Read Online Lyon's Bride and The Scottish Witch with Bonus Material (Promo e-Books) by Cathy Maxwell - Free Book Online

true?”
    “The first Chattan,” Neal said, “the one who jilted the daughter died within months after his marriage. They said he was very pleased with his new wife. He’d fallen in love with her—and the curse took him.”
    “When was this?” Thea asked. “What year?”
    “It was in 1632. The witch’s name was Fenella. The daughter was called Rose.”
    “Fenella? That is a witchy-sounding name, but, Neal, people died of all sorts of things back then, and at relatively young ages.”
    “His wife was carrying a child, a son,” Neal continued. “He grew into manhood, married, and died once he married, also for love. Death claimed him after a year of marriage.”
    “And was his wife carrying a son?”
    “Yes.”
    “And that son grew into manhood and married and died?”
    “Yes.”
    “And so on and so forth?” she asked.
    “ Yes, ” he reiterated, his tone growing testy.
    “So your family has a history of dying at a young age,” Thea concluded. “That does not mean there is a curse. However,” she quickly added, “I have read stories about nonsense like curses that claim the strength of the curse is in how deeply one believes. Perhaps you should stop giving this curse any power over your own life.”
    He made an exasperated sound. “Do you not think that one in a long line of my ancestors has not considered the same? Of course we have. We’ve tried all manner of tricks to defeat this curse. My great-grandfather consulted witches and shamans and all sorts of mystics and religious men of every caste and creed to break the curse.”
    “What happened?”
    “He fell in love with one of the witches and was dead in three months.” Neal leaned toward her. “The only way we’ve found to hold the curse at bay is to marry out of obligation, something not unheard of for our class. But whatever we do, we can’t allow ourselves any warm feelings toward our spouse.”
    “Which explains why your mother was such a cold woman,” she said with interest.
    “And explains even more why my father stayed away and did absolutely nothing to lighten the situation. He did not want to like her, and it worked. He is the first man in generations who has sired more than one child.”
    “Do your brother and sister carry this curse?”
    “We don’t know. I assume Margaret is free of it, but she has her doubts.”
    “And the colonel’s obvious dislike of me—?”
    “Is because he hates my idea of marrying,” Neal finished. “Harry, Margaret, and I are very close. They believe the three of us should not marry at all. They want the curse to end here, with us.”
    “That’s what he meant,” Thea said, half to herself. She frowned. “You obviously don’t feel that way.”
    “I think the curse can be broken. After all, father lived many years and had three children.” He dropped his gaze to his gloved hand resting on his leg. “And I want children, Thea. I want what you have. I hunger for it. I don’t know if my overwhelming desire for a child is part of the curse or what, and it has created a rift between Harry and me.”
    Thea shook her head. “Did not your father pass away only a few years ago? He must have been of a ripe age.”
    “He was sixty-one.”
    “That is a respectable age to die, Lyon, and I mean no disrespect to his memory,” she hastened to add lest he think her callous. “After all, your father had three children. Could it not mean that he has already defeated the demon of the curse?”
    Neal lifted his head toward her, his expression bleak. “I wish it were so. Can you not imagine the hell of living a loveless life?” He paused and then asked, “Do you not wonder why I quit meeting you so abruptly that summer? Thea, our friendship is my fondest memory. I would not have ignored you the way I did if this curse was a hoax.”
    He leaned back into his corner of the coach. “My father learned of our meetings and came from London to talk to me. He explained the danger of the curse.”
    “But we