Page 103 of Why Do Earls Fall in Love?
“How would such a man have got a hold of the key?” the baron demanded.
Whiddon raised his brows in the direction of his daughter.
“Harriett?” The baron growled, asking a number of questions in just her name.
“Father! You heard Mother. Don’t be absurd!” The girl wiped her tear-streaked face and wrung her hands. Looking at Charlotte in his arms, she started forward. “Charlotte, dear! We are so glad you’ve been found safe—”
“No!”
Whiddon nearly jumped as his wife spoke, her tone ringing unexpectedly loud.
“Let me down.” She wriggled in his arms. “I want to be on my feet.”
She stood but leaned against him while she pointed a finger at her cousin. “I will stand for no more of your lies, Harriett. And no more of your cruelty.” She looked up at him. “She should be searched. She might have some of the jewels hidden on her person. She tore up the furniture right alongside Hurley. She was the one who unlocked the door and let him in.”
“Charlotte!” Her aunt sounded shocked and angry. “What are you going on about? Stop this at once!”
Charlotte ignored her. “You know what my husband gave me, before we wed,” she said to her cousin. She turned her glare onto her uncle. “As do you. I chose to keep it quiet—and this is the thanks I get.” Her gaze narrowed. “I could have ruined you, Harriett. Did you have to do me one better and try and have me killed?”
Harriett burst into tears, but Charlotte continued, implacable. “Enough! I have the proof. A few others already know the truth. Lady Tremaine is one of them.”
Harriett blanched.
“Lord Stoneacre knows,” Whiddon added. This time it was the baron who flinched. “Likely the entire Privy Council, by now.”
“I am done with you. All of you.” Charlotte still sounded fierce. “If you cross me, or anyone I care about, if I hear of you tormenting anymore young ladies or anyone at all, Harriett, then I will release the proof to the papers. I will tell my story.Bothof my stories. The scandal will be endless. You will never be received in polite society again. Women will cross the street to avoid you and men will spit on your skirts as you go by. Am I understood?”
Harriett drew a breath. She looked as if she might argue.
“Am I understood?” Charlotte shouted. Her voice echoed in the marble hall.
The baroness still looked bewildered, but Lord Burchan knew when he’d been beaten. “You are understood, Charlotte. We will not trouble you again.”
“It’s more than you deserve,” Whiddon snapped. “Unfortunately, it is going to take some time for traffic to begin moving again. Perhaps I might take my wife to a quiet room where she can rest and begin to recover.”
“Show her upstairs,” Lord Burchan told his wife. Turning, he moved away, his shoulders drooping, his step heavy.
Whiddon held his wife close to his side as they followed Lady Burchan upstairs. “Please send some hot water,” he asked as they were shown to a room. Remembering when Charlotte had tended to him, he added, “And hot tea, with sugar, if you please.”
He sat his wife in a chair. She’d gone quiet, as if that shout had taken all of her reserves. She stared, saying nothing while he pulled a blanket from the bed and draped it over her, and all the while he washed the blood from her face and neck. When he finished, he sat and tried to rub some warmth into her cold hands.
“Your gown will have to wait,” he said softly. “Will you drink some tea?”
She took the cup from his hands and looked into it. “I want to go home.”
“We will. Chester hared off after the magistrate. They will send for a coroner to tend to Hurley. Sterne is trying to unsnarl the traffic. We’ll get you home as soon as we can.”
“To Dorsetshire,” she said clearly. “I want to go home to Hoverstoke.”
His hands fell away from hers. His heart clenched. “Charlotte,” he began hoarsely. “I know I failed you. I should have caught Hurley at that damned tailor’s shop. I should have known he would lie about meeting me tonight.”
“I didn’t know where you were tonight. I had no idea what was going on. You didn’t tell me.”
“I should have. I should have expected—”
“No,” she interrupted. “That is not why it was a mistake.” She met his gaze, finally. “When you said it was easier to allow others to think ill of you, I didn’t think you meant me, as well.”
“I didn’t!”
