The School of Charm: Books 1-5

by Maggie Dallen

  He grinned. “See how much I have to learn from you? I think this will be a mutually beneficial courtship.”

  Her lips parted. “Courtship,” she repeated the word on a breathless sigh, like she was trying out the word for the first time. “But you barely even know me, and what you do know—”

  “Is that not the purpose of a courtship?” he asked. “Allowing two people who might be a good match to learn more of one another.”

  She pressed her lips together, and he took that to be agreement.

  “I am afraid you will be disappointed,” she blurted out quickly.

  “Why on earth would you think that?”

  She nibbled on her lower lip, apparently not realizing how badly it made him want to kiss her. “Because I am trouble.”

  He couldn’t help it. Those words coming from that sweet face, so earnest and so honest… “Well, that works out quite well for me. You see, I happen to love trouble.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I happen to love trouble.

  The words swirled around Louisa in a happy haze long after Lawrence deposited her with her mother and father. Before he’d walked away he’d muttered a mysterious comment under his breath, for her ears only, about how he would handle matters from here.

  Handle matters. What did that mean?

  Would he speak to her father?

  She hoped he would not until after she’d had a chance to break this news to Margaret. But Margaret was nowhere to be found as she stood at her mother’s side. Apparently, she’d been whisked onto the dance floor and had been there ever since, and for that Louisa was grateful.

  How on earth was she going to tell Margaret that Tumberland was not interested in her?

  That he is, in fact, smitten with me?

  She shook off the thought, because every time she tried to reconcile herself with that element of her tryst—she could not do it. The very thought seemed ludicrous. It had out on the balcony, and now here, beside her parents, watching her beautiful, graceful sister waltz past in all her perfect glory, the thought seemed more unbelievable than ever.

  Tumberland wanted her.

  Not Margaret, but her.

  She could hardly believe it.

  She stared into the crowd in a daze as her parents talked to an elderly couple beside her. No matter how hard she tried, she could not quite wrap her head around the fact that he had chosen her.

  That he’d kissed her.

  Her lips still stung from the sweet caress, so she knew she hadn’t been imagining that part, at least. But everything else…?

  From the moment he’d walked away, she began to doubt that conversation had even happened. He was teasing; she was dreaming; the entire conversation had been a fantasy… All of those options sounded far more likely than the fact that Tumberland had willingly chosen her above all others.

  She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips as she once again tried to imagine a world in which Tumberland had chosen her over her sister.

  Impossible.

  It was official. She’d finally gone and lost her mind.

  The way he looked at her, the way he spoke to her, the way he kissed her…

  It was like something out of a dream. It had been like one of her childish fantasies, but instead of a very lovely, but very invisible, Sir Edmond, the fantasy had featured a living, breathing gentleman.

  A gentleman who’d kissed her.

  “Are you quite all right, Louisa?” her mother asked. “You look terribly pale.”

  “I am fine,” she said quickly.

  “How did you get on with Lord Tumberland?” her mother asked.

  When Louisa glanced over her mother was peering at her like this was some criminal investigation. Did she know? Did she guess?

  “Fine,” Louisa said, her voice too high and breathy.

  Her mother’s brows drew together sharply. “Louisa,” she said, her tone low and filled with meaning.

  “Yes?” She was all but squeaking now. Her confusing and overwhelming kiss with Tumberland had left her squeaking like a mouse.

  “You did not do anything untoward, did you?”

  Louisa shook her head. “No, Mother.”

  I merely kissed a near-stranger on a balcony where anyone might have seen. And, oh yes, the gentleman in question is my sister’s suitor.

  She exhaled sharply. Or was he? She wished she’d had just a few moments in silence to make heads or tails of all that had happened. Her mind was still spinning, and she could not tell which way was up or down in this situation.

  Her heart was still doing a jig over that kiss and those words—I happen to love trouble. But the rest of her—her reason, her logic, every bit of her life experience—it was forming a curdle of fear in her stomach that would not be denied.

  That moment had been too good to be true. Of this she was certain. Moments like that only existed in her daydreams and her fantasies. And books. In a romantic novel, something like this she might believe. But in real life?

  No one actually fell for the less attractive, less proper, less suitable daughter. No one. Not even a gentleman like Tumberland who was so very different from everyone else she’d ever met.

  He was a riddle. A perfect gentleman in the public eye, but when she spoke to him in private he was filled with a humor and a liveliness that no one would suspect.

  Maybe he was a kindred spirit of sorts, deep down beneath that perfect exterior.

  Maybe.

  Or maybe she was a fool for trying to believe in something that was so clearly too good to be true.

  Her logical brain was voting for the latter.

  “Mother, out of curiosity…” she started slowly.

  Her mother’s eyes narrowed farther. “Nothing good ever comes of your curiosity, child.”

  “Yes, well…” Louisa cleared her throat. “Are you certain that Tumberland plans to court Margaret?”

  Her mother’s look said it all. You have lost your mind. “Of course I’m certain. Why would he not? She is the perfect match for him.”

