Page 23 of An Unwilling Earl
“Far away from here. I’ll go far away from London.”
“I can help.”
The hope slowly leached from her expression. “I don’t think you can. I don’t think you understand the…depth of all of this.”
“What isthis?”
She faced him fully, her head tilted to the side. “Do you think I ran away from my aunt because she was cruel?”
“Yes.” His heart was still hammering, and his breath was coming fast. They were on the precipice of something big here.
“Then you are wrong.”
Chapter Eight
Charlotte walked away from Jacob, having revealed too much. So she wasn’t surprised to hear him running after her. Lord Ashland was a curious man. He would want to know what she had meant when she said she hadn’t been running from her aunt.
“Where are you going?” he asked a bit breathlessly. He had a nice voice. Smooth and comforting. She imagined that he rarely found himself surprised.
“Back to my lodgings,” she said as she continued to walk, and he continued to match her steps.
“Why?”
“Because it’s where I live.” She was worried because she liked far too much about him. It wasn’t wise to like him this much, and that was part of the reason she’d walked away. He was handsome, but more than that he was compassionate. She couldn’t afford to fall for compassion.
“What do you do there? At your lodging?”
“There’s not much to do in the rookery besides stealing and various other unlawful activities.”
“So why stay there?”
“Where else can one disappear so thoroughly?”
“Weren’t you frightened the first time you went there?”
“I was more relieved. But, yes, I was frightened, too.” They were still walking, and he was still keeping up, and she was cross with herself for answering his questions. She didn’t want him to know any more about her, but her mouth didn’t seem to care.
“And yet you continue to stay,” he said.
“The alternative isn’t acceptable.”
“The alternative being living with your aunt and cousin?”
She stopped. The sun was behind him, so it was difficult to make out his facial expression. “You have a lot of questions, Lord Ashland.”
“I’m a curious person.”
“Curiosity killed the cat. Haven’t you heard that?”
“Is that what will happen to me? If I assuage my curiosity I will get killed?”
“Maybe not killed but hurt.”
“What are you hiding that will hurt me, Charlotte?”
“I’m not telling you.” She began walking again, her steps clipped because she was angry that she’d revealed so much.
“Do you know what the other part of the saying is?” he asked as he caught up to her.
