“He told me exactly how he would hurt you. Then he said things about the madness in your family. He said it would be a mercy if you were dead and gone.”
She stood still in the middle of the ballroom, staring at him shock.
“I believed him,” he said. Then he ran a hand down his face. “God help me, I believed him. About the madness in your family and what he’d do to keep us apart. You’d just told me you saw ghosts. And I never saw him make a threat that he wasn’t willing to execute.”
The word “execute” trembled through her body. She knew—as did all her family—that whispers of witchcraft could turn deadly. Indeed, Mama’s grandmother had been killed from justsuch a thing back in France. It was the reason they’d fled to England.
“He would have killed me?” she whispered.
“I—” He shook his head. “I don’t think so. But he would have destroyed you.”
He had destroyed her father. Or at least sent their entire family away. Though her father now claimed it was a good change, one that brought him to where God wanted him. And Mama loved her work at the hospital. So it was a good change, but the old viscount’s intention had been evil.
“He would not have let us marry. He thought you beneath me. And he would have done anything to stop us.”
“Including hurting me.” And her father, and her family.
“Yes.”
They had no more time to talk. The next set was forming, and her partner had come to claim her. She was grateful for the reprieve. She needed a moment to absorb what he’d said, to understand that he hadn’t been afraid of her seeing ghosts. At least not primarily. The problem had been his father.
And, incidentally, he continued to be. Because the next time she looked at Jonathan from across the dance floor, she saw the old viscount’s dark shape standing right behind his son. Right behind and with his dark arms stretched out to lay heavy on Jonathan’s shoulders.
Damn the man.
And what was worse, she saw Jonathan’s shoulders tighten and his brows come down. Over the next set, she watched as his face grew hard and tight. And then there was the moment when she turned in the movement of the dance, when Jonathan was nearby with a partner of his own.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Jonathan’s body but his father’s face. Somehow, Jonathan’s gentle expression had been replaced by his father’s stern darkness.
It was a horrifying sight that slid ice into her veins.
The old bastard was trying to take over his son in the most heinous way possible. She knew ghosts could possess the living, but only with the living’s consent. And yet after a year of steady pressure, she could guess that any man would weaken. Any man would have a moment when he gave in without conscious thought. When he might say in the back of his mind, do as you will. End this pain.
How close was Jonathan to that point? How soon would he give up under the relentless pressure from his father’s ghost? And what—exactly—would she do to stop it?
By the time he came to her for their second waltz, she had her answer. Though his face looked as remote as it ever had, she said what she needed to.
“Your father is here right now. He is causing your headache.”
His eyes widened, and though she saw a flash of fury, she realized it didn’t come from him. “I thought he’d be too tired.”
“He’s strong.”
“But… He’s…”
She held out her arms for the dance, and he automatically stepped into position to hold her for the waltz. And exactly as she expected, the ghost backed off. It was delicate balance. She could use her presence to push him off Jonathan, but that also allowed the ghost to draw from her energy. She might be saving Jonathan in the short term, but in the long term, the ghost was getting stronger. Every time she allowed it to touch her, it grew more powerful.
But it was the only way to push it off Jonathan.
“We end this tonight,” she said as the dance began.
“How?”
She swallowed. Now came the risky part. In fact, her twin would likely call it dangerous. She did it anyway.
“Come to my bedroom tonight. That will anger him enough to bring him out. Then we can settle this once and for all.”
Chapter Ten