  “Mmm, quite,” she murmured, focusing her attention of the crowd around her rather than on what she ought to say in response to that. It’s just that he kissed me, you see…

  Surely now was not the time to tell her mother about what had just happened.

  Besides, Tumberland had said that he would handle it.

  She tried to calm her nerves but her mother’s fidgeting beside her did not help. “Are you certain you did nothing with which he could find fault?” Her mother wrung her hands as she whispered under her breath. “Oh, I should never have left you alone with him. Tell me honestly, did you make a fool of yourself? Did you do anything improper?”

  Louisa bit her lip. While she might have stirred up trouble in her lifetime, she’d very rarely lied to anyone, most especially not her mother. “No, mother. But—”

  “Thank goodness,” her mother said with a sigh. “I’ve heard things about him.”

  Louisa blinked. “What things?”

  Her mother waved a hand as if it were not important. “Just that he has very high expectations for the young ladies he meets. With everyone, really.” She shook her head in what seemed to be admiration. “He is such a good man, so solid and serious. He shall make an excellent husband for Margaret.”

  “Um,” Louisa managed to mumble. It did not matter what she said because her mother was barely paying attention.

  “Your father was worried that the little run-in you had with him in the middle of the night would be enough to end things, but I told him that Tumberland had enough good sense to see that Margaret’s value more than made up for your…foibles.”

  Louisa swallowed thickly. Foibles. Was that what they were? Her mind flashed on that moment outside. The more seconds that passed by the more she was uncertain whether or not she’d imagined it.

  Oh, she knew she’d been alone with him. That he’d kissed her. That the kiss had made her lose her senses as if the world had been spun upside down in a heartb
eat.

  But everything else—the look in his eyes, the tenderness in his voice, the certainty with which he’d spoken. It was all starting to feel a bit too perfect.

  Like a dream.

  Like perhaps she’d been so lost in the moment, she’d read the situation all wrong.

  Fear had her sucking in a big gulp. She wanted to continue to cling to it all, to revel in that happy haze, but reality was setting in quickly and then as it sank in, the memory of that interlude grew more and more difficult to believe.

  Her mother sighed loudly as she pulled out her fan and began waving it furiously. “I must say, I am relieved. With the way he’d singled you out earlier, I’d been sure he was going to try something.”

  “Try something?” Louisa forced a laugh. “And you accuse me of being melodramatic.”

  “Don’t be naïve, dear,” her mother said, her tone deadly serious. “Men like Tumberland take their choice of brides very seriously. He would need to be certain that Margaret’s family did not have any…”

  Louisa braced herself for whatever name came next.

  “Black sheep.”

  Black sheep. Louisa pursed her lips. Not the worst name she’d heard for herself. But her mother’s words were settling uncomfortably around her, sinking into her skin and seeping into her bones.

  The difference between how she’d felt just moments ago and how she felt now was nothing short of monumental.

  But of course, then she’d been in Tumberland’s arms, cloaked in darkness and surrounded by his warmth and his scent…

  And now? Now she was alone. On the outskirts of this party, feeling too short, too round, too loud, too gauche, especially beside her mother.

  She found herself searching the crowd for Tumberland, as if the sight of him might help to remind her that it had been real.

  It had been real, had it not?

  There! She spotted him on the other side of the room, and her heart did a flip at the sight of him.

  He truly was handsome.

  Too handsome, perhaps.

  She blinked quickly, trying to get a handle on her nerves. He was just as handsome as Sir Edmond, and she’d had a difficult time believing that he was falling in love with her.

  And Sir Edmond was a ghost.

  It was suddenly imperative that she speak to him again. Make certain that what she’d thought she’d seen in his eyes had truly been there. That she had not imagined it all, that the kiss was not some sort of moral test as her mother would likely think if she were to confess what had happened to her mother.

  It could not have been all in her imagination…could it? No. Surely not. It was just that she would feel better if he told her so.

  Again.

  “Will you excuse me, Mother?” she said, already starting to move toward the far side of the room where she’d last seen Tumberland. “I believe I see a friend.”

  “Fine,” her mother said, distracted as she craned her head to keep Margaret in her sights. “But do not get into any trouble.”

  “Of course not,” she said.

  Louisa followed the back of Tumberland’s head through a long room where partygoers laughed and ate from a spread she hadn’t realized had been put out.

  Her stomach growled, but she kept going. She nearly lost sight of him when he turned a corner but she caught up and came to a halt when she realized he wasn’t alone.

  He was following someone else, just as she was following him.

  And that someone was Lord Evil himself.

  Her breathing grew shallow as she paused in a doorway, her ears strained to make out words but only catching snippets, mainly Lord Evil’s low voice.

  What could they be meeting about?

  Were they friends?

  Was Tumberland aware that he was spending time with an evil villain? Her mind’s eye called up warm eyes and a sharp laugh that made her want to laugh in turn. Surely, he would not knowingly spend time with a dastardly villain like Lord Evil.

  It was her duty to warn him, was it not? She held her breath but let it out as a door down the hallway snapped shut and their voices were cut off entirely.

