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

in a Van Dyke beard. His right eye was a deep, mahogany brown, and his left a pale, sightless grey. His body was sinewy and strong looking, like a lifelong cavalryman. I knew some displaced Britons, like Mr. Sloan, were supporting the Spanish against the invasion of Napoleon’s army in Portugal by lending military expertise and support. Since some of Mr. Sloan’s business of import took him to Portugal, it wouldn’t have surprised me if his military bearing was a result of that, rather than a man’s corset.
    “ Miss Lucille Van der Meer, it’s good to see you,” Mr. Sloan said, and the floor faintly vibrated with his low, booming baritone. It was still the voice of the Ogre, the voice of a man used to crying out orders over long distances, and I faintly flinched at the sound of it.
    “ Mr. Sloan, so nice of you to be here…”
    “ Tiberius, please.”
    “ Oh, I couldn’t.”
    “ I insist,” he announced, and brushed his mouth against my gloved hand, though he kept his keen eyes centered on my face. I felt a peculiar skip in my heart in that moment, almost as if Nellie had spiked my morning tea with a drop of arsenic, as she did sometimes when she wished to see more color in my cheeks, usually before an important engagement. I thought how this was a most peculiar reaction to a man I did not like!
    “ Oh,” I said, “let’s not be too formal.” I smiled. “You shall be Tiberius and I shall be Lucky.”
    He looked me over, but not like he used to when I was a child. There was something more to his look now. “I never did understand your father’s predilection for calling you that.”
    “ I sometimes hunted with him, and I almost always made a perfect shot with a musket ball. As a result, he used to call me his lucky shot.” I grimaced internally only after the words had exited my mouth. I was making a fool of myself already!
    “ Ah.” He seemed to think about that, and I’m sure he was contemplating how inappropriate and unladylike it all was. “I am so very sorry to hear about your father, Lucky. He was a good friend and associate of mine. A good man,” he said, tactfully changing the subject. “I hope you will consider me at your disposal during this trying time.”
    “ Yes,” I said hesitantly. We were headed for the reason behind his visit, and I wasn’t entirely certain I wanted to discuss this matter with him right at the moment. So I introduced him to Charlotte, instead. He kissed her hand and said, “Madam,” and Charlotte blushed quite inappropriately and kept stealing glances at his breeches.
    He must have sensed my overall unease because he said, “Perhaps we should discuss your father’s matters tomorrow?”
    I had detailed some of my issues in the letter I had sent him, but I hadn’t become too specific. Again, I felt that flutter in my heart, but for an entirely different reason. “No,” I said, lifting my head proudly. “We should discuss them straightaway. Tonight, if possible. I shouldn’t want to keep you too long. You have business in Boston, correct?”
    “ I was on business in Boston when your letter came, yes.” He gave me a pitying look. “Would it be terrible of me to suggest we retire to the study until dinnertime?”
    We excused ourselves and he offered me his arm. I set my hand on his sleeve. He felt very warm through his formal, black, cavalry-style jacket. He escorted me out of the conservatory and down the hall to my father’s study, but before we even reached the door, the heel of my slipper gave way and my ankle crumpled. He caught me as I was going down in an array of skirts.
    “ Lucille…” he began, then corrected himself by saying, “Lucky…”
    “ I’m certainly not that,” I said and grunted at the sharp pain in my ankle.
    “ Let me summon your lady’s maid for you…”
    “ No!” I told him, suddenly panicked. “I gave her the night off. “Please…just assist me to the study, if you would.”
    “ I could carry you.”
    “ That