Heart Burn (3 page)

I refrained from rolling my eyes, but only just. "I'm sure he'll be very popular at the ball if that's the case. Indeed, if you have any interest in him at all, you may want to secure him before then." I watched her closely for any signs of infatuation.

She burst out laughing. "Don't be ridiculous. The man can hypnotize people with mere words. I want a husband I can wrap around
my
little finger, not the other way round, thank you."

I giggled, relieved. I was quite sure Samuel had no interest in Sylvia, but I was a little worried that she was beginning to like him in that way. He was, after all, very handsome and charming. Thank goodness I'd been wrong. They would have made a terribly unsuitable couple.

"It's nice that he's taking such an interest in the house," I said, watching the men. "He's certainly made himself at home here."

"Why wouldn't he?" She sat down with a flounce on the sofa, her skirts billowing before settling around her. "He's living here for free."

"I don't think money is an issue. His family is wealthy." His family also didn't know he was at Frakingham. He'd let that piece of news slip some time ago but never explained why he'd not told them. Nor was I completely satisfied with his explanation for being at the house at all. He'd claimed to be studying us as some sort of experiment on cognitive processes and behavior. Perhaps it was the truth. Perhaps it had nothing to do with his ability to hypnotize and more to do with his neuroscience interests. He had been a student of the subject before he'd left University College and come to Frakingham.

A more interesting question for me, however, was why was August Langley allowing him to stay?

"At least he and Jack seem to be getting along now," I said. Jack hadn't warmed to Samuel at first. Not until Samuel had risked his own life to save us. Since then, they'd become friends.

"He no longer sees Samuel as a rival." Sylvia pulled her sewing out of her basket and inspected her stitching.

"A rival? Over me?" I laughed. "He never was."

"Jack thought differently, believe me, particularly when Uncle continued to push you and Samuel together."

"At least he's stopped doing that."

Sylvia pressed her lips into a disapproving line. "He's been very busy and distracted. I wouldn't assume that he's given up entirely."

August Langley was full of mysteries, but his desire to keep Jack and I apart was the one that bothered me the most. Why didn't he want us to be together? The only explanation I could come up with was that I wasn't good enough for Jack. He might not be Langley's true nephew, but Langley certainly treated him as if he was. He also had a deep desire to be seen as an important man, hence the reason a mere microbiologist had settled his family in a magnificent house as soon as he could afford it. The daughter of working-class people would not figure into his grand plans for Jack.

There was no use dwelling on such knotty problems now. The future was too uncertain and Langley not very present of late anyway. Whatever his faults, he'd thrown himself into discovering a cure for me, and I was grateful beyond words. If he did find a cure and repaying him meant leaving Jack forever, I didn't know what I would choose to do.

I sat beside Sylvia and watched her stitching until I couldn't stand the tedium any longer. "I'm going out to see what Jack and Samuel have decided about the builders."

"Why bother?" she said heavily. "No matter where the builders come from, the house won't be finished for some time. We'll have to cancel."

"Cancel what?"

"The Christmas dinner party of course. The grand dining room is in the damaged wing, and we can't have guests rolling up to a house that resembles a spider's web." She set down her sewing and sniffed. "It's
so
ugly, and I'm terribly disappointed. It was to be our first dinner party here. My first as hostess."

She'd invited three other couples to dine with us two days before Christmas. I knew it was important to her, but I'd forgotten all about it, what with the chaotic events of the last two weeks. Clearly she hadn't.

I circled her shoulders with my arm and hugged her. "There'll be more opportunities in the new year. Next time we won't send out invitations until we know the house is absolutely finished. Besides, it's probably for the best with the Beauforts' ball taking place soon. We'll be much too distracted to give our full attention to the dinner."

Her face lifted at the mention of the ball. "At least that's something to look forward to. I cannot wait to go to London with you and Jack tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? But the ball isn't for another week."

Jack and Samuel walked in looking a little windblown from the wintry breeze. Samuel rubbed his hands and stood facing the fire. Jack smiled at me.

