Read Magic in the Stars for Free Online Page B

speak. “A gentleman, my lady.”
    Reading the rather battered card, Aster raised her eyebrows
and tried not to fret even more. “Thank goodness you’re here, Emilia. After
today, I’ll have to stop accepting gentleman callers until I find a replacement
for Jennet.”
    Even with Emilia present, she wondered if she should allow
the gentleman entrance. He was not likely to be carrying good news. But then
she remembered Emilia’s predicament and brightened. “Perhaps your sun is finally
in the right house! The caller is Lord Theophilus Ives, heir to the Marquess of
Ashford. He might be just the solution for you.”
    And if she was very lucky, he might help her to approach the
marquess about the child labor law. Surely his brother was recovering by now,
or at least bored with lying about. She had her doubts about bringing members
of her family into the marquess’s circle, but where did she draw the line
between caution and progress?
    “Do please send his lordship in,” she said, trying to be decisive.
    Unlike the last time she’d seen him, the marquess’s heir had
chosen to dress properly today. Lord Theophilus was wearing a green coat so
dark that it was almost black, as well as a proper gold waistcoat, and linen
cravat. The style was a few years out of fashion, perhaps, but he would still
look every inch the proper gentleman—except his coat was unfastened, his
waistcoat hung by a dangling button, and he was loosening his cravat as if it
were a noose around his neck.
    Aster bit back a smile and noticed what a perfect pair he
and Emilia would make—both tall, slim, handsome, and bookish. She fought the
selfish desire that she could say the same of herself.
    “My lord, I hope you have brought welcome news.” Judging by
the stormy gray gaze he focused on her, she knew he had not. Her fear
increased, but taught hospitality from an early age, she eased him into the
company. “Emilia, may I introduce Lord Theophilus Ives, heir to the Marquess of
Ashford, Earl of Ives and Wystan. Lord Theophilus, my cousin, the Honorable
Emilia McDowell.”
    Emilia gave him her most splendiferous smile, the one that
should bring grown men to their knees. She even reined in her tart tongue for a
vaguely pleasant “My pleasure.”
    With surprise, Aster noted his lordship merely gave her beautiful
cousin a cursory glance before swinging his attention back to her. She shivered a little at his baleful
intensity.
    Had the doom in his chart already arrived? Surely he didn’t
blame her!

Five
    Theo tried not to gape at the lady’s parlor. He’d stepped
out of a gray London day into a jungle of greenery, complete with cats hiding
in the foliage—although admittedly, they were of the domestic kind and not
tigers or lions. Across from the window full of ferns and flowers, a mural of
what he assumed were palm and banana trees adorned the parlor wall.
Interspersed among the mural’s vegetation were giant orange, red, and yellow
flowers, not to mention a few painted monkeys and parrots.
    And the most striking creature of all was perched on the
edge of a wicker chair stacked in pillows to match the jungle. Lady Doom was
spreading her plumage today in a brilliant yellow-and-green striped gown with
just a frail bit of translucence covering her splendid bosom.
    And her hair was a fiery
copper. He could scarcely drag his gaze away from her riotous mass of
curls. In his rage and despair, Theo railed at the fates. It was as if he’d
just discovered a new comet shooting across the heavens—while his telescope was
falling apart.
    “Have a seat, my lord, join us in a cup of tea. Nick, have
Cook send up some biscuits and a fresh pot, will you, please?” She followed
this command with a gesture to take a seat near her other guest.
    Theo wished tea and the other guest to perdition. He had
spent his entire journey from Surrey to London rehearsing what he would say
when he arrived. Finding polite conversation under this sensory bombardment was
beyond his