Deadly Liaisons. Elle James

his late thirties, he retired from the railroad and settled here in Cape Churn, where he met the prettiest girl in town, Rose Engelmann, a beauty whose family had fallen on hard times. He courted Rose and asked her to marry him, but she had fallen in love with a pirate and had secretly been seeing him without her parents’ knowledge. Rose refused to marry Ian McGregor.

      “Unbeknownst to her, Ian paid the pirate a visit to gauge the man’s intentions toward the lovely Rose. The pirate laughed about his affair with the beauty, claiming he left a woman in every port.

      “Ian paid the man a hefty sum to leave and never return. As Ian had anticipated, the pirate took the money and left Cape Churn.

      “Rose was heartbroken and, with her family in dire straits, agreed to marry Ian.” Molly’s brows lowered, the gleam disappearing from her eyes as she enthralled her listeners with her tale.

      Nova was no exception. He leaned forward, clinging to every word, caught up in her story, almost feeling the pain of Ian’s unrequited love.

      “Ian knew she didn’t care for him, but he set out to do everything in his power to make her fall in love with him, to woo her heart over to him by building her this mansion fit for a princess. He surrounded it with rose arbors and gardens so beautiful she couldn’t help but fall in love with the place as well as him. He was a kind and gentle lover, not asking more than any man would ask of his wife and treating her with respect and love.”

      Molly’s gaze slipped to Nova.

      His heart flipped over and beat faster, his groin tightening.

      Then she lowered her lashes, hiding her emerald-green eyes as she continued, “She bore a single son, but alas, Rose couldn’t or wouldn’t fall in love with Ian—her heart still belonged to a pirate who never loved her in the first place.

      “Ian was proud of his son and loved him dearly. For years he tried to gain the love of his wife, but finally gave up, growing more despondent, until one day he caught pneumonia and didn’t want to fight his way back to good health. As his physical condition declined, a ship sailed into Cape Churn, carrying Rose’s pirate. He learned of the pirate’s return from his loyal servant and valet.

      “Calling Rose into his bedroom, he told her what he’d done all those years ago. If she was still in love with the pirate, and if the pirate shared the same feelings, she was free to go.

      “Rose hurried to the village, anxious to be reunited with the pirate. When she arrived at his hotel, she hurried up the stairs to the room they’d shared in secret and found him in the arms of another woman. She begged him to take her back and leave the woman he was with. He laughed and told her to go away.

      “Rose returned to McGregor Manor sad, angry and disappointed. Ian dragged himself out of his bed to soothe her. But she would not be consoled. Instead, she ran outside during a night when the devil had cloaked the land and cliffs in its ghostly shroud—when the fog had gathered at its thickest.

      “Ian followed her, weak and sick, stumbling toward the sounds of her sobs. He found her at the edge of the cliff and tried to talk her into returning to the mansion. She refused, blaming him for driving her lover away. When he grabbed her arm to lead her back to the house, she pushed him away. He staggered backward and fell over the cliff onto the rocks below.

      “Horrified, Rose finally realized what a fool she’d been. Ian had loved her and wanted nothing but the best for her. She’d thrown his love away and then pushed him to his death. Distraught and grieving for all her mistakes and for destroying her chances at love, she threw herself over the cliff to join Ian in death.

      “The legend says that because neither found love in life, they wander the gardens and the mansion’s halls—Ian searching for Rose, and Rose searching for Ian. Neither ever quite finding the other.

      “Many times, I’ve heard Rose’s sobs in the middle of the night.” Molly’s eyes were filled with tears at the end of the story, her voice dropping to a sad whisper. “And when the Devil’s Shroud blankets the cliffs, I swear I’ve heard the echo of Ian calling to Rose and Rose’s sobs in the sound of the waves splashing against the cliffs.”

      The crowd of onlookers, including Casanova, remained silent for a full minute after Molly finished, mesmerized by Molly’s storytelling and complete believability. Whether the story was true or not didn’t matter. Everyone believed.

      The room erupted in applause.

      “Wow, that was beautiful.” Emma Jenkins wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Not that I’d want to run into the pair in a dark hallway.” She shivered. “Ghosts give me the creeps just thinking about them.”

      “You sure Rose didn’t kill Ian on purpose?” a woman with auburn hair asked. “Ian did send her lover away.”

      Molly’s brows knit. “You’re Talia, right?”

      The woman hesitated, then nodded.

      “No one knows for sure,” Molly continued. “If she did kill Ian on purpose, why would she have joined him?”

      “Unless someone pushed her,” said a big guy with pale blond, wispy hair and glasses. He’d sat near Talia all evening, his gaze rarely leaving her.

      Nova concealed a smile. The man had a thing for the dark-haired woman, and by the looks of it, she didn’t know he existed.

      Talia’s gaze shifted to Nova as if she could sense his thoughts. Nova’s glance returned to Molly’s clear, green gaze.

      “What happened to Ian and Rose’s son?” a man asked.

      Molly grinned. “That would be my great-great-grandfather. He was raised by an elderly aunt who came to Cape Churn from Philadelphia.”

      Another guest raised her hand. “Have you ever seen Ian and Rose’s ghosts?”

      Molly nodded. “Once I saw Ian on the upper landing late in the night, wearing his nightgown and carrying a candle.”

      “What about Rose?” she asked.

      “I’ve seen her by the cliffs. Not that I recommend anyone go out there tonight. Because, you see, while you were enjoying the evening meal, the Devil’s Shroud crept over the cliffs and cloaked McGregor Manor in thick fog.”

      As one, the roomful of people moved, everyone leaping to their feet to crowd through the door onto the wide front porch of the mansion.

      Nova remained behind. “Beautiful.”

      Molly’s cheeks flushed and she looked at her hands. “Thank you. And thank you for helping with the dishes.” She collected coffee cups from tables and started for the kitchen.

      Not wanting to let her get away, he followed, picking up dessert plates and glasses as he passed through the dining room and into the kitchen. He shouldn’t start anything with the McGregor woman, especially when he was about to leave, but something about her touched him and made him want to get to know her better. Was it the way she empathized with the former owners of the grand mansion? Or the perpetual smile that remained permanently affixed to her lips?

      Molly was already elbow deep in the sudsy water when Nova entered the kitchen, carrying more dishes.

      “Really, you didn’t have to do that.” She blew at a strand of hair falling over her forehead.

      Nova set the dishes on the counter beside her and brushed the strand of hair behind her ear. “Better?”

      He stood so close, he could see the tiny flecks of gold in her green eyes. She blinked, her lips parting.

      Before he could think better of the idea, he lifted her chin with the crook of his finger. “I imagine you are as beautiful as Ian’s Rose.”

      “I’m sure she was much prettier,” Molly replied, her voice breathy, her gaze dropping to his mouth.

      “I seriously doubt it.”

      When her tongue darted out to wet her