by L. L. Muir
She turned and held it up to the sisters. “How about this one.”
Lorraine laughed. Loretta grinned and looked across the room at a serving tray at the edge of a table. In the middle of the tray sat a little blue teacup that matched the one in her hand.
“Popular cup today,” Loretta said. She took the cup and saucer from Alex, scooped up the serving tray, and she and her sister disappeared behind a smaller curtain.
Alex turned back to the shrine of china, and though she looked at every one of them—maybe two hundred in all—she didn’t see any others that matched the one she’d chosen. It and its mate on the tray had to have been the only two in the place.
Mate.
The word made her sigh. She was twenty-seven years old and worried she’d never find her own mate, her own perfectly matched teacup.
THE GIFT
“It’s a bit harder to read the dregs at the bottom of hot chocolate,” Loretta said. “But I’ve done it before—quite recently, in fact.” Her wrinkled lips smoothed into a wide smile that was cut short by an elbow from her sister.
“Just read them, Retta.”
Alex had been a little disappointed to find that the urgent Christmas present from her late grandmother was a simple fortune telling, but she didn’t regret coming to the city for it. After all, she’d had a good laugh with a handsome guy and made an old man happy—and possibly, some woman named Carol Carroll. Compared to sitting alone in her grandma’s cottage picking through boxes of sentimental dust, she was feeling pretty dang festive.
“You’re an easy going lass,” Loretta said. “That bodes well for you.”
Alex nodded and waited for something she didn’t already know.
“And though you’ve been...unprepared for a soul mate...” The woman turned the cup around, looked close, then smiled. “It looks like that’s not the case anymore.”
Ready for her soulmate? An easy guess. She looked well over twenty and she didn’t have a ring on her finger.
Lorraine frowned her way, but spoke to her sister. “How about it, Retta. Does it say when she’ll find this soul mate?”
Her sister shrugged. “Tonight.”
Alex chuckled. “That’s funny.”
The sisters weren’t laughing. And after Alex got a hold of herself, which wasn’t easy, Loretta set the cup aside, leaned over the table, and took her hand.
She frowned at the lines and stroked them with soft fingers like she thought she could rearrange them. “You don’t have to believe in magic, dear. But you do have to believe in love. Can you do that?”
Alex nodded. “I do believe in love. No problem there.”
“And if there is a chance there might really be a true mate for you out there, tonight, would you do exactly as we say? You know, roll with it?”
So far, they’d only asked her to sit down and have a hot drink, then let them read her tea leaves, or chocolate smears as it turned out to be. She couldn’t imagine they’d ask her for much worse.
“Sure. Why not? I haven’t got anything else going on tonight.”
THE INSANITY
Couldn’t be worse? Is that what she’d been thinking? Really?
Alex stared in the mirror at the gauzy ball gown and would have laughed if she didn’t feel so pathetic. Next, they would to tell her to be home by midnight—not that she was going anywhere dressed like she was.
But when she stepped out of the dressing room, complete with tiara and sparkling slippers, the sisters weren’t there.
Alex didn’t want to go back out into the tea room for fear some other customer had strayed inside, but she only had two choices. Either go back and change into her own clothes and try to sneak out of there before they caught her, or indulge a couple of women whose only company on Christmas Eve was each other.
Well, it’s not like the dress is uncomfortable.
After a long minute, she decided to go hunt them down. They’d told her to hurry. They couldn’t have just decided to do something else with their evening. But they weren’t in the tea room. They weren’t in the little kitchen behind the small drape. And though she peeked into the room at the front, they weren’t there either.
Some odd lights caught her attention outside one of the large windows and she had to know what it was.
Holy night! It was a carriage!
She looked at the dress, then out the window again. A man hopped down from the driver’s seat in a long coat and high boots. He hurried to the door and opened it, then gave her a bow and waited.
She shook her head. “You’re not expect me to get inside that...”
“Carriage, miss. Aye. And we’d best hurry.”
She gestured toward the curtains. “The sisters—”
“Are waiting, lass. The pavement is dry and the carriage is warm.” He pointed at a faux fur wrap that was lying across the back of a chair. “Must be for ye.”
~ ~ ~
No one would ever believe her. No one.
There she was, dressed like Cinde-freaking-rella, riding in a horse-drawn carriage complete with lanterns and little Christmas lights. Going where? To a ball?
She sighed and fluffed her layers again. Any minute now, she was going to wake up.
The driver hadn’t lied. The little box was warm, and her shoes were still dry. That, in itself was a Christmas miracle. The fur draped across her shoulders nearly made her too warm, and if she hadn’t been scared to death, she might have dozed off.
