The Dollhouse Society Volume IV: Lucky (Includes Lady Luck, House of Dolls, The Reluctant Bride, A Woman on Top, plus a bonus story!) (18 page)

It took Devon a moment to answer that. “Y-yeah. Let’s go.” The truth was, he wasn’t going back to check. He didn’t care if it bloody snowed in tonight and destroyed the room. He was
not
going back to the sitting parlor.

They went downstairs together, the stairs creaking under their feet. Devon tried to remember if they had always creaked like that or not, and if he was only now noticing. He couldn’t remember. For the first time, he felt a streak of caution as he stepped into the Great Room. Earlier in the evening, the lot of them had discussed the old legends surrounding the region, the witches supposedly hung, the graves disturbed, even the Headless Horseman. He’d always liked those old spook stories, never found them particularly disturbing. No more. All that nonsense came from somewhere.

The Great Room was dark, Malcolm having switched off all the lights, the faces in the oldest portraits and photographs obscured by shadows, but he still carried the oil lamp, he discovered. He didn’t even remember taking it. He carried it to the far side of the room, his light fluttering erratically against the walls, and searched the older, larger portraits higher up, near the ceiling, until he found the one he wanted.

“
What are you doing?” Malcolm asked, coming up beside him.

The one his light fell upon was a portrait he’d seen a hundred times in the Dollhouse, yet never really paid any attention to. It was of a fey blonde courtesan being embraced from behind by her gentleman, a crop across her middle. She had ribbons tied in strategic locations, but they covered up very little, really. The gentleman’s face was buried in the side of her hair, so Devon couldn’t see the left side, and if there was a scar, but he was certain of one thing. These two were most certainly the couple he had encountered upstairs.

“
Who are they?” he asked.

Malcolm raised his eyebrows at that. “Tiberius and his courtesan, Lucky. They were one of the first couples to make extensive use of the Dollhouse. They lived…I guess it was a little over two hundred years ago.” He nodded, then turned to Devon. “I thought you knew about Tiberius and Lucky.”

“
I thought I did, too.” The names rang a bell, but then, history had never been Devon’s strong suit. “Tell me about them.”

Malcolm mused over the portrait. “They ran one of the biggest cotton mills in upper state New York. It was still in operation all the way up until the 1950’s.” Malcolm laughed. “I’m surprised you don’t know about Lucky. Poor girl. She believed she was cursed by a witch with bad luck, and, from all accounts, she did have terrible luck all through her life—but only when she was apart from Tiberius. When they were together, the witch’s curse couldn’t touch them. She was a very brave girl, from what I understand, and she managed to protect the Dollhouse Society in a time when they all might have been accused of witchcraft and hanged.

“
Luck and Tiberius lived a very long time, well into their eighties. They even died on the same day, only hours apart from one another. Afterward, the occupants of the Dollhouse claimed to see their spirits walking the hallways of this old place, watching over it, I expect.” Malcolm thought about that as if trying to decide if there was any merit to the old legend. “It’s our only ghost story, and come to think of it, we should integrate that into next year’s Masqued Ball, don’t you think?”

Devon shivered, violently. “How do you know so much about Lucky and Tiberius?”

“
Oh well, that. Poor Lucky couldn’t have children of her own, so she and Tiberius adopted a lot of children over the years from the orphanages in the region. One of the children they adopted was my ancestor.”

Devon turned to look at his partner. “Tiberius…Sloan?”

“
Correct.”

“
So, in a way, the Dollhouse is in your blood.”

Malcolm shrugged. “Maybe it is. Are you coming, pet? I think we have some unfinished business at home.” Patting Devon companionably on the ass, and giving it a friendly squeeze, Malcolm started for the door.

Still working on not shivering, Devon set the oil lamp down, blew it out, and followed Malcolm to the door. Malcolm locked up Hampton House for the night and the two headed for Malcolm’s Beemer parked on the gravel drive. Since Malcolm was still a little tipsy, Devon drove them down past the gates. The gates closed automatically and locked with a punch of a button on the controller that Malcolm kept on his key ring. They pulled alongside the now-closed gates, and Devon jumped out to make certain the electronic locks were secure. Malcolm was very fussy about such things.

Everything looked in order, but when he chanced a look up at the old Colonial sitting dark, solemn, and pregnant with history on its shadowy track of land, he spotted a light in one of the upper rooms. The sitting parlor, to be exact. He waited, his heart flitting much too loudly in his ears, and watched as a figure stepped into view, carrying his oil lamp.

It was the blonde woman. He couldn’t see her expression from this distance, but she seemed to be watching him.
Lucky and Tiberius Sloan
, he thought prosaically,
it’s nice to meet you. Very nice.
Then her gentleman stepped up behind her and slid his arm around her waist and Lucky leaned back against him, much as she had in the portrait in the Great Room. They seemed so content to be in each other’s arms, Devon couldn’t find it in himself to be spooked.  

 “
Just watching over the old house,” he said. “Well, mates, I’ll leave you two to it, then.”

With a smile and a little salute, Devon headed back to the car.

About the Author

Eden Myles lives in the rural northeast with her family and two demanding cats. Like Evelyn, she was once a temp, like Rachaela, she is sometimes a publisher, and like Lucky, she continues to be a romantic. To see all of her titles, visit
http://courtesanpress.wordpress.com
.

Also Available from Courtesan Press:

Indecent Proposal

Dreams in Black & White

Playing House

Freeze Frame

The Dollhouse Society Volume I: Evelyn

The Rules of Engagement

Big, Bad Wolf

The War of the Roses

The Dollhouse Society Volume II: Rachaela

Eyes Wide Open

Touch

Teacher’s Pet

Angel in the Dark

The Dollhouse Society Volume III: Daniel

Lady Luck

House of Dolls

The Reluctant Bride

A Woman on Top

The Dollhouse Society Volume IV: Lucky