“But he didn’t,” Adam said. “Redgrave and I were with her.”

  “Redgrave is her brother. You, however, may have been seen as a threat.”

  That was certainly true. Adam would do anything to rid this world, and the next, of Lord Tyrell and keep Charlotte safe.

  “Why was he at Hollybrook Park?” Charlotte asked. “Aren’t ghosts supposed to stay in one place?”

  His grandmother sighed and hobbled over to a chair beside a cooking fire and gestured to the others to sit as well. “Some spirits are attached to a place, others an object.” She focused on Charlotte. “Others… to a person. Tyrell is attached to the likeness of Lady Helena, which is you.”

  “Are you certain?” Redgrave asked, clearly thinking he was being fed a bit of nonsense.

  “’Tis the only reasonable explanation.”

  At least that answered one question, but it wasn’t what Adam wanted to hear. “So, how does Charlotte rid herself of him?”

  “Become a wife,” his grandmother proclaimed.

  Fourteen

  “Wife?” Charlotte muttered. Courtships took time and as much as her heart sang for Adam, she’d not known him a week.

  “I don’t think so,” Redgrave argued. “One of the women strangled was wed.”

  “But she was not bedded.”

  Charlotte’s face heated. Maybe it was simply a matter of her virginity. Not that she could rid herself of that without marriage. Well, she could, but she’d be ruined for the rest of her life.

  On the other hand, if she didn’t, she’d be stuck wearing this talisman for weeks, months, possibly even years. She must definitely put pockets into all of her dresses and gowns.

  “How can you be so certain?” Adam demanded.

  Charlotte could well understand why he’d be uneasy. He’d professed a liking for her, possibly love, but he was no more ready to marry than she.

  Oh, she shouldn’t lie to herself. If Adam were to ask her right now she’d agree without even the need to give his proposal any consideration.

  “One other had visited, and stayed for a long duration at Keyvnor Castle, and not even a hair on her head was touched.”

  “Why?” Anthony asked with curiosity.

  “She’d married only a week earlier and was on her wedding trip, visiting family.”

  “So, I’m to find a gentleman, marry, and become his wife,” Charlotte said, too embarrassed to utter words like bedding and consummation. “Then I will be safe.”

  Adam’s grandmother shook her finger at Charlotte. “It cannot be any gentleman. It must be the one your soul calls for.”

  “My soul calls for?” She glanced at her brother, then Adam. Her heart, soul, and body certainly called to him.

  The Gypsy slowly smiled. “The emerald, child. It will lead you to him.”

  Charlotte blinked at her. “The emerald? The one in the pouch?”

  “Yes.”

  “How?”

  “It will brighten, like a star in the sky, when he is near.”

  Charlotte frowned and pulled the putsi from around her neck.

  “You can take the emerald from the pouch, but both the putsi and the emerald must stay with you,” the old woman explained. “They must remain joined through your body.”

  Charlotte nodded and looked at Adam. Would it glow for him?

  “Do not mistake passion for love,” his grandmother hissed.

  Charlotte’s face grew hot again. How did she know?

  “The emerald is not only for love, but also passion, and can cause a person to think there is more in the heart, when it’s only in the body. If it does not glow. He is not the one.”

  Goodness, her face was going to go up in flames. It was impossible for Adam’s grandmother to know anything. Then again, she did have the second-sight, according to Adam. Something she dismissed before, but something she was willing to trust completely now.

  “What would you know about passion, Charlotte?” Anthony asked, but stared at Adam.

  “Nothing,” she hastened to answer as she looked into Adam’s eyes.

  He simply quirked his lips but said nothing.

  Oh, she hated to lie, but this was Anthony, her older, stuffy, and overprotective brother, and if he had any idea what she and Adam had been about, Anthony would do grave harm to him or something foolish like challenge Adam, and that would never do.

