Charlotte knew she should have contented herself with that. Her heart should not twist like a pair of wringing hands because he neglected to mention her or future children. But then, he’d not long ago told her he wanted no more children with her and that his love for her was so obliterated, he could not will it back if he wished to.
Before she allowed it to spoil her evening, she forcibly thrust those thoughts aside. “Honestly, I hadn’t given it a thought. Thank you for thinking of us.”
A flash of white in the dark indicated he had smiled.
“I’d like to speak with you when we return.” The timbre of his voice dropped to encompass ranges from enticing to seduction.
Charlotte instantly grew warm as her anticipation for the ball waned. Now all she wanted was to instruct the driver to turn back and take them home. Of course, Missy would never forgive her and neither would the guests, many who’d traveled a great distance to get a firsthand look at the couple whose wedding all had thought never to have occurred.
“Mightn’t it be too late for that?” The coquette in her decided to make an appearance.
The sound of his chuckle, low and infinitely amused, filled the carriage. “Not the kind of discussion I hope to have.”
Perhaps, it would be wise if they left the ball early was Charlotte’s last thought before she realized they had stopped in front of her brother’s estate.
They’d been instructed to arrive early and stand with James and Missy to greet the guests so it was no great surprise the circular drive was empty. Butterflies now collected in her stomach when she thought of the evening to come and its significance. Not that she cared so much for herself. No, her concern was for her family.
The door to the carriage opened and she sucked in a breath. Alex reached over and took her hand. “It doesn’t matter what they say or think or do. You are not dependent on their patronage.”
It was the closest he’d ever come since she told him the truth, to saying he understood, that he would stand by her no matter what. She couldn’t afford to cry and found it impossible to speak. Instead she gave a tiny nod and curled her fingers around his gloved hand with the knowledge that no matter what happened tonight, things would be fine.
Halfway through the evening, Rutherford asked to have a word with Alex in private. Except for a brief conversation where his friend had approved the marriage solution, they hadn’t spoken since Rutherford had stormed into his study months ago.
They adjourned to the library, where a fire blazed in the fireplace. His friend lit two gas lamps, bathing the room in white incandescent light.
“Charlotte looks happy,” Rutherford said as he settled himself against the edge of the desk and crossed his feet at his ankles.
Alex smiled, inclining his head in acknowledgment of that fact. He was happy. Although he’d be much happier later on tonight in her bed with her naked under him—or on top—he wasn’t the least bit particular on that score.
“She finally told us why she left,” his friend continued. A frown settled on his brow.
Alex widened his stance and thrust his bare hands in to his trouser pockets. “Ah, so she told you. Have we reason for concern? Charlotte is of the impression the culprit was your mother.”
Rutherford was shaking his head even before he’d finished speaking. “It was not my mother,” he said emphatically.
His friend’s response did not come as a surprise. Alex had had his doubts about the dowager’s involvement when Charlotte had informed him.
“Then who wrote the letter?”
Rutherford shrugged. “I don’t know but I shall do my best to find out. I’ve hired a private investigator to look into the matter.”
“But who would threaten them and then say nothing for five years? Surely this isn’t something we need worry ourselves over any longer?” For Charlotte and Catherine’s sake, he sorely hoped not.
Rutherford cast his gaze around the room as if deep in thought. He then directed his attention back to Alex. “It recently occurred to me that my sisters may not be the true targets of the threat.”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked, removing his hands from his pockets.
“I mean what if it is your life they set out to destroy? Losing my sister devastated you. Everyone is well aware of that. It’s only in the last year that you’ve managed to piece your life back together. And just when you started giving serious thought to marrying, Charlotte appears with your son. I don’t believe it was merely a coincidence. We all would have been knee-deep in scandal if not for those marriage papers.”
“Are you saying someone did this to make my life miserable?” The notion was absurd.
“I’m saying perhaps someone did this to ensure you did not marry. Haven’t you a cousin or uncle who set to inherit should you not produce an heir? I’m saying, what if I’ve sent the investigator in the wrong direction. At present, he’s looking for someone who has a grudge against my sisters when perhaps he should be looking for someone associated with you.”
Frankly, the thought hadn’t occurred to him. “My father’s nephew, Henry Wentworth would have been my heir if not for Nicholas.”
Although he and his cousin had never been close, Alex wouldn’t have thought him capable of such deviousness—not that he could say he knew Henry all that well.
However, Rutherford’s speculations did have merit. It was certainly worth looking into.
His friend gave a brief nod and said, “I’ll give his name to the investigator. Have you given any thought to what you will do if the worst happens?”
“I will not have my wife and child treated as pariahs,” Alex replied in a hard voice. “We’d move if we had to. Since America is familiar to them, perhaps we’d go there. Catherine could come too.” Charlotte would insist on it.
Rutherford gave him a wry smile. “Let us hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Indeed, Charlotte’s euphoria lasted two hours into the ball. The grand room had been transformed into something magical. Candles lit the place like a Christmas tree and the refreshment room held a steady stream of hungry and thirsty guests.