"You're awake," he said, coming to stand beside me. He rested his hand on the back of the sofa and crouched at my side. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," I said cheerfully. There was no point telling him I felt tired and hot. It would only make him melancholy with worry. "Sylvia says we're going to London tomorrow."

"Only if you're up to it. I need to go, and I can't leave you here." He was switching to his protector role again. I welcomed it. There was no knowing when Reuben Tate would attempt to take me again, and with his abilities, Jack was the best person to stop him. Besides, I didn't want to be too far away from him for long periods. I missed him.

"Why do you need to go to London at all?" I asked. "Has this got something to do with Mott's link to the Society For Supernatural Activity?

He nodded. "I want to speak to someone about it, preferably a member. The Beauforts or Mr. Culvert may know of somebody."

The Beauforts and Mr. George Culvert were not only our friends, but also experts on demons and other supernatural phenomena. They didn't belong to the Society, but they were aware of it.

"Langley doesn't have any contacts anymore?" I asked.

"He claims not to." Jack stood. "Sylvia and Samuel insist on coming too."

"Wonderful. The more company, the better."

Samuel smiled, flashing his boyish dimples. They made him even more handsome, something that I suspected he knew. "I'd like to meet some members of this Society too. Someone may know something about my…talent for hypnosis."

"Oh? I had no idea you were curious about it." Indeed, he seemed as comfortable with his ability as Jack was with his fire starting. Samuel had hinted that in the past he'd used it for dishonorable reasons, but I was quite certain he now only hypnotized people when absolutely necessary. He was born with the ability to put someone in a trance with nothing more than his melodic voice and penetrating gaze. Other hypnotists needed to train in the art and required objects as focal points. Even then they weren't always successful.

"My curiosity was piqued when we learned that you were hypnotized by a member of the Society as a child," he told me. "Ever since then I've been curious about the man who did it. I think he must be like me and naturally gifted rather than learned in the art of hypnosis. It was certainly a powerful trance he put you in."

The hypnotist, a gentleman named Myer, had hypnotized me when I was in the care of Lord Wade. He had not only made me fall asleep when I emitted fire, but also forget the entire episode. The hypnosis had been lifted by my extreme anger, fueled by something August Langley had said.

"We'll have a grand time on Bond Street, Hannah," Sylvia said. Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. "We ought to look for ribbons and pins to dress our hair for the ball. And I need a new pair of gloves."

"There will be little time for shopping," Jack said.

"A 'little time' is long enough. Speaking of the ball, Mrs. Irwin is coming this afternoon for a final adjustment. Do try to be awake, Hannah."

Mrs. Irwin was the finest dressmaker in Haborough. Sylvia had wanted to commission a London
modiste
to make our ball gowns, but there'd been no time. Mrs. Irwin had to do.

"You may regret bringing the ladies," Samuel muttered to Jack.

Sylvia gave him a withering glare. I don't know how I could have thought she had an interest in him. The more I watched them together, the more I realized they behaved like brother and sister.

"The time for shopping will be very short," Jack said. "Particularly since Hannah shouldn't be exerting herself."

"Hannah is perfectly capable of inspecting ribbons," Sylvia retorted.

I arched my eyebrows at her. "Hannah is perfectly capable of speaking for herself. I'll go and pack now. Sylvia, will you help me?"

We were about to leave the drawing room when the rumble of wheels rolling down the corridor stopped us. We stood to each side of the doorway as August Langley entered in his wheelchair. A tray rested on his lap, upon which lay a white folded cloth. Bollard the mute servant brought the wheelchair to a stop near the fireplace. He stood stiffly behind his employer, his eyes blank as he stared straight ahead. Bollard was an expert on not revealing his thoughts. When I'd first met him, I'd been terrified of the tall, imposing man who couldn't talk. Now, he still made my heart skip when he silently turned a corner into my path, but I no longer feared him the way I used to.

"We're off to London," Sylvia announced, going to her uncle's side. "Isn't that marvelous?"

Langley narrowed his eyes at her. "Whose idea is that?"

"Mine," Jack said. He repeated his reasons for going.

