Page 102 of His Wicked Charm

“As it turns out, we can.” Con turned and started down the leafy green aisle.

“What are you thinking?” Alex followed his twin. “Lilah is Sabrina’s dearest friend. What is going to happen when this ends? If you break Lilah’s heart, Sabrina will never forgive you. And then what am I to do?”

“I don’t know why you assume it will end.”

“What else would happen?”

“I intend to marry Lilah.”

“What?” Alex came to a dead stop. “You’re engaged?” The tightness in his face disappeared, and he began to grin. “Why the devil didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t say we were engaged. I said I intended to marry her. I still have to bring Lilah around to the idea.”

“You’re joking. She turned you down?” Alex looked even more astonished. “How did you botch that?”

“I didn’t. Not yet anyway. I haven’t asked her.”

“Would you stop being so damned irritating and tell me what is going on?”

Con started forward again, not looking at Alex. “I’m scared.”

This time he’d rendered his twin speechless. Finally, weakly, Alex said, “Good Lord. You really are in love with her.”

“Either that, or I am seriously ill.” Con turned to Alex, saying earnestly, “You promise you won’t tell Sabrina any of this?”

“No! What do you take me for?”

“A married man.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I’m your brother.”

As if some dam had been breached, the words began to spill out of Con. “I know Lilah and I don’t have the makings of some grand pair of lovers. We didn’t fall in love at first sight. Instead she slapped me. I’ve had to fight her every inch of the way. We don’t have that harmony of mind the other Morelands have with their spouses. We share no connection as you and Sabrina do. We’re complete opposites. But...whenever she comes into the room, I feel as if the sun just broke through the clouds. I can’t think about anything but her. All I want is to be with her. And if she turns me down, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Why would she turn you down? You’re sleeping in her bed, aren’t you? Surely she must care for you.”

“Yes.” Con looked down at the compass ring and rubbed his thumb over it. “I think she cares for me. But when I brought up marriage, she looked as if she was—well, I’m not sure what she felt, but I can tell you, it was not happy. She turned me down without even thinking about it. You see, Lilah doesn’t do what she wants. She does what is right. And she doesn’t think I’m at all right.”

“Why? What’s wrong with you?”

Con gave him a wry smile. “Would you like a list? I am impulsive and rash. I’m not serious. I have a reputation for being absurd. Off-kilter. I am, unfortunately, all the things she’s spent the last ten years trying to get away from.”

Alex furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand.”

“Her family is as daft as ours. Her father was obsessed with spiritualism and ghosts. Her grandfather made up this bizarre religion. And, well, you’ve met her aunt.”

“Her grandfather wasn’t entirely mad, was he? There is something down there. I felt the Sanctuary last night. I know you said it didn’t affect us, but my ability was heightened—holding that lantern told me the gardener had been using it to go poaching. And when Mrs. LeClaire joined us there, I could feel the emotions coming off her in waves.”

“Technically, it was Lilah giving you the power, not the Sanctuary. She somehow transmits psychic strength. Your ability is stronger around her. Had you taken her arm, you’d have felt it even more. She’s connected to that place. It pours into her. I could feel it absolutely flooding her.”

“And you were able to ease some of that, weren’t you? Dilute it or consume part of it. How can you say you two don’t have a special connection?”

“But that’s just our abilities. As you know, she can give that to others, too.”

“Not, I think, to the same extent.”

“But, you see, she doesn’t want to be like that. For years she made herself believe it didn’t exist. It had to hit her in the face to make her acknowledge it. She’s damnably stubborn.”

“Says the man with a head like a rock.”