At Her Request

By Micki Miller

Lady Olivia Worthington has had some ill-fated ideas in the past. This, however, might well take the prize for the worst.
Olivia and her friend, Elspeth, set out late at night to catch a rumored demon in their net and send it home. Instead, they catch a man.
Lord Derek Durham, Marquis of Durnhaven, walks the park late at night and alone. Since the day of the fire, when half his face was disfigured, it's the only way and time he'll ever venture outside the walls of his mansion.
It is Olivia's nature to rescue every person or animal in need, and Derek's need is great. No matter his resistance, she will not rest until she sees him happy and restored. Olivia never expected to fall in love. Neither did Derek.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
• Release date: Sep 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781509232260

Micki Miller

I lived most of my life in the wondrous city of Las Vegas, Nevada. For a while I lived in an R.V. with my husband and I was fortunate to see every state in this amazing country. Now I live in beautiful Michigan, where I've learned about layering clothes and that boats don't have brakes. ~ Visit Micki at: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ Twitter: @millermwriter Instagram: micki.miller TikTok: @mickiwriter YouTube: @mickimiller1474 Instagram: micki.miller

Book preview

Inc.

And just what kind of a man, Derek said. He took another step toward her. Little more than a foot of night now separated them.

He appeared to be even taller tonight than his usual towering height. Maybe even a little menacing. The handsome man she knew him to be was awash in displeasure, stamping a bitterness to his countenance.

What kind of a man, Derek repeated, do you think would want such a dull woman for a wife?

He’d been drinking. That’s what it was. She could smell the brandy now. She recognized the slight sway of his body. Before her brother married Dove, she’d seen him come home in this condition many times. A man not himself. She didn’t like it then, and she didn’t like it now.

You’re drunk.

Yes, he said, gripping her shoulders. But I’ve come to believe there isn’t enough brandy in the world to wash you from my thoughts.

Before she could question his strange statement, Derek bent down and kissed her. The shock of it kept her still for a moment, or maybe it was the pleasure.

As he enclosed her in his arms, her entire body melted into his warmth. His lips brushed hers once, twice, before gifting her with a kiss so sweet and so tender, she could have wept from the beauty of it. It was heaven beneath the stars. In the precious moment, she could swear she’d fallen into a new world, a world where bliss teemed and nothing was ever, ever wrong.

Micki Miller’s Previous Releases

published by The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

A BANDIT’S REQUEST

A SCANDALOUS REQUEST

THE DARKEST SUM

THE MARSHAL'S PURSUIT

At Her Request

by

Micki Miller

Request Series, Book 3

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

At Her Request

COPYRIGHT © 2020 by Micki Miller

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Contact Information: [e-mail]

Cover Art by Rae Monet, Inc. Design

The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

PO Box 708

Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

Publishing History

First Tea Rose Edition, 2020

Trade Paperback ISBN 978-1-5092-3225-3

Digital ISBN 978-1-5092-3226-0

Request Series, Book 3

Published in the United States of America

Dedication

To Sue Brackin,

my muse throughout this story

and, so often, my life

Chapter 1

London, 1815

While it was possible she’d had worse ideas in her life, at present, Olivia Worthington could not think of a single one.

At eighteen years old, she should be past the time in her life of partaking in such antics. Most of all, the ones with dangerous potentials. Then again, she reasoned, in a few weeks she would have her come out. Sooner or later someone would approach her brother and offer for her hand in marriage, and her time for adventures would come to an end. Besides, this quest was of vital purpose.

At least two people had spotted the demon here at Hyde Park. All right, well, nobody called it a demon, per se. But she was old enough to discern the meaning when she heard the story of a dark-cloaked figure floating about the park late at night. It was a lost and troubled demon needing escort to get back to whence it came from. Poor thing.

Elspeth Havisham, her dearest friend who accompanied her this night, could scarce set to their task. She kept swinging her head to peer wide-eyed over one shoulder into the dark, and then the other. Sometimes going so far as to react to hearing nonexistent noises over the crickets. In all fairness, the hazy darkness was disconcerting. The heavy fog blotted out much of the full moon, and the dulled blaze of the lamplights didn’t reach their hiding place in the shrubs. But this mission had purpose, so they must persevere.

Elspeth spoke her tremulous words without stopping the swing of her vision. Oh, Olivia, between the dark and this fog, we’ll not be able to see it coming. The thing could have us in its clutches before we can so much as scream. Rushing now, she returned to their immediate task.

Olivia and Elspeth sat on the ground in a gap between the hedges along the walking path, making every effort to untangle their net. Olivia had balled it up under her heavy cloak when she snuck out of the house. The net, with square, yellow beads strung on the purple rope became snarled along the way. Elspeth, her rounded face and plump cheeks scrunched in concentration, held her section of the net up against the fuzzy moonlight. She flicked a nervous glance over her shoulder again.

