Page 83 of The Hopeless Romantic’s Guide to Enchantment

Edward tailed her, stumbling over insects with fangs the size of knitting needles, and plants that snapped at his ankles, diving over rocks and fighting off the darkness in the opaque forest with the gnarled trees. “Where is she?” Edward asked, breathing heavily when he finally caught up to them, shaking Leanna’s shoulder. “The dog?”

Leanna’s eyes were watering when she looked up at Edward and it ravaged him. “She fell down the shaft.”

Indeed, when Edward looked down a hidden tunnel, he saw a hunter’s trap that had taken the dog to posies knew where. “OK. Stay calm. We can track where it leads— Leanna, are you fucking mad?”

She was. She had to be. The girl he’d been in love with since he first laid eyes on her as a boy dove after her dog without thought for herself.

He sighed to himself, shaking his head… before diving in after her.

CHAPTER 6

LEANNA

To Leanna’s credit she managed not to scream all the way through the darkness and into the large pile of pillows that broke her fall, Thorn appearing immediately, licking her face as she pressed her eyes tighter at the bright light being shone over her.

“Oh, no. You aren’t an acorn, are you dear?” When Leanna opened her eyes, she did yelp and bang her head on the lantern held above her.

“Ow!” She winced, rubbing at her forehead and tipping her chin up to take in the creature standing over her. Or… Not a creature but rather an animal, a fox. A talking fox. “You. You’re an animal,” she said, blinking a mile a minute.

The fox grinned, patting her dog on the head. The pup rolled over onto her back and Leanna held her head with both hands trying to wake herself up from what ever deranged nightmare her brain was conjuring now.

A distant groan came from the tube-like structure she’d fallen through, getting closer and closer, until—

“Damn it!” Edward growled, landing with a thud on his back. Leanna leaned over to check on him, and winced sheepishly when she saw him glaring at her. “Do you have a death wish?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Do you? You’re the one who keeps following me.”

Edward sputtered, scrambling to his feet, straightening his rumpled clothing and his wild hair. She liked him like this, disheveled. She fought the urge to go over and muss his hair further. “I won’t have your irresponsible behavior on my conscience. You’re my responsibility now.”

Her face turned beet-red when she saw the fox observing her with a curious expression. It was then she noticed the animal was wearing spectacles and held a bucket. “I’m sorry, he’s being impolite.”

The fox waved a hand with a soft smile, chuckling under its breath. “Oh please, I work with chipmunks. I’m used to it.”

Edward flailed his arms in the air like he was trying to create his own gust of wind, staring at the fox, astonished. “If this is a prank,” he addressed Leanna, shoving his sleeves back until they were at his elbows, exposing strong forearms, “you win. Forever.”

Leanna pouted. “Alas, it’s not. I’ve never been that creative.”

This offended Edward more than the insult about his manners, she could tell by his disgruntled expression. “Yes you are. You’re very creative.”

The fox sighed dreamily, holding a hand under her chin. “How long have you two been married?”

Leanna’s heart leapt up into her throat, Edward freezing in place as they both rushed to assure:

“We are not married!”

“He’s my neighbor!”

The fox winked with a knowing gleam. “Well. There’s only one way out of the deep wood you stumbled into if you’re seeking passage back to Marigold Lane.”

“We are,” Leanna said desperately. “We most definitely are. And definitely not married,” she blurted again.

Edward narrowed his eyes. “They heard you the first time.”

“It bears repeating,” she answered bluntly, attempting to distance herself from him once more. The hug had been a fluke, an offer of kindness to the boy she’d once known. She knew nothing of the man, except that he seemed to be a great danger to what shreds of her loving heart she had left.

“Does it?” Edward warned in a tone that made her cheeks heat, not to mention other places. “Why, I wonder?”

The fox interrupted them when Thorn started barking again. “You might want to be on your way. Head up the path lined in ladybugs to the sign at the top of the hill, it’ll lead you past an abandoned cottage with the proper map inside. It should guide you through a grove of plants that are not to be touched by greedy hands. There are consequences if you do,” the fox warned, pulling back a curtain and revealing a trail lined with ladybugs that glowed, the light still dim due to the canopies of black vines threading the trees above them. “Be careful, and good luck!”