Page 52 of Touched By a Traitor
“He is now a member of the Parliament. He left Cambridge in Miss Morton’s third year. And the chances are, he is utilizing your bank.”
“Find him. Make him repay with interest… or I’ll take it out of his account at a higher interest rate.”
“I shall. There’s one more discovery regarding Miss Morton’s time at Cambridge.”
Andrew waited, his mood darkening at Adams’s tone. He sensed something terrible had happened.
“I met a maid for the university who claimed that the lady had a monthly rendezvous with a man.”
Andrew’s blood turned cold, his stomach dropping as if he’d fallen from a great height.
“Do you know who it was?”
“No. It seems the relationship was a secret. No one else said anything about a love interest. They met at different offices at the university.”
Andrew’s hands clenched into fists, his knuckles going white. The thought of Charlotte with another man—willingly, repeatedly—sent a surge of jealousy and betrayal through him that nearly made him sick.
“By rendezvous, you mean…”
“I’m afraid so. They occurred late at night. I’m sorry I couldn’t discern who it was that the lady met with.”
Andrew’s fist tightened into a ball.Did she use her body to silence all the professors?The thought sickened and enraged him. He dismissed Adams with a grunt and closed his eyes, allowing his mood to fall into the darkness.
Shortly after, Andrew stood before a dilapidated townhouse in one of London’s most impoverished districts. He fervently hoped Charlotte would receive him. Rapping his knuckles forcefully against the door to ensure he was heard over the traffic and rain, Andrew was relieved when the door unlatched and cracked open, revealing her visage.
With a tip of his hat and a bow, he said, “I hope you don’t mind me… calling on you unannounced.”
As he raised his gaze, Andrew caught the shock that widened her eyes, undoubtedly finding his cuts and bruises ghastly. But in the next breath, Charlotte regarded him with a look that could have curdled fresh milk. Without a word, she turned and walked up the creaky stairs. Andrew rushed after her, dripping rainwater onto the threadbare rug. The house reeked of mold, and the strident voices of two quarrelling women mingled with the faint sounds of copulation. He felt enraged by the squalid conditions in which his beloved resided.
Opening the last door in the hallway, Charlotte held it open until Andrew stepped in.
She crossed her arms and perched against the old wooden desk. He noted the tension coiled in every muscle of her body.
“Why?” she asked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Why did you ruin me the way you did?”
Andrew sensed her nerves were as frayed as the threadbare rugs beneath their feet.
“I couldn’t lose you to Chatham.”
Her eyes blazed with fury, which threatened to consume him whole.
“Am I to understand”—her voice trembled with barely contained anger—“that you ruined me for sport because you couldn’t bear the thought of losing?”
Andrew felt the weight of her despair, a palpable force that seemed to fill the room, suffocating him with its intensity. He feared he was doomed to live with her wounds forever, a constant companion that would haunt him.
“I came to apologize,” he said, his tone measured and controlled. “And to ask for your hand in marriage.”
As if to mock him, the sounds of fornication from the neighboring room grew louder. She began to pace, each word that fell from her lips cutting sharper than the one before, a verbal assault that left no room for mercy.
“You wished to break me, the problematic female. Or did your shareholders hold the puppet strings? Do not bother claiming you’re in love with me when all you care about is yourself and your precious company.”
Andrew could hear the sourness in her voice as she continued, “I find your intention deplorable. You could be the last man on earth, and I wouldn’t wish to marry you. You don’t love me at all. You’re simply too selfish to lose me to another man!”
Andrew flinched at the insult, the motion shooting pain through his head. Desperation clawed at his chest, and words tumbled from his lips before he could stop them.