The carriage slowed and a fresh wave of butterflies flooded her stomach. She just hoped she wasn’t going to puke up her hot chocolate until after she was out of that dress.
The door opened. The driver gave her an encouraging smile and helped her out. The carriage had stopped just outside the ruins of a little castle with a single tower.
“Over here, miss.” The man led her to the left where a similarly dressed man held open a large wooden door. His face was lit from within.
“If I’m over dressed for this party,” she muttered, “I’m going to be embarrassed.”
The driver shook his head. “Not at all, miss. And Merry Christmas.” He stopped and gave her a little bow, then nodded for her to go inside.
Alex took a deep breath, nodded at the doorman, then turned and stepped over the threshold...into a church!
A fiddle started playing the wedding march—like she was a bride or something! She was mortified. There’d been a mistake. But just as she was gathering up her skirts to turn and flee, she realized there weren’t many people in the pews. In fact, just two. And they were wearing the same blue clothes they’d been wearing in their tea shop.
“What in the—”
Two men stood at the front. A priest and another man who was dressed in a pale blue thing with rolled velvet shoulders and matching hose. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a Shakespeare play.
He looked up and his pale eyes widened when he saw her.
My Aussie!
She still didn’t know what was going on, but she was suddenly much more open-minded about it.
He grinned. “Carol?”
She giggled. “Carol?
“Carol Carroll,” they said in unison, then laughed until it grew awkward.
She took three steps toward him, then stopped like she’d reached the end of a gangplank. Their eyes met. Their smiles dissolved. She had an undeniable impression that whatever she did next would have consequences.
He bit his lip, looked at the floor for a few seconds, then looked up again and smiled. A nervous smile. Hopeful, maybe.
Alex looked for the sisters and narrowed her eyes at them. They’d explained nothing, yet there they were, waiting for her to play along. Expecting her to roll with it?
The tune ended. The fiddle player paused and looked at her.
Was this it? Was this really all she needed to do?
And she could have him?
She looked back at the waiting musician, gave him a firm nod, then tossed her wrap onto a bench. She exchanged one more loo
k with Prince Charming, smiled, and stepped calmly down the aisle.
And she wouldn’t even give him a hard time for not having a box to go with her ring.
THE END
Congratulations, you’ve just met a couple of Muir witches! These two can be found in The Curse of Clan Ross series (Going Back for Romeo is the first) as well as their upcoming series about The Enchanted Teacup, debuting later in 2016. You’ll also find Muir witches in many of L.L. Muir’s books, and a young one with surprising powers of her own in The Ghosts of Culloden Moor. Visit her author page to take a look, here.
MORE BOOKS by L.L. Muir
* The Ghosts of Culloden Moor
1. The Gathering
2. Lachlan
3. Jamie
4. Payton
5. Gareth (Diane Darcy)
6. Fraser
7. Rabby
8. Duncan (Jo Jones)
9. Aiden (Diane Darcy)
10. Macbeth
11. Adam (Cathie MacRae)
12. Dougal
13. Kennedy
14. Liam (Diane Darcy)
15. Gerard
16. Malcolm (Cathie MacRae)
17. Cade
18. Watson (Diane Darcy)
19. Iain (Melissa Mayhue)
20. Connor
*Scottish Time Travel Romance
Going Back for Romeo
Not Without Juliet
Collecting Isobelle
What About Wickham
The Curse of Clan Ross Series (bundle of 3)
Christmas Kiss
Kiss This
*Scottish Historical Romance
Kilt Trip: Part 1
Kilt Trip: Part 2
Kilt Trip: Part 3
Kilt Trip: Part 4
Kilt Trip: Part 5
Kilt Trip: Part 6
Kilt Trip Complete
WESTERN ROMANCE
under the pen name Bella Bowen
BRIDE SCHOOL Series
Book One: GEN
Book Two: LIZZY
Book Three: MOLLY
Book Four: MARY
Book Five: NADIA (coming soon)
The Infamous Mrs. Wiggs Series
PICKLESFORK
American Mail-Order Brides Series
(50 books by various authors)
DARBY: Bride of Oregon
About the Author
L.L. Muir lives on the Utah side of the Rocky Mountains with her husband and family. She appreciates funny friends, a well-fed campfire, and rocking sleepy children.
You can learn more about Muir Witches in the About section of her website.
If you like her books, be a sport and leave a review on the book’s Amazon page. You can reach her personally through her website— www.llmuir.com , or on Facebook at L.L. Muir.
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