoever he was, she truly had loved the man. He cupped the side of her face. He wanted to stop her from hurting, and he didn’t know how. “What happened? What broke your heart?”
     
    “He was a soldier.”
     
    “I’m sorry.” Not for a moment did he think a man who’d won her love would jilt her. Impossible. “How long ago did he die?”
     
    “Five years.”
     
    Briefly, he closed his eyes. “What a terrible loss, Miss Wellstone.”
     
    She gave a tiny nod, and he was pleased to see some of her sorrow ease. “So you see, your grace, the medallion can’t work for me.” She tipped her head into his palm. Only for a moment. He let his hand fall to her shoulder. “I am resigned to my single state. It suits me, for I can’t love another like that. I wouldn’t wish to ever again.” She rubbedone side of the medallion. “It’s a pretty thing,” she said. “I like it exceedingly.”
     
    “Are you sure it won’t work?”
     
    “It can’t possibly when my heart is incapable of being aroused.”
     
    “What if you’re wrong?”
     
    “I’m not.”
     
    “Can you be sure? Who have you encountered today, Miss Wellstone?” he asked. By some miracle he injected the perfect hint of humor in his voice. She bit back a laugh, but smiled. “Any mysterious gentlemen? Any premonitions or chills along your spine? Perhaps an irresistible urge to demand an introduction to some strapping young fellow?”
     
    She shook her head solemnly, but he could see the laughter in her eyes. “None at all. Unless you count your butler. We nearly collided earlier.” She let a beat go by. “Is there, by any chance, a Mrs. Doyle?”
     
    “Yes,” Mountjoy said. “There is.”
     
    “Ah. A shame.”
     
    Mountjoy was horrified by how badly he wanted to kiss her.
     
    And, so, after they’d stood there staring at each other, neither of them moving, he did.
     
    He curled his fingers into her shawl and used that to bring her closer. She came to him with a soft