Page 21 of Miss Mulberry and the Moody Marquess
A glance at the clock on the mantle told her that the time was drawing nearer. It was only a few minutes till midnight. A few minutes till he would open her door and she could give herself up to the pleasure of being kissed by him, of losing herself in that kiss so that nothing else mattered.
There was a noise at the door. The brush halted mid stroke, and she removed it from her hair, returning the tool to the tray on the dressing table as she watched expectantly in the mirror. Finally, the door swung inward and Charlotte gasped. It wasn’t Ethan at all. It was a very, very foxed Arliss Cranford.
“Charlotte,” he said, slurring her name to the point she wasn’t even entirely certain of what he’d said. “I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
“Yes, you have. You are in my room, Arliss, and you need to leave immediately,” she insisted. What would happen if Ethan discovered him there?Oh, it would be awful.She just knew it.
“I can’t. I cannot… I was so wrong to do what I did, Charlotte. I love you. I always loved you. I simply lost sight of it for a moment.”
“It was more than a moment, Arliss. You’ve married another woman—a woman who would be furious with us both if you are discovered here.” Just the thought of it, of the scandal and drama that would erupt from such an event, made her feel positively ill. “Please, Arliss, leave. If you wish to talk tomorrow when you are not in your cups, I will speak with you then. But for now, you must go!”
“I will not,” he said. “Not until you’ve seen reason. I will leave her, Charlotte. I will leave Georgianna and we can go somewhere to start a life together. America! America is a land of opportunity, after all.”
He was simply too inebriated to see reason. She might as well have been speaking to a brick wall. “I am not going to America with you, Arliss. I’m not going anywhere with you! The only thing I’m leaving, since you refuse to, is this room,” she said, getting to her feet.
Immediately, he stepped deeper into the room and slammed the door behind him. “I can’t let you do that. You must forgive me, Charlotte! You must take me back.”
Suddenly, she was less concerned with what Ethan might do to Arliss than what she might do to Arliss. “I cannot take you back! I will remind you, Arliss, as you seem to have forgotten, that you are married to another! Another whom you left me for, no less. Further, as you put it, I do not want you back. I want tomarry Eth—the Marquess. And I can say, without question, that I know he wishes to be married to me.”
Arliss moved toward her, but Charlotte sidestepped. Even as he reached out and grasped her wrist, she was pulling away from him. Somehow, he caught the sleeve of the blue satin gown that Regina had given her. The sound of the fabric ripping as the seams gave way was like thunder in the otherwise quiet room.
With her ruined sleeve hanging in shreds, Charlotte shoved Arliss away from her and ran to the door. But when she opened it, the corridor beyond was not empty. Ethan stood there and his gaze went immediately to the tears in her dress. And then he looked past her. His expression shifted into one of quiet fury.
“Go to Regina’s chamber,” he ordered.
“It isn’t what you think!” Charlotte feared that Arliss would be killed. While she was angry with him, death was not something she wished for anyone. And certainly not for him to die in her chamber at the hands of the man she was presently betrothed to. That was the sort of ruin no woman could come back from. A scandal such as that would hang over them for the rest of their lives.
“What I think, Charlotte, is that Mr. Cranford forced his way into your room for reasons that simply do not matter. And when you tried to leave, because he would not, he grabbed you… that is the least wretched scenario. If it was anything more than that, he deserves whatever fate is in store for him.”
It was also the accurate scenario. “He’s in his cups and regretting his decisions. That is all. He will be sober in the morning with more regrets to come… Take me to your room.”
The suggestion must have penetrated the haze of his fury, because he finally took his eyes off Arliss to look at her. “You must see this changes everything.”
Charlotte’s heart skittered in her chest. “You no longer wish to marry me?”
“Do not be silly. It changes our plans for the evening, not our plans for life,” he said sharply.
It was a moment of both relief and inspiration. “Nothing about what had planned for tonight must change. But if we remain here, there will be an altercation. Let us choose our scandals carefully. If I’m to be ruined, I’d prefer it be for something enjoyable… and not involving Arliss Cranford!”
As she’d suggested, they retreated to his room. Stepping inside and closing the door behind them, Ethan was struggling to rein in his temper. When he thought of what might have happened to Charlotte had he not interrupted Cranford in whatever desperate attempt he was making to reclaim the life he’d thrown away, it made him shudder. Charlotte believed him harmless, but Ethan knew better. No man was truly harmless and a man as foxed as Cranford had clearly been was doubly dangerous, especially to a lone female.
What if they had not planned to meet? What if she’d simply been alone there to fend him off? Jealous men were dangerous men and Arliss Cranford was something far worse than simply jealous. He was covetous—wanting to take back what he had discarded simply because she was now desirable to someone else.
“I am unhurt,” she said softly, as if sensing the nature of his thoughts.
“And that is why he yet lives,” Ethan answered with quiet conviction.
“Arliss does not want me. Not really. He’s like a selfish child with an unwanted toy.” She offered the assessment dismissively,offhandedly. As if she hadn’t been attacked by her former betrothed in her own bedchamber.
“It does not signify… what he wants is irrelevant. It’s what he did, or nearly did, that matters.”
At those words, she crossed her arms protectively in front of herself. Immediately, Ethan felt terrible. She had been through something incredibly terrifying. The last thing she needed was to be put in the position to soothe his ruffled feathers. “I am sorry, Charlotte. I’m behaving nearly as badly as Cranford. What can I do for you?”
She cocked her head to one side and surveyed him thoughtfully for a moment. “You could start by kissing me.”
Ethan moved towards her with slow, deliberate steps. He wanted to kiss her. More than anything, but he also wanted her to be completely certain that she still wanted to be kissed. Given the turn of the evening, he had no expectation that what they’d initially planned would take place. Whatever occurred between them would be entirely up to her.
“You’re certain?” he asked, reaching out to gently cup her cheek and brush back a tendril of hair that had fallen over her face. The softness of her skin beneath his hand was a balm to him, soothing the anger that still seethed inside him.