Which wasn’t to say she had been received wholeheartedly by all of their guests. A few of the women had offered her stilted, sometimes even cold greetings, but thankfully she hadn’t actually been cut. However, the evening remained young as it had yet to reach midnight.
She and Alex had danced the first dance, a quadrille, and were scheduled to perform the final waltz. Anticipation swirled within her at the prospect of being held in his arms, breathing in his singularly masculine scent.
The duke and duchess blessed everyone with their presence, arriving in grand style at the fashionably late hour of ten o’clock, causing a cyclone stir when they entered the ballroom looking every inch the highest-ranking peer in a realm of lofty nobles. Their manner toward her could be equated to a sunny day in the Arctic. They may have accepted their grandson but that didn’t encompass her. Pleasantries—as Charlotte chose to call them—were blessedly short; truly the ideal duration when dealing with disapproving mother- and father-in-laws.
Suddenly alone for the first time that evening, Charlotte glanced around the domed room. Elizabeth had recently dashed upstairs to attend her fretful child. Missy was playing host and Amelia and Katie were on the dance floor enjoying an energetic polka. And James and Alex, having returned from wherever they had disappeared to a short while ago, appeared to be carrying on a friendly conversation with Derek and Thomas near the terrace doors. Charlotte couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her husband looking so at ease, his smile radiating a certain joie de vivre.
Just about to join Missy, who stood alone at the circumference of the dance floor, Charlotte saw him framed in the entrance. Had she held a glass in her hand, it would have shattered on the polished floors.
Staring at her, his eyes lit with pleasure, was Lucas Beaumont. Instinctively, Charlotte turned toward where she’d last seen her husband and found him boring holes into Lucas with
his gaze.
Charlotte wasted no time rushing over to Lucas, arriving at his side at the same moment Katie did.
“Lucas, what are you doing here?” she asked, aware she didn’t sound at all pleased to see him.
A lazy smile turned up the corners of his mouth. “Your sister invited me.” He looked at Katie, interest blatant in his eyes. “And I hadn’t the heart to refuse her.”
Charlotte looked sharply at her sister, who was blushing profusely. So that was how it was. It was about time, her sister deserved happiness. She’d have to speak to Lucas in private, maybe tomorrow. She hoped he was serious about her for she would not have her sister’s heart broken.
“Apparently you could not,” Charlotte replied. “Listen, Alex has already seen you and he’s hardly pleased. Katie, do make sure Lucas stays out of his way. The last thing I want is a scene.”
A glance behind her revealed her husband shouldering his way through the crush toward them, his expression pleasant if one preferred storm clouds and pelting rain. “Hurry, the next set is starting. The two of you go dance.”
Amused, Lucas proffered his elbow, which Katie readily accepted and they proceeded to the dance floor.
Moments later, Charlotte’s arm was caught in a firm grip. She didn’t have to turn to know it was Alex who held her. She felt his breath on her ear before he demanded in a voice that reminded her of icicles, “What is he doing here?” By this time, he began steering her from the ballroom, his smile frozen in place as he threaded their way through the throng of guests cluttering the entrance. In the hall, he glanced around and then urged her into her brother’s study.
What had promised to be a wonderful evening vanished like a coin in a magician’s nimble fingers. Alex looked fit to be tied.
“I did not know Lucas would be here. Katie extended the invitation.”
He made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a growl. Spinning on his heel, he stalked toward the desk.
“Alex, there is nothing going on between me and Lucas. Truth be told, I believe he’s set his sights on Katie and that his interest is returned. Let us just enjoy the evening without acrimony.”
Alex spun violently back around. “He is interested in Catherine? Do you not find that at all rather distasteful? She is your identical twin.”
Charlotte knew precisely what he implied and he couldn’t be more wrong. “It isn’t like that a’tall. You act as if we are the same person. If that was the case, then I would have to worry about you being attracted to Katie.”
“Oh don’t be ridiculous,” he snapped. “I knew the two of you together. You are individuals to me. He met and was attracted to you first. It’s only recently he’s discovered there’s another just like you.”
“Even if he was once attracted to me, that doesn’t change that we are only friends now. You are acting as if he is a threat to what you and I have, and you couldn’t be more wrong.”
“What we have?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow. “And what exactly do we have, dear wife?”
“Alex, don’t do this. Don’t be ugly,” she whispered. “You said you wanted us to talk.”
“What I wanted was you in my bed again. But that doesn’t mean anything else has changed. You are in my house because of my son and you are in my bed because it’s convenient for me. Why should I slake my needs elsewhere when you are more than happy to oblige me every night?”
“You’d like me to believe what is between us is just physical need and lust. But you know in your heart it is more.” She refused to allow him to reduce it to that.
“Do not purport to know what is in my heart,” he replied tersely.
“Then why do you care so much about Lucas? If I’m just a body, does it matter who I had in my bed when I wasn’t with you?”
“I care because you are my wife. Your fidelity was the least you owed me. I wasn’t the one who left you.”
“I explained why I did.” But as explanations went, she may as well have held her tongue for all the good it did.
“Did you take a lover at all in that time?”