  Adam eyed the putsi, wondering if the emerald would glow for him, or if Charlotte was meant for another. Just the idea of another gentleman taking her as his wife knotted his stomach. “Why don’t you remove it now?” If it glowed, they could put an end to this. He’d arrange for a Special License and claim her at the earliest possible moment, thus ending all danger.

  “No,” his grandmother hissed. “She will carry it with her at Castle Keyvnor. If he is not there, she will keep it with her until it does.”

  “We might see if it glows now,” Adam offered in what he hoped was a nonchalant manner, looking into Charlotte’s eyes. The blush she’d been sporting since Grandmother first started discussing the delicacies of what needed to be done to keep her safe only deepened.

  “Not here. Not outside, and certainly not in the sun.”

  “Then we shall go inside your wagon,” Adam suggested. Why was his grandmother so afraid of seeing the emerald now? Did she not like Charlotte?

  “There is no point in bringing it out when we are at the castle.” Charlotte shrugged. “Most of the guests are relatives.”

  “Not all.” His grandmother leaned forward. “There are bachelors that are of no relation to you, and others, who are so distant it would not matter, and still some that are connected only through marriage.”

  Adam frowned. “Who is there besides St. Giles?” Which was bad enough.

  “Blackwater, Ashbooke, and Devon Lancaster,” Redgrave answered.

  Bloody hell! Lotharios, each and every one, who would be quite happy to help relieve Charlotte of her maidenhead.

  She was his, Adam wanted to shout but held his tongue.

  The only comfort found with regard to those four was that none of them wished to be married, thus they would not risk seducing an innocent. Though, how they could not want Charlotte with her laughing hazel eyes, golden hair, and perfectly rounded form was beyond him.

  “You shall encounter each gentleman today or this evening,” his grandmother continued.

  “I will see it done.” Anthony nodded with assurance.

  “Carry the emerald in your left hand, as it leads to the heart. Talk to each bachelor, and see if it begins to glow. The one it sparks for is your destined mate.”

  “Very well.” Charlotte nodded and Adam frowned.

  She was being a little too complacent. Why hadn’t she asked to see if it glowed here, as he had? Did she not feel as he did? Was she hoping it was someone else? “I’ll join you.”

  “No!” his grandmother ordered. “You will stay here.”

  “Why?”

  “You will only interfere in Charlotte finding the truth, the match to her soul.” She narrowed her eyes on Adam. “Your passion is strong, as is hers. Your presence could confuse the truth. Charlotte must test it and learn for herself without you.”

  Redgrave glared at him again.

  “It is important that the two of you separate and Charlotte test the jewel. If it does not glow for any other, and still glows for you, then you will never question your future. If you rely just on what you feel at the moment, when passions are high, you may live to regret it.”

  Adam refused to believe that one of them was meant for Charlotte when it was clearly him! “Since when do you know anything about glowing emeralds?” Adam asked. “You have the second sight and premonitions, but no magic.”

  “My dear boy, it’s already been enchanted to reveal true love.”

  “By whom?” he demanded.

  “The witches, of course.”

  Charlotte’s eyes grew wide, and the color drained from her skin. “Witches?”

  “You arrived two days before Lady Charlotte. It is not possible that you visited them and knew what you needed.” For the first time, Adam doubted his grandmother. But why would she tell him a falsehood?

  “It was done many years ago,” she answered. “That emerald belonged to your mother.”

  Adam sat back, and his heart skipped a beat. “My mother?”

  “Yes. She was very beautiful, and many men visited to see her dance and have their fortunes told. They also wanted more than she was willing to give, often making impossible promises without honorable intentions,” she said with disgust and spat on the ground beside her. “There came a time when she wasn’t certain who she could believe, so we visited the witches. They enchanted the emerald, and she waited until it glowed before she gave her heart.”

  “It glowed for my father.”

  “Almost as soon as they saw one another.” The old woman smiled. “He was a good man. Not like your grandfather.” With that she spat again, cursing the man who’d caused so much hardship.

