Page 9 of Not his Marchioness
Without even opening it, he saw the headline on the front page.
Lady Charlotte had done exactly what she’d intended—she had ruined herself. Utterly.
No man would marry her now.
A smile crept onto his face.
Perhaps that was the way to resolve his problem.Bothof their problems. Would she be amiable? Perhaps not. But what choice did she have?
If he had to marry, then it would have to be to someone who understood the predicament he was in. Someone who had a predicament of their own.
Lady Charlotte Langley. Beautiful. Wild. Ruined.Perfect.
CHAPTER 4
Charlotte made her way down the stairs, her hand sliding along the banister. A week had passed since her performance, as Aunt Eugenia called it.
And the scandal showed no signs of dying down. In fact, it had gathered steam. So many layers had been added to the truth. All manner of stories were being written about her.
She had supposedly been seen barging into a teahouse, scandalizing the gentlemen within, and making the same announcement again. Others claimed she had been seen by the guards at the Tower of London in the same red dress, walking in circles and glaring at anyone who dared look at her.
They had dubbed her The Scarlet Lady.
Fitting.
Tales had been spun about her father’s involvement in it all. What had he known? And her aunt? And what of her sisters?
Evelyn, especially, had been brought to the forefront of the scandal. She herself had been forced to marry a man she did not want and had thereafter refused to consider any of the gentlemen their father or her late husband had presented to her.
In fact, Evelyn had made quite a spectacle of it, rejecting every single suitor in a rather brazen fashion. So much so that her prospects had dwindled significantly—that was until her late husband’s heir, Nathaniel, had taken her as his wife.
Their union had caused all manner of scandal in and of itself. However, it had died down over the past year as their devotion to one another became clear to all who cared to see it.
But now the old scandals were being unearthed again, and Charlotte felt awful for her sister. And Marianne… She was only sixteen and hadn’t had her coming out yet. It was supposed to happen this year.
Charlotte hadn’t thought of that when she had caused a spectacle. Would her sister be able to have a coming-out ball now? And who would even attend it?
She was jolted out of her reverie by a familiar voice that rang out from the drawing room.
“I am the laughingstock of London!” her father bellowed. “I thought I could find some peace and quiet to sort out this situation, but no! No sooner had I arrived at the club than I was confronted by everyone, from the highest-ranking lords at the club to the lowest.Laughingat me.Ridiculingme for how I raised my daughters. How am I supposed to pass any bills in the House of Lords? I have no allies!”
“Well, you had one powerful ally in Nathaniel, in addition to his friends. I thought you were working with them on the climbing boys issue,” Aunt Eugenia said.
“The wretched climbing boys,” he hissed. “Let them sleep on hot coals, for all I care.”
“That is unkind,” Aunt Eugenia gasped, alarmed.
Charlotte sat there and drew in a breath. Evelyn and Nathaniel had been working on passing protective measures in the House of Lords for the climbing boys of London for some time, and her father, as part of his redemption, had helped them. She had now endangered that by her actions.
Not for the first time this week, she felt doubt descend on her like a dark veil. She had been desperate to avoid marriage to Lord Emery, but had she doomed her family in the process?
She let out a breath in one rapid puff and then made her way into the drawing room.
“There you are.” Her father rounded on her as she entered. “How dare you? How dare you? I am the?—”
“Laughingstock of the entire realm, yes,” she said. “I heard you. Perhaps you should have considered this before you attempted to do what you did.”
“What I attempted to do was find a good match for you!”