Tommy entered before he'd finished. The footman balanced a silver salver on one gloved hand. It held a single letter from what I could see. His gaze was almost as blank as Bollard's, but he didn't ignore us like the mute. He looked at each of us in turn, finally settling on Sylvia standing nearby. I was sure she hadn't noticed, until her head tilted in what could only be described as defiance. What was going on between those two? I hoped she hadn't offended him again. She could be awful to poor Tommy sometimes.

"All of you are going?" Langley looked directly at me as he asked.

"Yes," I said. "Why should I miss out on all the fun?" The silence that followed was like a noose around my neck. The unspoken 'Because you need to rest' was as much a sentence as the fire that was killing me. If I had limited days left, I wanted to spend them with my friends. My loved ones. I looked to Jack.

He closed his eyes, but not before I saw the pain in them. "She's coming because I can't leave her here."

Langley nodded once, but did not seem convinced.

"Why are you so hesitant to let me go?" I spoke levelly, challenging him. Langley and I had not had the most harmonious relationship. Secrets and lies had damaged it from the start, some of which were mine, I was sorry to admit. In an odd way, our lack of affection for one another meant we could speak our minds. I think Langley even appreciated it.

"I'm at the testing phase," he said.

Sylvia gasped then covered her mouth with her hand.

Jack took a step toward Langley. "What sort of testing are you talking about?"

"Not the sort you're thinking of," Langley said.

Everybody, including me, exhaled. I had assumed that Langley was going to use me as a subject in the same way that Tate wanted to. Tate's plans involved injecting me with drugs he'd developed to see if any of them cured me of my fire starting. He gave no guarantees that they wouldn't kill me.

"I simply need some samples of Hannah's blood," Langley said.

Sylvia screwed up her face. "Do we have to discuss this here and now?"

"Will it hurt?" Jack asked.

"A mere pricking of her skin," Langley said. "It may sting for a moment, but that's all."

A sound of disgust gurgled from Sylvia's throat.

"And how is the blood removed from my body?" I asked.

Sylvia placed her hands on her stomach. She'd gone quite green. "Excuse me." She ran out of the room. Tommy set the salver down on a nearby table and slipped out after her.

"I'll use a syringe." Langley unfolded the thick white cloth on the tray in his lap, revealing a slender cylinder made of glass with bronze ends. I suddenly wanted to follow Sylvia.

"It looks worse than it feels," Samuel said, coming to my side.

I swallowed. "That's good because it looks rather barbaric."

"I've used them in my studies. If it makes you feel better, you may hold my hand while he does it."

I sat back down on the sofa and turned to Jack. He raked his hand through his hair, down the side of his face and over his jaw. I thought he would say something, but he didn't. The look he gave me said all the things I knew he wanted to say:
It should be me holding your hand.

"Thank you, Samuel," I said, "but I'll be all right."

Samuel gave Jack a nod as if he knew what he was thinking. He stepped away from me.

"Stay near her, Gladstone," Langley ordered Samuel. "You'll need to catch her if she faints."

"I can assure you I'm not the fainting sort, Mr. Langley."

"All women are the fainting sort. It's part of your constitution."

I wanted to share my frustration with Jack, but he wasn't looking at me. He stood by the window, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes downcast. I could just see one of his hands from where I sat on the sofa. It was clenched in a tight fist.

"Forward, Bollard," Langley intoned. The servant wheeled him toward me. "Roll up your sleeve, Hannah."

The sleeve on my dress was fitted from shoulder to elbow with a soft ruffle falling from elbow to wrist. I pushed it up as far as it would go.

"Present your arm, palm up."

I did and watched as he prepared the syringe. I was rather mesmerized by the process…until he stuck the needle into me.

"Ow!" It was more the shock of the needle pricking my skin than any real pain.

"Hannah?" Jack was suddenly by my side.

"It's quite all right." I gave him a smile which hopefully he thought was genuine. "It didn't hurt a bit."

"Then why did you say 'ow'?"

"A figure of speech."

He scowled, but the needle was already out. It was full of my blood.

"Do you feel faint?" Samuel asked, handing me his handkerchief. I pressed it to the drop of blood marking the spot where the needle had entered.