  She entered the hallway and walked past the door slowly. Then she turned and walked past again, even slower this time.

  But it was no use.

  She couldn’t hear a thing. She scowled at the door—the irritatingly thick wooden door that was all but soundproof.

  But the windows, on the other hand…

  She did not stop to think before moving into action. She’d already come this far, after all. And besides, if she found anything useful, she could tell Addie and Tolston and perhaps her friend could finally get justice for all the badness that had befallen her.

  This was what she told herself as she scurried down the hallway and back toward the balcony. No one was out there, which was basically an invitation to slip around the side of the house, into the hedges.

  She was definitely not getting into trouble. How could she be when no one was around to spot her?

  Her mind raced furiously as she made her way along the brick wall to one dark window and then another. And then she was there. The one lit room and the only open window.

  This had to be it.

  Sure enough, a low masculine voice filtered through the opening and Louisa drew toward it on tiptoe, trying to make out words.

  “You’ve been awfully cryptic,” Tumberland said. “What is it you think we need to discuss?”

  “Our common interests, of course.”

  Louisa shuddered beneath the window. Heavens. That voice! No one had ever fit the title Lord Evil better. Her nickname was remarkably apt if his cold, hard voice were anything to go by.

  “Yes, as you mentioned earlier.” Tumberland’s voice in comparison was warm and low and delicious. An unhurried drawl that refused to waver in the face of evil. “Would you care to elaborate?”

  Was it possible to swoon over a mere voice? If so, she was in serious danger. She rested her palms against the brick and went up on tiptoe. If only she could see him, as well. She could just imagine the hard lines of his features in the firelight as he stood up to Lord Evil for all that was good and just and—

  “I’m referring to Lord Torrent and his family,” Lord Evil said.

  Louisa jerked back at the sound of her own name. What on earth did he want to talk about her family for?

  “I was not aware you and I shared a common interest there,” Tumberland said slowly.

  She crept back toward the window. If only she could hear better. If only she could see.

  A quick glance around and she’d discovered a log that would put her at the perfect height. As quietly as possible she dragged it over to the window. She’d just put one foot on the edge when Evil’s voice stopped her dead in her tracks. “Rumor has it Torrent is in some financial trouble.”

  Her palms grew moist and clammy inside her gloves as a chill crept over her. Was it so obvious? Did everyone know?

  She waited anxiously for Tumberland’s response. “Rumor has it, you own his debts, Everley.”

  Louisa stilled as Everley’s cold, humorless laugh floated out of the window over her and gave her limbs a chill she could not shake.

  What did that mean that he owned their debts? Why would her father be indebted to this man?

  “I simply step in and offer assistance when my friends need my help.”

  “Your help, eh?” Tumberland muttered something she could not make out. A few more low words were spoken before Everley spoke loudly enough for her to hear again.

  “And that is what I called you in here to discuss. I know Torrent is hoping you’ll purchase that piece of adjoining land to buy himself a reprieve from the inevitable.”

  A reprieve? Reprieve from what? What was inevitable? The urge to scream just that had her clamping a hand over her mouth as she used her other hand to balance once more on the log. It was covered in moss and her slippers slid a bit before she regained her balance.

  Crouching as she
was, she could hear better, and would be able to peer in if she were to straighten to her full height.

  “Do you have an interest in that land?” Lord Evil continued.

  “Of course,” Tumberland said evenly, his voice giving away nothing. “It would strengthen my own property.”

  “Indeed, it would. But at what cost?” Evil said. His tone was wheedling. He was insinuating something, and whatever it was, it made Louisa’s blood run cold.

  “You need not fear for my fortune, Lord Everley,” Tumberland said evenly. “I assure you I can well afford the piece of land.”

  Evil’s voice changed. He dropped any hint of pleasantries as it turned hard as ice. “Torrent means to make his eldest daughter part of the deal.”

  Louisa stiffened. Margaret. They were talking about Margaret, and Father’s hopes that he’d set on her…because he’d tied her to the lands that Tumberland wanted.

  “Did he?” Tumberland’s voice was so casual, it gave nothing away. Even she could not guess if this had come as news to him or if he’d known.

  “Don’t play coy,” Evil said. “I’ve known Torrent long enough to understand the way he thinks. He’s hoping to snare two birds with one stone. Get the money he needs now with the sale of land and financial security from you when you marry his daughter.”

  Tumberland did not respond.

  Not at all.

  Louisa was certain she would scream. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Why was he not defending her father or denying that he was to marry Margaret?

  Why was he so horribly silent?

  There was nothing for it. Anxiety and fear and a million other confusing emotions prompted her into action, even though she knew now that this was certainly bordering on trouble.

  Eavesdropping was one thing, but outright spying?

  Definitely trouble. The promises she’d made to her mother, her father, her friends, and Miss Grayson… Guilt gnawed at her, but she pushed it aside.

  This was for the greater good. Why, she might even be able to help Tolston’s investigation, and if she managed to suss out more information on her father’s plans for Margaret and Tumberland, all the better.