Elspeth, Olivia said in a calming tone. The fog works to our advantage. The demon won’t be able to see us, or our net, until it is too late.

Elspeth mumbled something Olivia couldn’t make out, but she could swear the words ‘dead’ and ‘dismembered’ were included in her friend’s mutterings.

Is there enough light for you to read the time on your father’s pocket watch? Olivia asked.

Elspeth tugged the watch from the pocket of her skirt and opened it. She held it up, tilting it about, until enough moonlight sifted through the fog so she could read the time. She sucked in a breath. Midnight comes in a quarter hour.

We need to hurry and get this net untangled.

The girls hastened their work, plucking at the jumble of rope and the beads strung through.

Your mother sleeps with this hung on the wall over her headboard? Elspeth asked.

Yes. She has for years. The yellow beads have the power to seize the worst of dreams.

So, she sleeps with bad dreams ensnared above her head?

Olivia paused in her work to slant a look of exasperation to her friend. Don’t be ridiculous. The yellow beads have been infused with a potion.

What sort of potion?

Why, a magic potion, of course.

Elspeth set her section of the net in her lap to give her full attention to Olivia. Did your mother use a magic potion to make Lord Sanguay fall in love with her?

No. She would never do such a thing. Her mysteries are for protective purposes. Olivia paused in her work. It’s so romantic, Mother finding love at her age.

As Olivia’s father had died in a riding accident when she was but three years old, she had no resentments about another man taking his place. Neither did her brother. The Viscount Andrew Worthington, Drew to family and friends, and Olivia’s only sibling, became head of the family at fifteen years old. He was married now, too, and very much in love with his wife, Dove.

When will your mother and Lord Sanguay be back from their honeymoon? Elspeth asked as she tugged and plucked at the net.

I’m not certain. Soon enough before my debut, though.

As happy as Olivia was for her mother and Lord Sanguay, and for Drew and his new marriage, it did at times put her in a glum mood. Most of the time she was content. Lord Sanguay treated her with kindness, and one could not ask for a better sister-in-law than Dove. Perhaps it was the clarity of the passage of time sprinkling drops of melancholy upon her life. Knowing these were the final days of her carefree youth before she entered a marriage.

There, Elspeth said, cutting into Olivia’s thoughts. I think we’ve got it all sorted. Let’s see.

They spread the net on the ground between them, untangling the last couple of knots.

Olivia, what happens once we throw the net over it?

The very instant it is covered it will be powerless. After a few minutes, it will disappear.

At least she hoped that was how it would work. She’d never in fact caught a demon before. However, she’d done extensive reading on the subject, and her theoretical conclusion was quite logical.

Good, Olivia said after inspecting their work. Our net is ready. What time is it?

Elspeth once again held her father’s pocket watch so she could read it by the murky moonlight. It’s midnight, she said in a quavering whisper. Shouldn’t it be here by now?

Keeping her own voice low, Olivia said, Demon’s don’t keep to exact schedules. It should be here any moment, though.

For a few minutes, they didn’t move. They didn’t speak. Their eyes mirrored the full roundness of the moon, and their ears were attentive to every little sound.

When a few more minutes of quiet passed, Elspeth whispered, I’m freezing.

Olivia gave her friend a good once over. All Elspeth wore over her gown was a thin shawl made of ornate, purple lace. Your wrap is not appropriate for the chill of night.

"I know, but it’s so pretty. It’s new, and I’ve been dying to wear it."

Here, take mine, Olivia said, keeping her voice low as she removed her warm cloak and gave it to Elspeth.

But what about you?

I’m not at all cold, Olivia said, even though she was. Of late, Elspeth had grown more reluctant to join her on these adventures, and more like as not to call a premature end to them. The last thing Olivia wanted to do was to give Elspeth an excuse to leave when they were so close to catching the demon.

Are you certain this will work? Elspeth asked as she bundled Olivia’s warm cloak around her.

"Of course. Are you certain this is where your cousin told you he saw the demon?"

Oh, yes, Elspeth said, brightening with a tale to tell. He snuck here for a tryst with his lover.

Both girls sighed.

How romantic, Olivia said. Although she was in no hurry to marry, she couldn’t help but be drawn by the fresh adventure of it. All you told me was he saw it lurking down the walk.

Well, Elspeth said, leaning across the short distance between them. It was late at night, and foggy, just like tonight. They were holding hands and he was about to…

About to what?

