Page 19 of Not his Marchioness
“A pleasure to meet you,” he said. “Pray, will you both come inside? I shall fetch you each a fresh glass.”
“Haven’t you got a butler?” Charlotte asked, though it occurred to her that this was the least of her concerns right now.
“I do have a butler. He is back at my country seat. In all likelihood, polishing my silver for the fifth time or whatever it is that the servants do when I’m not there. I only keep a valet and a footman at this house, as well as a cook. I would say I could dispatch the cook and cook my own meals, but I am afraid every attempt so far has resulted in a need to refurbish my kitchen. Rather unfortunate. I once started a small fire while attempting to cook an egg.”
Aunt Eugenia chuckled, but Charlotte could not find anything funny in his words.
The young man led them into the parlor and then placed a glass in front of each of them while Charlotte tapped one foot on the floor in front of her. She was sitting on the very edge of her chair, ready to leap up and throttle him, but she fought back the urge.
“Now,” he said as he sat down, “I suppose you have come here to discuss the newspaper?”
Charlotte took a deep breath, grinding her teeth as she looked at her aunt. “Aunt Eugenia, could I please speak with Lord Ravenscar in private?” she requested, practically spitting out his title.
Her aunt rose and took her glass. “I shall amuse myself in the library.”
“Oh, I am afraid I do not have a library. That’s at my country estate. I do not have one here now. But you are more than welcome to use the music room instead.”
No library? What sort of savage is he?
“I see the judgment in your eyes,” Ravenscar drawled, once her aunt was gone. “You do not think much of a man who does not read?”
“I do not think much of a man who cannot be trusted, and who will go behind my back to make an announcement about a marriage not yet agreed upon.”
“So,” he said, “you are angry.”
“Angry? I amlivid. I am so angry. I am surprised steam isn’t coming out of my ears. This was not what we agreed on. I told you I would let you know once I had made up my mind.”
“Ah, well, your mind has been made up for you. The question now is, are we going to waste precious time arguing about a marriage that we both know is going to take place one way or the other? Or are we going to move directly to deciding what sort of wedding breakfast we shall have?”
The man was infuriating.
Her hands clenched the glass so hard that she knew if she gripped it any harder, it would shatter. He looked at it, then at her, and she knew that the smart comment was dancing on the tip of his tongue, waiting to get out.
She let go and placed her hands in her lap. “I do not wish to discuss a wedding breakfast with you. I wish to discuss what you are going to do to undo this muddle you’ve put us in.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“I want you to tell the newspapers that it was a mistake, that we are not genuinely engaged. That you and Emery conspired together to play a trick on me. It was all a performance. But none of it is true. It isn’t. I will not marry you, not under these circumstances, not after you have already broken my trust.”
“Broken your trust? I got a little ahead of our agreement; that is all. Nothing radical has happened. Nothing that cannot be undone. Please, do not be so dramatic.”
“I am not dramatic,” she huffed, slamming her palm on the chair. “You are ruining my life.”
“I am ruining your life? I rather thought I was saving your life, for was it not just days ago that you cried dramatically and declared that you would rather sell potatoes than marry Emery?”
“I had another plan,” she gritted out, and quickly regretted it.
“Is that so? And what was this other plan?”
She looked out the window. A man outside lit the street lamp, which flickered in the window.
“My plan was to go to Scotland until Nathaniel returned, and then see what he could do.”
“Ah,” he said. “So you were going to break our agreement and leave.”
“No. I was going to write to you and let you know.”
“That you had gone, putting off our engagement indefinitely. And you think that would’ve been fair? You are not the only one who has pressing concerns, but you would’ve left me behind to attempt to find a way out of this muddle on my own. What did you expect? What were you going to say? Were you going to ask me to wait for you? To see if your beloved brother-in-law could resolve your situation, or if you would have to lower yourself and marry me?”
