Page 44 of Charming Sir Charles
“Are you ever going to tell me what happened at the house party?” Morwenna’s expression was concerned. “I’ve left you alone so far, because it was clear you were in a state when you arrived back. But you’ve been in a funk for a week now, and it might help you to talk about what’s upset you. I’ve asked Caro and Helena, but they claim ignorance.”
Sally rose on a surge of temper. “You have no business prying.”
“I do when you’re so unhappy, and Meg’s going back to Hampshire.” Morwenna remained calm under Sally’s glare. “And Sir Charles Kinglake, who has been a constant presence in our lives since he came to London, hasn’t been seen in public for a week, and now the word is that he’s closing up his house and going to Italy.”
“Italy,” Sally said on the ghost of a sound, forgetting all about her squabble with Morwenna.
“That’s what people are saying.”
“Oh,” Sally said shakily, turning away toward the window so Morwenna wouldn’t see her silly tears.
It was the height of capriciousness to regret that Charles was leaving England. She’d said no to his proposal. She’d sent him away. He’d been gentleman enough to heed her. And so far no whisper of scandal had emerged about their dalliance. Apart from the jagged wound in her heart, the matter was concluded.
But something about the thought of him so very far away made her want to cry her eyes out.
“Sally?” She felt Morwenna’s cool touch on her arm. “Did Sir Charles and Meg do something terrible in Leicestershire?”
“No.” Although they had. Meg had played a stupid, childish trick, and Charles had lured Sally into finding a pleasure she’d never known. Worse, he’d said he loved her.
Right now, that seemed the cruelest cut of all.
Morwenna’s tone remained gentle but uncompromising. “Then why are you sending Meg back to her father, and why have you turned into a hermit, and why is Sir Charles moving to the Continent?”
Sally fumbled for her handkerchief and avoided Morwenna’s gaze. “There’s nothing to tell.”
“Obviously there’s lots to tell, or you wouldn’t be crying. Don’t you trust me?”
Why the devil were people always asking her that? The only person she really didn’t trust was herself. “Of course I do.”
“Then?”
On a shuddering sob, Sally gave up the struggle. “It’s so hard to explain.”
“Try.”
She straightened and drew an unsteady breath. “Everything is a complete mess.”
“Let me guess.” Morwenna led her back to the sofa and sat beside her, holding her hand. “Meg and Sir Charles were caught in a compromising position, and he refuses to do the right thing and restore her reputation.”
Sally’s brief laugh was devoid of amusement. “No, it’s much worse than that.”
“Worse?”
“Yes. It turns out I had everything wrong, from the very beginning. He doesn’t want to marry Meg, and she doesn’t want to marry him.”
Morwenna sighed with relief. “I’m glad. To me, they never seemed right together. In fact, you and Sir Charles always seemed a better fit.”
For one horrified moment, Sally stared at her friend. Then she released a choked breath and burst into the tears that had hovered all day.
How humiliating. Where was the proud woman who had kept up appearances all through her awful marriage? Love had turned her into a complete wreck. She buried her wet face in her shaking hands and struggled to control this outburst, but it was impossible.
“Oh, Sally, I hate to see you so miserable,” Morwenna said, passing her a handkerchief.
Her friend’s sympathy finally shattered Sally’s reticence. In confused, broken sentences, she confessed the events of that trip back from Leicestershire, with the exception of her fall from grace on the chaise longue.
Sally wiped her stinging eyes and dragged in a broken breath. When she bit her lip, she tasted the salt of her tears. “So you can see why I have to send Meg away.”
Morwenna’s gaze was searching. Something in her expression hinted that she’d guessed more than conversation had taken place in the isolated hunting lodge. “She’s behaved disgracefully, I agree. But on the other hand, you’d never have given Sir Charles the chance to declare himself if Meg hadn’t taken a hand.”