To… Elspeth’s brows ticked upward and her neck stretched toward Olivia. Elspeth issued her answer in a sharp whisper. To kiss her!

Both girls giggled into their palms. After shushing each other, they poked their heads out from their hiding place and scanned the walking path each way, lest the demon sneak up on them. Once satisfied the area was clear of danger, they resumed their quiet wait.

Tis such a shame Lord Durham’s face was ruined in the fire, Elspeth said in quiet rumination. I so wanted a tryst with him. And then of course, he would have married me.

Lord Derek Durham is a very brave man. Drew told me the foundling home was spewing flames from almost every window and door. Derek ran in anyway and helped save my brother’s life.

"I know. You’ve told me all this before. Your brother, his friend, Burke Darington, their wives, and Derek. They’re all heroes. You’ve told me."

Olivia had also told her how on the way out, the sign fell from the chain and struck poor Derek, slicing the entire left side of his face clean through. Making his injuries worse, the searing chain from which the sign hung burned his face below the cut. This information was obtained by way of eavesdropping on a conversation between Drew and her mother. She’d repeated the story in hopes of rekindling Elspeth’s attraction to Derek. After all, true love delves well below the skin, and Elspeth had once claimed she was in love with Derek.

I wonder if his scars are so awful, Elspeth said. Rumor has it he is quite horrid. Has your brother seen him since the tragedy?

"How can there be rumors when nobody outside Derek’s household staff has seen him since the fire? Drew and Burke have both gone to his home many times over this past year since it happened. The butler always turns them away, saying the same thing every time. Lord Durham isn’t taking visitors. The man has gone so far as to install two hostile-looking gargoyles on either side of his front steps."

Gargoyles!

Yes. Big, stone gargoyles. Drew thinks he wants to frighten people away before they even get to his front door. Both my brother and Burke have resorted to sending missives. Not a single one has ever been answered. They’re not giving up on him, though.

Elspeth released a sad sigh. Gargoyles, of all things. The whole incident was such a crushing blow. Derek Durham was the handsomest man I’ve ever seen. I was so sure we would do quite well together.

Has a bit of scarring so changed your heart?

Olivia, how can you even ask such a thing? Just imagine the kind of life we would have! We could never go out in public. He would frighten our own children!

Perhaps it’s not so bad. It’s possible he doesn’t want to see my brother because he’s still angry about Drew punching him in the eye at our costume ball. After all, he did send the man flying backward over the balustrade and into the shrubs.

Elspeth shook her head. I still can’t believe your brother did such a thing. He destroyed your brilliant plan to get us together.

In all fairness, Drew didn’t know I’d lured Derek out on the terrace for you. He believed the man was taking advantage of me.

Well, I suppose it all worked out.

How so?

Elspeth rolled her eyes and let loose a huff of exasperation. Imagine if Derek and I had become betrothed before the fire, or worse, married! I could have been shackled for life to a dreadful beast!

Don’t you think you’re being rather cruel?

The truth often is, Olivia. Then Elspeth gasped. Listen.

Through the thick mist and eeriness of the night drummed the undeniable pound of footsteps on the walking path. With stealth born of due caution, they peeked around the hedge.

Emerging from the fog, striding with the confidence of Satan himself, came a dark, billowing figure of substantial proportions.

Get ready! Olivia whispered. It’s coming!

Chapter 2

Lord Derek Durham, Marquis of Durnhaven, loved the fog.

White mist muted the lamplights along the walking path and snaked ethereal courses through the park at its fickle will. Like formless ghosts out to play in the night, opaque mist caressed the trees, veiled the hedgerows, and floated with buoyant ease between close-knit leaves. The thick, London fog blanketed the city in a dreamlike haze, shrouding the world. Shrouding him from the world. Yes, he loved the fog.

On a clear night he might pause, might even sit on one of the iron benches, and gaze for a while at the constellations. This evening he could scarce see his boots through the winding mist. The sound was there. A single pair of bootsteps rapping the same lone beats as every other night he took his solitary walk.

Even with the dark and the fog, Derek kept his black slouch hat low in front, and his head at a slight downward angle, just in case. What little moon and lamp light broke through the fog would not touch his ruined face. The hour was late. Scarce did a living soul come to enjoy the park at this time of night, and never decent folk. No one would stare. No one would point. No one would run in fear at the sight of him. Not ever again.

Derek rounded a curve. His brisk pace lifted his open, black Garrick coat to wing outward.

These nocturnal walks were the only times he stepped foot off his property. Lonesome, yes, but he relished the freedom of walking about without fear of being seen. Well, for the most part. It happened but once since he’d begun these late-night excursions. A week, maybe two ago, he’d happened upon a couple engaged in a passionate embrace. There was no fog to aid in cloaking him, and he’d been careless enough to walk with his head raised, as if he had nothing to hide.

