Page 37 of He's the One

“Would you show me the gardens?” Charlotte asked.

“What a good idea,” his mother said.

“Anyone else like to come?” Theo asked.

One of Charlotte’s sisters stood up and was yanked down by her mother.

Too late now to pretend he had a call he couldn’t ignore. When he and Charlotte were out of the house, she gave a heavy sigh.

“I don’t like this any better than you,” she said.

Theo shot her a glance. Of course, she didn’t. He’d been so focused on his own situation that he’d failed to consider what Charlotte might think.

“I don’t know what century my parents think they’re living in but it’s not this one.” She smiled at him. “I’m half-surprised they didn’t insist we have a chaperone. Though getting caught kissing doesn’t mean we have to marry. Them saying we do, however…”

“I don’t want to marry you,” Theo told her. “I said no. They aren’t listening.”

“I said no too, but… You’re a catch. Who’d have guessed!”

Theo caught her smile and chuckled.

Their amusement didn’t last long.

“It’s my duty, apparently.” Charlotte stamped on a clump of grass. “Marry well and have children. What I want doesn’t matter.”

Theo led her to the avenue of bonsai trees. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“A secret girlfriend.”

Oh God!

“If you are the slightest bit judgemental, I’m walking away,” she snapped.

“I have a boyfriend.”Sort of. Almost. Possibly.“No one knows. It’s very…new.”

She beamed at him.

“My parents think it doesn’t matter that I’m gay,” Theo blurted. “I can still marry, have children and do what I like so long as it’s done discreetly. They horrify me.”

“Mine don’t know. Ceci and I met at boarding school when we were fourteen. We went to the same university. We set up a PR business together. We virtually live together but my parents think she’s my business partner.”

“Sure about that?”

She frowned. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe that’s why they’re pushing so hard for this match.”

“Not because I’m a catch?”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “What do you think about pretending we’re getting to know one another? We could string things out for a year or so.”

“But not forever. It wouldn’t be fair on the people we were with.”

She shrugged. “On the other hand, I suppose the two of us could marry. All of us live together. Our parents would buy us a house. I could have a baby by IVF. Your baby. We could make sure it was a boy. I know that’s possible in America. My father has never forgiven my mother for having three girls. If we were discreet, no one would find out.”

Theo wasn’t sure why he had a niggle of concern, but he did. Those words could have come straight from his mother.

“We’d only have to be seen together in public occasionally,” she continued. “When your father dies—not that I’m wishing him dead—and you become the marquess, we could go our separate ways, sharing custody of the child or children. Or we could carry on with the deception. No one’s going to do anything.”

“I’ll think about it.” Theo had steered them back towards the hall.

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