Page 39 of Camellia and the Christmas Curse
“Does she mean to compromise herself with him?”
“It’s a quick way to ensure a marriage, and she does seem to like him, particularly when he’s not possessed. And Elliot was taken with her as well. He mentioned as much to me shortly after we arrived here.” He grinned. “I think I’ll just utter a word to a servant who can let Mr Fitzgerald know where his darling daughter is. It’d be a shame if the young lady went to such great lengths for nothing.”
“But her father will be furious!”
“He’ll be delighted,” Finn argued. “He’s the one who invited Elliot here in the first place. Why do you think he did that? Not for his musical talent!”
Finn walked Camellia safely to her room and told her sternly to go to sleep and avoid any further contact with ghosts.
He lingered, though, and she looked up at him, feeling a new boldness. “Kiss me good-night,” she said.
Finn did so, wrapping one arm around her waist as he showered her with a level of attention that left her a little dizzy and quite ready to invite him right to her bed.
“Not tonight, Lia,” he murmured, somehow sensing what she hadn’t yet said. “Much as I want to, there should probably only be one scandalous discovery tomorrow morning.”
“Very well,” she whispered back. “But promise me you love me.”
He promised that and more. He also promised to tell Mrs Bloomfield not to worry. He handled the revelation of Hortense and Elliot’s compromising position as any guardian angel should—discreetly. Then he went to bed, feeling like he fully earned both the sleep and the thousand pounds Grafton would owe him for securing Elliot’s marriage to the eminently suitable Hortense Fitzgerald.
The next morning, the couple was discovered just as Finn predicted. There was a furor surrounding the near scandal (though Mr Fitzgerald’s rants did seem to veer perilously close to laughter at times), and the guests gossiped avidly about who really trapped who.
When Finn and Lia found Elliot in a quiet sitting room, the dark-haired man stood up instantly. “Finn!” he said. “Are you all right? I had the worst sort of feeling that something happened to you last night.”
“I’m quite well,” Finn assured him. “And how is Miss Fitzgerald this morning?” he added.
Elliot beamed. “She is absolutely darling and wonderful and I’m so lucky. You know, I fancied her from the start but I’m just not good at putting words together and I was certain that I’d never be able to propose to her properly.” He ducked his head shyly. “But the funniest thing happened, and now it seems that the work has been done for me! It’s a bit like magic.”
“A bit,” Lia agreed, happy that this outcome was desired on all sides.
With such news as the sudden announcement of marriage between Elliot and Hortense, no one paid much attention to either Camellia Swift or Finn Ryder. No one but Mrs Bloomfield, that is. She saw the change in their attitudes and demanded a full accounting.
In the quiet of the library, where a fire burned cheerfully in the holly and evergreen bedecked hearth, Camellia and Finn told Mrs Bloomfield everything, from the first hints of the haunting to the fever dream of the previous night. Mrs Bloomfield lost all color in her face when Finn told about Camellia’s near fatal trip to the tower room.
“Oh, Lia!” she gasped, covering her face. “How could you let such a thing happen?”
“I didn’t know what was happening, Mrs Bloomfield. If it hadn’t been for Finn—”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Finn said. “I believe she was influenced by the Welsh Ghost, just as Elliot and I were. If the Welsh Ghost was so old, and if she really put a curse on the castle, then it seems she might have had a certain power. She may have actually caused the deaths of the people who we know as the Silver Lady and the Duelers. Those spirits were able, at her behest, to haunt the three of us. None of us were acting completely like ourselves the past couple of days.”
“Do you believe all that?” Mrs Bloomfield asked him.
“I believe Camellia would never have gone to that tower unless she was hypnotized in some way.”
Mrs Bloomfield leaned forward to grab Finn’s hand. “You saved her life, didn’t you?”
“I suppose,” he said.
“You did,” Camellia said firmly. “And don’t shrug it off. It may come in handy when you meet my family, particularly my stepfather.”
“They’ll deny you nothing, Mr Ryder,” Mrs Bloomfield said to him. “No matter what your current financial situation, or your past difficulties. You saved Camellia’s life. That’s all that will matter.”
Finn smiled, looking proud and humble at the same time. “What matters is that Camellia believes in me.”
“I believe in us,” she corrected, smiling back at him. “And I believe we will be happy together. By next Christmas, we’ll be married and telling our friends about our unbelievable courtship.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “All of it.”
* * * *
