Secrets of the Highwayman by Sara Mackenzie

doesn’t feel like it.” Melanie didn’t want to take her own eyes off Pengorren, in case…well, just in case. She moved a step closer to Nathaniel.
    “Nathaniel!” Pengorren was beckoning him. “What are you doing over there? Come and congratulate your mother and me!”
    “Congratulations,” Nathaniel said under his breath, but he didn’t move.
    Someone must have instructed the orchestra to begin playing again, for they struck up a slightly desperate jig, and the guests resumed their dancing. Major Pengorren was still staring in Melanie’s direction; but Felicity was urging him to join in, and a moment later he climbed down from the dais, and the crowd surged in.
    Nathaniel reached for her hand and his fingers were a lot more comforting than she’d admit. “Come with me,” he said, but it was more like a command than a request.
    Outside the room, the landing and the stairs were empty, and the entrance hall below was deserted. Everyone was in the ballroom where the action was, as Nathaniel led the way down. Melanie felt dazed, as if she’d been drinking. The floor tipped and shimmied beneath her feet, and she clung to the only thing that seemed solid and real: Nathaniel Raven.
    The notion was so ironic that she actually giggled.
    The Raven gave her his charming smile. Nothing appeared to bother him, apart from…
    The humor drained out of her.
    “How did Major Pengorren know I was there? He did know, didn’t he?”
    Nathaniel looked up at her—they were near the bottom of the staircase, and she’d stopped a couple of steps above him. “I have no idea,” he admitted.
    “He was so good-looking and yet…”
    “And yet,” Nathaniel agreed, and that strange undercurrent was in his voice again.
    “Why did you bring me here to see that? Why did you make me listen?”
    “So that you could know my enemy.” He wasn’t smiling now.
    “Pengorren? Why do I need to know him, Nathaniel? What is it to do with me?”
    His eyes were more gold than hazel, and there was something very compelling about them. About him.
    He leaned closer, further impressing his presence upon her. It was quite amazing, really—whereas Major Pengorren had made her feel cold and squirmy, Nathaniel Raven made her hot and squirmy. Although both, she told herself primly, were equally unwelcome.
    “This is my last Yuletide Ball at Ravenswood. Soon it will be my turn to be laid in the ground, although the manner of my death means I won’t be allowed to join my family in the Raven crypt. My grave will lie outside the church boundary.”
    “That’s all very sad, but I—”
    “I have been given a chance to change history. To save myself and my family. To save Ravenswood.”
    “That’s not possible!”
    “It is. But to make it happen I have to find a way todefeat Major Pengorren,” he went on. “You saw what he’s like. Such evil can’t be allowed to triumph.”
    Melanie blinked. What he was saying was so bizarre she wanted to reject it out of hand, but she couldn’t. She’d seen for herself. That was why, she realized, she’d been forced to come, so that she had no choice but to believe.
    “You must help me. The queen says you’re the only one who can.”
    But Melanie knew her limitations. She was a solicitor. She made lists. She didn’t battle evil.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, gently but firmly. “It’s out of the question.”
    What did he have to do to convince her? Nathaniel had never felt so frustrated with a woman. There was only one thing for it. The “better man” speech. It had always worked in the past. He assumed his most sincere face.
    “Are you all right?” she said unhelpfully. “You look like you have a stomachache.”
    “Melanie, I need your help to succeed. Perhaps I’m not worthy of that help, yet, but I am trying. I want you to teach me to be a better man. Must I beg?” he finished, letting his voice drop into a heart-wrenching whisper.
    Ah, he had her now! She was gazing up at him with her big