“I’m sorry. I don’t believe we’ve been introduced,” she said, her cheeks
flushing an even deeper shade of pink.
“Er, uh, no! No,” he chuckled. “I beg your pardon.” He executed a grand leg
for her. “Sir Arthur Dagonet, at your service.”
She curtsied in response. “Miss Kate Cherington. I’m Lord Vallentyn’s
niece.”
“Ah! Had the pleasure of his company at breakfast,” Dagonet said, smiling.
“Shame about the children.”
“So you are the man Aunt Vallentyn invited here to cure them.”
He opened his mouth to say something, debated whether he should make a
joke, or just affirm she was correct. He decided to play it safe. “Yes.”
“Will you?” Her beautiful eyes, so expressive, seemed to get paler in the
sunlight. Was that possible?
“Will I what?” he asked, his mind befuddled by her beauty.
“Be able to cure them?” she asked.
He almost asked who she referred to but quickly pulled his mind back to
the situation at hand—and not a moment too soon. He’d almost made himself
look like an idiot. Why did he always make a fool of himself in front of women he
was attracted to? He was determined not to do the same with Miss Cherington.
He was too old to fall into such silliness. Lowering his eyes to the ground, he
placed an appropriately somber expression on his face. “No, I’m afraid I don’t
have that ability.”
“But Aunt Vallentyn said you had knowledge that she might use…”
“Oh, yes! Plenty of knowledge. Just not the, er…” he paused for a moment.
She was Vallen, right? Yes. She’d used magic to stop her book from falling into the
river. “I’m not associated with Fire. Can’t actually heal anyone, don’t you know?”
“No. I didn’t know,” she said, her head tilted slightly, as if trying to figure
him out.
This time he couldn’t help but laugh. “Lady Vallentyn…” She’d called her
‘aunt’ hadn’t she? “Your aunt?” At her nod, he continued. “Yes, well, she thinks
that I may know of some magic that she could use to cure the children. Don’t
know that I do, but I'm more than willing to explore the possibility with her.”
Miss Cherington looked confused. “You don’t know if you know how to
cure the children?”
“No. Lady Vallentyn ’s going to, or, well, she’s begun to explore my
memories, don’t you know?”
“Explore your memories? And what does she think she’ll find there that you
don’t know about?”
Dagonet burst out laughing. Luckily, even Miss Cherington saw how
ridiculous the question, in fact, the whole situation, was.
“You’re a very funny man, Sir Arthur,” she said laughing. “I only hope my
aunt finds whatever it is she thinks you have in your memories, and that…”
“I’m not aware of?” he chuckled.
She laughed. “Yes.”
“Yes, well. I hope so as well.”
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/
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Apple iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/
Thanks so much, Julie!
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