O Night Divine A Holiday Collection of Spirited Christmas Tales - Kathryn Le Veque Page 0,30

simply materializing inside the vehicle next to her. “He was utterly charmed by you! I daresay, if you’d played your cards right—no pun intended—he’d have proposed before dawn!”

“I can’t marry him. I’m not marrying anyone it seems,” Elizabeth muttered. “Leave me be!”

“I can’t!” Burney insisted. “You’re my assignment. Well, part of my assignment!”

“Assignment?”

Burney sighed heavily. “It’s very important to me that I get to work on Christmas Eve on a very special case that I have a deep, personal investment in. But I must prove myself… and the challenge I was given was to see you matched with your true love before Christmas Eve.”

“Well, I’m very sorry, Burney. I’m afraid you are bound for disappointment. Now, I’m begging you, leave me be before this driver assumes I’m madder than a hatter and drops me at the nearest asylum. Some people aren’t meant for happiness, you know?”

Burney shook his head. “That isn’t true. Everyone deserves to be happy!”

“What we deserve and what we can have are very rarely the same thing,” she pointed out. “Please, leave me.”

And just like that, Burney vanished and she was once more alone in the darkness.

Chapter Three

By the time he’d made it to the street, she was long gone. Snow had begun to fall, thick and heavy, and even her footprints were quickly fading beneath it. Only the distant clatter of hooves and rhythmic thump of carriage wheels gave any indication of the direction she’d gone.

“Damn it all!” Oliver exclaimed in the darkness. “What the devil did I say?”

“Women! Who can ever make sense of them?”

Oliver whirled, ready to face down a footpad or a pickpocket. What he found was a young man, impeccably dressed and seemingly impervious to the cold. “Do you know her?”

“Perhaps.”

“And you are?”

“Burney. Just Burney,” the young man answered. “Walk with me?”

Oliver agreed, falling in step beside the young man. It all seemed odd to him—Elizabeth appearing and then simply vanishing into the night, the strangely familiar voice of this man who had just appeared out of nowhere. If he’d had slightly less brandy, he’d probably question it a great deal more. In his current state, his curiosity was overruling his caution. “Oliver then. Just Oliver. You said you might know her?”

“Well, I do know her, but not well. I would happily give you her direction, but only if I know what your intentions for the lady are,” Burney responded.

“My intentions? Well, to be certain she’s safe for a start. And to know her better,” Oliver replied. Intentions! Did Burney think he meant to marry a woman he’d just met.

An insidious little voice—one that teased and tormented as it tempted—resonated in Oliver’s mind. He could marry her. After all, half the ton already eyed him with half-concealed disdain due to his very American ways. Not that they detested Americans. It was rather that they disliked Americans who somehow came into possession of titles.

“Ah… as a friend?” Burney suggested.

“Well, certainly yes, as a friend,” Oliver agreed. It was a lie. Well, it wasn’t the entire truth. Of course, he wished to know her better and he certainly hoped there would be friendship between them, but the simple truth was that he’d taken one look at her and thought “mine”. Not in a gloating and possessive way as so many men might but in recognition of the fact that he instantly felt a connection to her. Perhaps it wasn’t the permanent sort of connection. He had no notion if such a thing as love at first sight or soul mates even existed. Even if they did, making decisions about such things after a night of cards and brandy was hardly a wise choice on his part. Regardless, he knew one thing about Elizabeth. They were destined to meet, and he’d be lying if he said his interests in her weren’t both romantic and carnal, but those were things best revealed to her than to some stranger on a sidewalk. What an odd man this Burney fellow was.

“So you’re not in the market for a wife then?”

Oliver’s steps faltered. “It’s not exactly something I’ve given a great deal of thought! A wife! I’ve only been a marquess for a few months. That would be a lot of new things to get used to, now wouldn’t it?”

Burney walked on ahead of him a bit. Oliver watched, somewhat perplexed. There was something not quite right about the man and yet he couldn’t for the life of him figure it out. Reluctantly, he picked up his pace and