Surprised, Charlotte stared up at him. She found her voice soon after. “No I did not. I had a son, and the rigors of raising a child on my own isn’t easy and didn’t leave me much time for anything else.”
“That was by choice. You needn’t have been alone. Your son had a father who’d have happily provided for him if only he knew his son existed.”
Charlotte gave a weary sigh. “Nonetheless, I was on my own.”
“So you wanted to take a lover?” he asked, refusing to let the subject drop.
How she wanted to tell him yes, she had wanted to take a lover. What she couldn’t bear to admit was only he could ever have fit the role. Her body may have ached for the touch of a man but her heart had yearned only for him, and she had been unable to allow her body to go where her heart could not follow.
“No, I had no desire to take a lover,” she said, unwilling to lie to him.
“Why?”
He wanted her heart bared. “Because of you that is why. That’s what you want to hear, isn’t it? I know you had no such compunction. I know you’ve had dozens upon dozens of women since I left.”
The second the words left her mouth, she regretted it. Jealousy had its fangs in her when she had no right to feel it.
“What did you expect me to do, live the rest of my life like a monk, nursing my broken heart over your portrait?” he shot back.
“What has happened to you? The moment you saw Lucas, you changed. And things were getting better between us, you know they were.”
Alex straightened to his full height and simply stared at her. He stood silent a good while, his eyes unblinking.
When he began speaking it was as if the anger had drained from him. “At times I believe I can live with what happened and not hold you in judgment over the choices you made. But there are other times when I can’t see beyond your abandonment and what you took from me. How you leaving me changed my life, my whole world.”
She approached him and gently touched the sleeve of his coat. All she wanted to do was hold him in her arms and kiss him deeply. Soothe the creases from his brow and wipe all traces of unhappiness from his beautiful visage.
“Alex,” she whispered, heartsick.
“Perhaps we’re rushing this.” His tone was as serious as she’d ever heard it. Which said much.
It felt as if she was bleeding inside, but she wouldn’t deny him his space if that’s what he felt he required. And perhaps he was right. How did one heal five years of hurt within months? His wounds ran deep as would hers if their positions were reversed.
“We shall take it as slow as you’d like,” she replied softly.
He took her elbow. “Come, let us return to the ball before the guests begin to comment on our absence. They are all here, after all, to celebrate your return.” His mouth lifted at the corner.
As they rejoined the ball, Charlotte prayed that not rushing this didn’t take on the connotation of stopping altogether.
Chapter Nineteen
When Alex returned from his morning ride the day following, Alfred informed him the marchioness and his son had gone to Rutherford Manor so he found himself alone.
It was funny, he’d lived there alone for almost three years and with his wife and son only the past two months. But when they were both gone, the house felt empty, too big for him alone.
“Milord, the duchess is here. Shall I show her to the drawing room?” Alfred asked after a brief knock on the study door.
His mother here? He’d thought they’d gone back to London. Then he remembered his mother owned a house nearby. But she and the duke rarely made use of it.
“Yes, do. Tell her I’ll be with her momentarily.”
“No need to inconvenience yourself, I shall be just as comfortable here,” his mother said, appearing behind Alfred.
With a sigh, Alex waved his butler away. The duchess stepped into the study and looked around, taking silent invent
ory of everything.
“This room is so dark. Perhaps you might redecorate it in a lighter wood. All this redwood makes the place feel like I’m in constant mourning.”
“Good morning, Mama. I should have thought you’d have slept till noon as late as you remained at the ball.”
His mother advanced in, looking imperial and impeccable, her dress the sort that flowed easily when she moved. None of those stiff cages for Her Grace, she was too old for all that unforgiving rigidity, she claimed. But she’d been saying that the past fifteen years.
“I certainly would have done if the need to speak to you in private hadn’t been urgent,” she said. It took her a moment to decide on which chair to sit and then she sank onto the sage sofa with the grace and elegance of a swan.
“And just what was so urgent as to disturb your beauty sleep?” Alex was certain it was some trivial matter.
“Well first and foremost, pray do endeavor to keep your feelings for your wife to yourself. The way you watched her at the ball last night…Well, my dear, it was hardly appropriate. Please do your best with that.”
Alex sat up straight in his seat. “How did I watch her?”
The duchess’ eyebrows rose. “Oh, I suppose you could not have known. Well it was the sort of look a man reserves for his mistress not his wife. It is such women gentlemen use to satisfy those sorts of carnal appetites. My darling, it was positively scandalous. I mean, truly, she is your wife. And since you are my son, I feared I’d have to hide my face. One might assume you’d picked that sort of thing up at home.”
Did his mother think to embarrass him with her observation? Yes, he desired his wife. He wasn’t ashamed of that. And he’d wanted her desperately last night, despite what he’d said about taking things slower.
“Oh, do not glower at me. I’m telling you for your own good. If the girl realizes how smitten you are with her again, God help us. Next time who knows what she’ll do to break your heart. Thank you very much, but I have no desire to go through that again.”
An Heir of Deception (The Elusive Lords) Page 24
