The Magic of His Touch (May Day Mischief) Read Online Free PDF

lit upon Peony. “You believe in magic,
Miss Whistleby?”
    “Of course not,” cried Aunt Edna, batting her eyelashes when
ordinarily she’d scowl furiously at such a topic. Evidently, she was like the
other foolish women who fell under Lord Elderwood’s spell.
    “We live in the modern world,” Papa said. “The Priory has a
history of unusual occurrences, but my daughter knows it is naught but
superstition.” He nodded to the footman to open the door for them. “Let us go in
to dinner. I think you will find the carp to be excellent, as it comes from our
own ponds.”
    “Surely you can’t dismiss your heritage so easily, Mr.
Whistleby,” the earl said. “Well, Miss Whistleby?” All eyes were upon her. She
hated it when everyone was watching her. Aunt Edna frowned, Papa looked worried
and Lucasta pursed her lips.
    Sir Alexis let out a tiny huff.
    How dare he? “I don’t know what I believe,” she said and
marched toward the door.
    A volley of tsks, huffs and scolding pursued her, broken by
Lord Elderwood’s detached voice. “I hear Whistleby Priory has a haunted room. I
daresay the ghosts wail from time to time, and everyone tries to assure everyone
else it’s the wind.”
    “Because it is the wind,” Aunt Edna
said.
    “Yes, often it must be,” he went on, “which makes matters even
more confusing. Even after growing up in several haunted houses, I’m not always
certain which is which.” He sounded so sincere that Peony turned in spite of
herself, but Lord Elderwood had fallen a little behind, and Sir Alexis’s frown
confronted her instead.
    She whirled to face front again. “Nor am I, but I keep the
Haunted Bedchamber clean and tidy because no one else will go there, and I made
a point of thanking the ghosts when they scared a horrid governess away.” So there , Sir Alexis !
    “Quite right,” the earl said, as if he agreed completely. Sir
Alexis didn’t. His silence crackled with disapproval. Good. She didn’t want him
to approve of her. She wanted him to dislike her and show it, so her treacherous
thoughts would go away.
    “It is far wiser to err on the side of belief,” said the
earl.
    “For God’s sake, Elderwood,” Sir Alexis burst out. “Must you
talk such drivel?”
    “I feel positively obliged to.” The earl’s airy voice became
suddenly serious. “An open mind is always preferable to a closed one. Just
because one doesn’t believe in or understand all the forces about us doesn’t
mean they don’t exist.”
    “Perhaps not, but one can’t read a magical meaning into every
circumstance,” Sir Alexis said.
    A smile flitted across Lucasta’s face. Well, it was only
natural and most kind of him to be supportive of the
views of his betrothed, but—
    Peony halted her thoughts right there. She was not jealous. She had no right or reason to feel that
way. She couldn’t desire a man who belonged to someone else. She was incapable
of such perfidy. She loved her cousin and would never, ever betray her.
    Lord Elderwood’s voice hardened. “No, but life has taught me
that if one cannot avoid the unusual—and I have never been able to do so—one
must learn to live with it and work within its parameters. Otherwise, the
consequences can be disastrous.”
    All at once Peony knew. Magic had always been on the perimeter
of her life, but she’d never tried to work with it. This morning, she’d dabbled
in it for the first time—and something had gone terribly awry.
    * * *
    She’s as mad as Elderwood , thought Sir Alexis in dismay. Believing in magic ! Perhaps she thought some spell or other would
keep her from getting with child by her dastardly lover. The very idea made him
ill.
    While Elderwood was obediently proving to one and all that he
had no interest in anything but folklore—and that he was unbalanced, into the
bargain—Sir Alexis found himself sitting next to Miss Whistleby. She smelled
soft and sweet and infinitely desirable, but she answered his attempts at