The couple took one look at him, and ran as if the reaper had come for his claim. The pair might have laughed had they known their unexpected presence had startled him near as much as it did them.

A subdued laugh bubbled in his chest at the sight they must have been. The chuckle, however, dissipated before it rose to a sound. The night had given proof to what he already knew. He was not a man fit to appear in public, ever.

Before the confirmation of the pitiful life lying ahead of him had a chance to make another run through his head, somebody shouted, Now!

Something landed on top of him. A blanket? No, he was ensnared in a net of some sort. It mashed his hat even lower on his brow. From what he was able to see, two people, female, scurried around him, tightening the net.

One of them hollered, It’s not disappearing!

It. Now he was not even a hideous, pathetic man, but an ‘it’. From beneath the brim of his hat he made out in the fog two young women standing breathless before him. One he recognized as Elspeth Havisham, the simpering chit who’d followed him around for weeks trying to catch his attention at every opportunity. The other was Olivia Worthington, Drew’s younger sister. Even in the vaporous light, he couldn’t mistake the red of Olivia’s hair. It fair glowed through the gloom.

What in the hellfire blazes are you two doing out here in the middle of the night?

From what he knew of these two, it could be anything. Both girls were a handful of mischief. He was all too familiar with their antics, as they’d caused him trouble before. Drew had well blackened his eye after the girls tricked him into stepping out on the terrace the night of the Worthington’s costume ball. It was only by way of good fortune he hadn’t broken his neck, flying over the balustrade and into the shrubs below. He was lucky the girls hadn’t gotten him shot by an outraged older brother.

Derek tugged and clawed for a moment before he was able to extricate himself from the netting. He held onto it with one hand. With the other, he adjusted his hat to make certain it continued to shadow his face.

Answer me. Though it was impossible for them to see his eyes, he glared at the young women anyway. Any number of horrid things could happen to those two out here, late at night, without any protection whatsoever.

Elspeth stared. Immobilized by terror, it would seem. No words made their way out of her slack mouth. The other one, Drew’s flame-haired sister, Olivia, studied him as if he were some foreign specimen. She’s the one who provided an answer.

We were trying to catch the Hyde Park Demon. We were told he wanders the park late at night.

"I wander the park late at night."

While Elspeth continued to stand there as if fear had cemented her into a statue, Olivia angled her head to give him a more focused inspection. Derek lowered his chin closer to his chest, lest he frighten her to a figurine, too. Why he cared, he couldn’t say. It would serve them both right to run screaming to their homes. Perhaps they would think twice before sneaking out at this hour. But he did care. At least for the moment.

It had been a little more than a year since he’d spoken to anyone outside his employ, and then it was for the sole purpose of issuing an order. Hard to believe, an entire year without a single conversation. Several of his friends had tried visiting since the day of the fire, the day he’d been disfigured, Olivia’s brother among them. But he had no use for the pity they would shower upon him once they got an eyeful of his face. Still, this dialogue with someone outside his staff, no matter how ridiculous, kept him in place.

Olivia, about half a foot shorter than his six foot, one inch height, stretched her neck forward and down in an effort, he was sure, to see his face and figure out who he was. Derek tugged his hat lower, making certain the brim blocked whatever stingy light the fog let through.

Are you sure you’re not a demon? Olivia asked.

Quite.

Oh, was her low response. The daft chit actually sounded disappointed not to be faced with one of Hell’s emissaries.

Derek dropped the net. It landed on the walking path with a light clatter. He glanced down at the tangled pile. Bright yellow beads strung through the purple strings. "What is this thing?"

It’s my mother’s bad dream catcher. The beads are infused with a special potion. We were going to catch a demon in it tonight and send it home. I suppose we didn’t need to haul it here after all.

Well, return it to her this instant. And if I ever again see the two of you in the park at this time of night, unescorted, no less, I’ll not hesitate to inform your brother of your activities.

The girls exchanged a look saying something he couldn’t decipher. It was the first time Elspeth had moved at all. At least he hadn’t scared the girl into a coma. Of course, all they’d seen of his face was a shadow beneath his hat brim. If Elspeth got an eyeful of what he looked like now, she might faint dead away.

Though he had an urge to continue the conversation, there was a slender chance someone might stumble upon them, and although he’d not been the one to cause trouble, he would no doubt be vilified. And the girls would both be ruined. He needed to put an end to this conversation and see them both home, post-haste.

Olivia’s head bobbed a bit as her squint fixed beneath the brim of his hat. You know my brother? Who are you under there?

Time ticked a few beats before he said,