  Grandmother focused back on Charlotte. “When you are through with the emerald and Tyrell is no longer a threat, you must return it to me.”

  “Of course.”

  Grandmother stood and dusted off her hands as if she was finished with this topic, or possibly them, for the time being. “I shall see you tomorrow when you reveal his name.”

  “What if he is not there?”

  His grandmother smiled. “He is, my dear. You need only to open your heart and mind to the impossible.”

  “And hold the emerald,” Adam grumbled. It had better not glow for anyone but him.

  “You do not believe any more than I that Charlotte needs to test the jewel on others,” Adam said as soon as Charlotte and Redgrave had left the camp.

  “No. Nor do I doubt that it glows brightly when you are near.”

  “So why have her go through this madness? We should be planning our nuptials, not sending her back to the castle where her very life is in danger.”

  Grandmother sighed. “When Lady Charlotte first came to me, she did not believe in anything she could not see.”

  “I’m certain her opinion has been changed.” Given she’d nearly died twice at the hands of a ghost.

  “Yes, but who is to say she won’t doubt the emerald one day? Insist it was an oddity, easily explained away, once the two of you are away from all the danger and as you live out your years.”

  “She’d start to doubt our love? That we are meant to be together?” It was the one thing he would never doubt.

  “Perhaps no, and highly unlikely. However, we do not know the future of your marriage.” Her dark eyes bore into his. “Seeing the evidence that it glows only for you will convince Lady Charlotte today, tomorrow, and when you’ve been wed decades, that your souls are to be as one.”

  “How can you be so sure she’d ever doubt it?”

  “As sure as I am that the first time you argue, she will question the madness of this week.”

  “We will not argue,” Adam insisted.

  His grandmother chuckled. “You most certainly will. She is headstrong, stubborn, and adventurous. You are entirely too protective for your own good. The two of you will have many arguments, but so long as Charlotte remembers that the emerald glowed only for you, she will never doubt that rightness of marrying you within a week of meeting.”

  It was as if the wind had been sucked from his lungs. “She’d wish we’d not married?” Even though they weren’t even betrothed, the very idea was painful.

  Grandmother chuckled some more. “It is the way of love and of passion. Your parents shared a great love, but that didn’t mean she didn’t march here many times ready to be done with your father.”

  Adams's eyes grew wide. His parents had argued, but he had no idea his mother had actually left.

  “Short-lived, Adam. The longest she could stay away from your father was six hours, and never the night. You are much like your father, and I daresay, Lady Charlotte is much like your mother.” A smile blossomed on his grandmother’s face. “The two of you are going to have a grand, passionate love but not without a few bumps along the way.”

  Fifteen

  Anthony had not left her side all day. She couldn’t even have privacy for personal needs without a maid practically beside her. To think she thought Anthony and Michael were protective before. Their interference was nothing compared to what she’d experienced today. If only Harry were here and given the task of watching her. At least he wouldn’t hover but would trust that she could take care of herself.

  They knew. Her entire immediate family knew what the Gypsy had told her, and they all watched and waited for either Tyrell to strike or the emerald to glow. Father had already sent word that he needed a Special License post-haste.

  As much as she didn’t have the slightest interest in any of the bachelors currently in residence at Castle Keyvnor, Charlotte almost hoped whoever it happened to be would be revealed sooner than later so Anthony could quit hovering over her.

  Hovering!

  “There is St. Giles. Go talk to him.” Anthony nudged her toward the lord.

  “I need the emerald first,” Charlotte whispered under her breath.

  “Where the blazes is it?”

  “One moment,” she bit out and turned her back before slipping the pouch from between her breasts.

  “Good God, is there nowhere else to keep that thing?”

  “Unless you can magically make pockets appear in my dresses, then no.”

  “It has strings,” he pointed out. “Wear it around your neck.”

