Page 4 of A Lady's Dangerous Secret
Charlotte could not lie to herself. She knew why.
Her aunt had not become a marchioness by chance alone. It was a carefully orchestrated social move after her elderly first husband, a mere baron, died. Aunt Frances was applying the same tactics to procuring a match for Charlotte. She was moving her across theton’schessboard and filling her dance card with pawns, who would serve as husband reserves in case she could not capture the king, or in this case, the aging duke.
Charlotte did not hear whom her aunt had just introduced, nor did she care, but dipped into yet another obligatory curtsy. Charlotte’s gaze remained lowered so that this current group of thetoncould not see her lips tighten in frustration. She felt helpless, but because of theIncident,there was nothing she could do.
James watched as Lady Charlotte Tipton held up five fingers while being pulled away by her aunt and then swallowed up by the swarmington,who flitted from group to group like honeybees collecting nectar.
He turned toward Gabe. “Would you call that a cut direct or a cut indirect?”
“I would say a cut is a cut. But Lady Charlotte seems clearly interested in you despite her aunt. Signaling the fifth dance like that? A scandalous move on her part.”
James nodded and tried to find the chestnut head of Lady Charlotte among the guests, but she had disappeared. “She has mettle, I’ll give her that,” he said. He still did not believe Lady Charlotte Tipton, an earl’s privileged daughter, could have any true dilemma that warranted the unhappy expression he had witnessed, but her brief look of fear made him wonder what lay beneath her surface. Then she had surprised him with a touch of boldness when her aunt dragged her away, and she held up her fingers for what clearly was the fifth dance. He was intrigued, and he did not like that one bit.
“I know her brother well,” Gabe said.
James grunted in response, not wanting to show interest, but also not wanting Gabe to stop speaking.
“One of her brothers, actually,” Gabe clarified. “The Earl of Pulverbatch has four sons, and the youngest child is Lady Charlotte. Her brother Will and I were the same year at Eton. Good chap but always getting into trouble. He’s in the British Army now, being a younger son and all. Ashwood, the heir, is a wastrel of the first order."
James did not smile often, but he allowed a moment of levity in response to the start of his friend’s diatribe. His cynicism was one of the reasons he liked Gabe. Despite being an earl, he did not take the nobility too seriously, and measured people by their actual worth, not by their title or wealth.
“The second son, Nate, is what you would expect of a spare who has a substantial purse. He is abon vivantand an unrelenting rake.” Gabe waved his hand in dismissal.
“After Will, there’s Arthur. He’s bookish and interested in politics.” Gabe paused before he tipped his head in an analytic way. “Then there’s Lady Charlotte. I don’t know much about her anymore, but I do remember going to High Crest Hall during one of the leaves from school. My mother had taken Bridget to stay with family. I couldn’t think of anything worse than being alone with my father, so I made the trip to Shropshire.”
Gabe’s face became guarded when he mentioned his sire, but he quickly schooled his features. “I remember Lady Charlotte being young, maybe seven or eight years old, and an absolute hellion. I only visited once, so I hadn’t seen her in years. During the trip, her older brothers paid her no mind, but she and Arthur tagged along with us. Will was always the most adventurous, and I, of course, could not be outdone by a Tipton. We would compete over anything and had quite the imaginations. One time, we sneaked into the pigpen and had a round of fisticuffs while the massive hog butted us. I stayed standing the longest and won. Another time, we stole some pickled walnuts and saw who could eat the most before getting sick. That one wasn’t one of our finer moments, because we could barely eat for the next two days. We always came back for dinner in some kind of mess.”
A smile spread across Gabe’s face, and he shook his head at the fond memories before continuing. “One day, we were in the woodlands, and there was a grand old beech tree. Will andI obviously had to dare each other to see who would climb the highest.”
His smile faded. “I almost became dizzy we climbed so high, but Will climbed even higher. Arthur and Charlotte watched from below, and when we came down, Charlotte swore she could best us. Before we could stop her, she scampered up the tree, wearing pilfered breeches from one of her brothers. She quickly beat Will’s height and kept going until it was clear she was the better climber. I couldn’t believe how high she went. She was only a speck among the leaves, and we were all worried about her. Finally, we heard her yell that she had won.”
James watched the scene play out across Gabe’s face.
“I honestly held my breath until she reached the ground. Then the brat smiled smugly. I thought Will would murder her after she scared us so much. He forbade her from tagging along anymore, but she ignored him and continued to try to get his attention throughout the whole leave.”
James could not disregard the unfamiliar tightness in his chest that had developed. He never experienced unnecessary emotions, yet he felt for the ignored little girl she had been. But feelings had to be squashed. Lady Charlotte may not have gotten as much attention as she wanted during her childhood, but she was a member of thetonand was privileged. She was not on the streets begging for food or selling her body. James knew what it was like to have a less than idyllic childhood, and he had survived with much less than a pampered earl’s daughter.
“I’m sure she recovered,” James said to Gabe, unable to resist a sarcastic tone.
“You’ll have plenty of time to ask her during your dance,” Gabe retorted. “The fifth, I believe.”
“You think Lady Charlotte holding up five fingers committed me to a dance with her?” James quipped.
Gabe looked knowingly at James. “I think she’s a young woman who knows what she wants, and that’s to dance with you.”
James attempted to appear nonplussed and shrugged. In reality, his perfidious heartbeat quickened at the thought of spinning Lady Charlotte around the dance floor.
“We’ll see,” James replied, wondering what he was getting himself into.
CHAPTER THREE
Lady Markham opened her ball with a bang by choosing the infamous waltz as the first dance. Charlotte partnered with Lord Carrington, which was not unpleasant. Despite a sad look in his eyes, he was an amiable gentleman, and seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say. He even threw in a quip about her adventurousness as a tree-climbing young girl. The quality of her partners then swiftly declined, and she was subjected to hearing them drone on about their dull interests and accomplishments without once asking Charlotte about herself.
If the fifth dance had not been approaching, she would have gone to the ladies’ retiring room to take a break. Instead, the pulse at the base of her throat fluttered in anticipation of dancing with the mystery man. It was to be another waltz, and Charlotte was eager to compare it to her experience with Lord Carrington. The earl had felt comfortable and almost brotherly, especially since he was Will’s Eton friend. She certainly appreciated his attractiveness, but in a more scientific manner. Nevertheless, he would be a much better choice than an ancient duke. Her only concern was if the earl was powerful enough to offer her sufficient protection from theIncident. Could she risk it?
A tall body suddenly blocked Charlotte’s view of the ballroom. She was by no means petite, but this man towered over her. She slowly raised her eyes from his black jacket and waistcoat to a smartly tied but simple white cravat. Her eyes traveled farther to a hint of stubble on a square jaw, a straight nose, sharp cheekbones, and then…those eyes.
Yes, she had found Lord Silverstone.
