Free The Spare by Carolyn Jewel

she is, a vision in white."
    "Thank you, James."
    Diana smiled at Sebastian, and all he could think while he looked at her was she was hardly out of the schoolroom and couldn't possibly understand anything about a man who'd sailed to hell and back. A bride to be pampered and cherished. A treasure to display. All a gentleman desired in his wife. Trouble was, he could not imagine making love to Diana. The thought left him cold.
    James cleared his throat. Loudly.
    "Fur becomes you, Miss Royce," he said. That earned him a grin from James, a tutor proud of his pupil. What nonsense this was. Diana knew very well how she looked. Why did he need to tell her? Since Miss Willow showed no sign of expecting a compliment from him, and, indeed, could not think he would make her one, he said nothing to her, which appeared to suit them both just fine.
    In the carriage, Diana settled against the seat, her hair shining dark against a field of ermine. James eyed his sister, then turned to Sebastian and mouthed the words
compliment her
. But at just that moment, the groom lifted the stairs and closed the door and the delicate combination of opportunity and motivation vanished. Sebastian heard the snap of reins. "Walk on."
    Diana touched her curls then turned so her back was to Miss Willow. "Do fix this for me. My hair shall be wretched in five minutes, I'm sure." Miss Willow obligingly did something with hairpins with the result that, at the conclusion of the procedure, Miss Royce looked no different than she had before.
    Light flashed over Miss Willow's hair. There must be fifty colors of red, all of them some variation of copper fire. When she finished examining Diana's hairpins, she put a hand to her mouth to hide a yawn.
    "I hardly slept a wink myself last night." James surveyed the women. "I wonder if the same thing kept us awake, Miss Willow."
    She smiled pleasantly enough, but managed to convey displeasure. "I doubt that, sir."
    "I fell asleep the moment my eyes closed," Diana said. "What kept you awake, James?"
    "A ghost, dear sister."
    "Oh," she breathed. "Never say so. Truly?"
    Sebastian looked away since derision was liable to be fatal to an offer of marriage. Ghosts, indeed. Diana, he was coming to realize, was not about to give up her ridiculous idea of a
seance to summon the Black Earl.
    Diana buried her hands deeper in her muff and leaned toward her brother and him. "In London, Mama and I attended a
seance. Don't laugh, James. We did, and it was most astonishing. The spirits predicted I would be married before the new year is out, and that I should come to the country to find my husband. They did. They moaned and pounded on the walls, and Lady Fields swooned when they said her late husband wanted her to invest in the three percents. Is that what kept you awake, James? Miss Willow? Oh, do tell."
    Miss Willow shook her head. "Much to my regret, I've never seen a ghost. Nor heard one either."
    James's eyes twinkled. "Oh, now don't spoil the fun, Miss Willow. As for me, 'twas the Black Earl himself I heard. Who else could it have been rattling his chains and moaning outside my door half the night?"
    "Angry, perhaps, for not investing in the five percents before he died," Miss Willow said.
    "Pish." Diana made a face and sank against the seat. "You're such a liar, James. I don't know why I listen to anything you say."
    "Diana, I am wounded to the quick."
    "If you really saw the Black Earl, what was he like?"
    "Quite the hair-raising experience, I confess. I can hardly bring myself to describe the horror."
    "The truth, James, have you really? Miss Willow, make him tell the truth. Besides, I thought the Black Earl only appeared on the anniversary of his death. Did you not say so, Miss Willow?"
    James grinned. "I didn't say I saw him. I said I heard him. Though an Alexander might see him at any time. Tell us, Sebastian, when you saw the Black Earl did he rattle chains and howl at his fate?"
    "You saw the Black Earl?" Diana put a hand to