  Charlotte pulled the emerald from the bag and returned the rest of the putsi to its hiding place. “So everyone can ask me about it?” She straightened her gown and turned. “Do you really wish for me to tell them it’s for protection so a ghost doesn’t strangle me?”

  “Lower your voice,” he hissed.

  “I’m not the one being a vexation.”

  Actually, this situation would be laughable if her situation wasn’t so precarious. Had it been the season, and there wasn’t a ghost trying to kill her, St. Giles was the exact type of gentleman both Michael and Anthony would discourage, even remove her from his presence if St. Giles dared glance in her direction with any more warmth than one shared with a friend.

  Michael glared at Anthony from across the room. “He is not the one.”

  “Which one?” St. Giles asked, looking from one brother to the next.

  “Never mind them,” Charlotte said sweetly as she approached. “Would you care to stroll with me?”

  His grey eyes widened as a look of near panic flashed in his features. Since when was St. Giles afraid of any female? Then again, she’d never tried to flirt with him before.

  “Just for a moment.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “This won’t take long.” She linked her arm in his and practically dragged him away from the others as he looked helplessly back at Anthony and Michael.

  “Go!” they both ordered.

  “So tell me, are you still charming maids and dogs?”

  “Lady Charlotte?”

  She opened her left hand and looked at the emerald. It looked just the same as it had before.

  “Dogs and maids,” she repeated.

  “What exactly is this about, my lady?”

  The emerald remained a dull green. It didn’t even shine. “Nothing, my lord.” Then she glanced back up at him. “I am sorry to have bothered you."

  Relief washed through her as she returned to Anthony. It would have been terribly awkward had the stone glowed for St. Giles when he clearly had more interest in her cousin.

  “What was that about?” she heard St. Giles say to Michael as she exited into the corridor.

  “That, my friend, is a story best saved for when we are free of this place and have plenty of ale.”

  “Well, that is one out of the way,” Charlotte said to Anthony. “Who is next?”

  Anthony rubbed his chin. “Devon Lancaster is in need of an heiress, I’m told, which you happen to be. It would solve both of your problems."

  “How romantic!” she drolled. “Where is he?”

  “I don’t keep everyone’s schedule.”

  Charlotte rolled her eyes and tried to think of where she’d seen him since he arrived at the castle.

  “He’s been spending time with Jane Hawkins,” Anthony said after a moment.

  “Lady Marjorie’s friend?” she asked. “Is she an heiress?”

  “Not that I believe. Her father is a vicar.”

  Charlotte sighed. “Let’s find him, shall we?”

  How long would it take for Charlotte to encounter each bachelor and learn if the emerald glowed?

  The waiting was driving Adam mad, and by the late afternoon, he headed to the castle. What if something happened to Charlotte, and he wasn’t there to protect her? What if Tyrell somehow got to her? What if that blasted emerald glowed for someone who wasn’t him?

  A footman left him to cool his heels in the foyer while he went to see if Lady Charlotte was in.

  “Just what we need around here, another bachelor for Lady Charlotte,” Mrs. Bray said as she came through an open door.

  Adam blinked at her. “Pardon.”

  “That one’s been flirting with every bachelor in the household today.” She leaned in. “It isn’t right.”

  Adam’s stomach knotted. Even though he knew what Charlotte was about, it didn’t mean he liked it. “Where might she be?”

  “In the solarium with her family, but I wouldn’t disturb them if I were you.”

  “Why?”

  “I suspect they are taking her to task for her behavior today.” She nodded, all-knowing.

  “Then perhaps I should rescue her.” Adam headed for the solarium as quickly as his feet could carry him. Surely they weren’t chastising Charlotte for her behavior. They had to know how necessary it was.

  “We need her wedded and bedded,” Adam heard the Marquess of Halesworth proclaim as he drew near.

  “Donald!” Lady Halesworth reprimanded.

  “No need to be sensitive, Gwen. Would you rather we ignored the warning and bury her in the morning?”