Page 51 of Her Scottish Duke
Don’t be one of them.
The thought struck Charlotte so suddenly, she was startled by it. She liked him as he was. Yes, he could still do with learning a thing or two about manners at the dining table, and he could remember her lesson about which cutlery to use with greater recollection, but she rather liked it when he laughed so freely.
“What will Edinburgh say, eh?” the viscount said, still chuckling. “When you return with all these high and fair manners?”
“Edinburgh?” Charlotte murmured, finding her voice properly. “Wait… you are to return to Edinburgh?” She looked sharply at the duke.
“Aye, someday.” He nodded, looking at her with an expression that suggested it was an obvious answer. “I have a home there still, and business to attend to as well. I must return.”
He’ll leave…
The hammering of her heartbeat was growing worse by the second. She felt heated all over and small, very small indeed. She stared down into her wine glass.
“Well, I’d say it’s high time you got yourself some company for such a long journey up to Edinburgh, but I know how you feel about marriage,” Viscount Compton said with ease. “Do you not get lonely on the carriage ride?”
“Nay, I am content in me own company.” The duke shrugged, as if it was no big deal at all.
He will leave, and he never intends to marry, and yet… my heart is his all the same.
Charlotte felt dizzy and suddenly determined to escape. She put her glass down on the table as quickly as she could. She had to run, to get away from the duke’s company as soon as possible, before she left her heart long enough with him in order for it to shatter into pieces.
“If you would excuse me.” She curtsied to the two of them.
“Lass, is somethin’ wrong?” the duke asked, looking toward her with a softening of his expression.
Pray, do not look at me like that.
“No,” she lied tightly. “Excuse me.” She walked around him, but not before he tried to stop her again. Their arms ended up brushing together, and such a thrill passed through her that she nearly groaned aloud at the torture he was inflicting upon her heart.
Charlotte practically ran away across the room. She passed the dancers, searching for some escape to the assembly rooms, but she could see no way out. The doors were blocked by men who were preparing pipes ready to smoke outside. With nowhere else to go, Charlotte crossed to the familiar face in the corner of the room.
She reached her aunt’s side where Susan was pouring out a small glass of wine for herself. She turned sharply to face Charlotte, her body stiffening and her eyes widening ever so slightly.
“What is it?” Susan muttered quietly. “Charlotte, what has happened? You look…” Her eyes drifted over Charlotte’s expression.
“Nothing. There’s nothing wrong,” Charlotte denied vigorously.
“You look as if you have had a great shock. Can I get you some brandy?”
“No, no, thank you.” Charlotte felt she was already dizzy enough with the pounding of her heart growing worse by the second. She certainly didn’t need any more alcohol to make the problem worse.
“Charlotte, come, sit down.” Susan put her own glass down and took Charlotte’s arm, steering her to the side of the room. “Last I saw you were dancing with the Duke of Rodstone. You seemed…” Susan paused and actually winced, as if her next words were rather painful for her to utter. “You seemed to be enjoying his company.”
“You say that as if it is a disgrace, a betrayal of some kind.” Charlotte was beginning to wonder if Susan was the right person to have taken refuge with after all in that room.
“A disgrace? No, it’s just that you should be sensible with the connections you make, Charlotte.” Susan leaned toward her, whispering conspiratorially. “A duke he may be, but he is also from a poor background, and his manners…” She wrinkled her nose.
“They are improving,” Charlotte added hurriedly.
“Yes, I suppose they are a little.” Susan adjusted the pearls at her throat. “Oh, Charlotte, you have witnessed bad behavior in thetonas much as I have. The moment one person drawscomments, they continue to draw comments, continuously. Thetonbecomes set against them.”
Yet Susan was no longer looking at Charlotte as she spoke, nor was she looking at the Duke of Rodstone across the room. Instead, her gaze had sought out another pairing.
Margaret and David were in deep conversation across the room with people they had not seen for a few years. Margaret was as animated as Charlotte had ever seen her mother, and David was laughing warmly. They seemed happy, to Charlotte’s mind, in a way that Charlotte hadn’t seen them for some time. It took a minute for her to observe what Susan was so worried about.
Near to the group where Margaret and David were talking, some of thetonwere pointing in Margaret’s direction. They were poking fun at Margaret’s loud laugh, and one young man was doing an impression of the way that David talked.
Charlotte’s stomach seemed to plummet through her body painfully. Her hands tightened into fists on her lap.
