Page 44 of An Unwilling Earl
She looked at him sharply. “Was he expecting me to come running back to him?”
“He was hoping for a reconciliation of some sort.”
She sat down in the nearest chair as if her legs had just given out on her.
“It makes no difference,” she said. “I’m leaving for America, leaving all this behind. Meeting him now wouldn’t change anything, and it’s best not to open those old wounds.”
Marry Miss Morris.
No!
He was not going to marry her just to help her escape her aunt. She had a family willing to help her. He’d done what was right. He’d informed the Chadleys of Charlotte’s desperate situation. It was time for him to step away and attend to his own mounting affairs.
But he didn’t want to step away. He didn’t want to hand Charlotte off to the Chadleys even if it was the right thing to do.
She stood and folded her hands in front of her. “I’m going to meet Cotton tomorrow to talk to him about the documents I need. As soon as I have the proper documentation I will begin to plan for my voyage.”
“Don’t,” he said brokenly.
She looked at him curiously. “Don’t what? Don’t go to see Cotton?”
“Don’t leave.”
“I can’t live off your kindness forever.”
Marry Miss Morris.
“But must you leave England entirely?”
“There is nothing here for me. And there is a vast world with endless possibilities.”
“I don’t think you really want to go.”
“Tell me, what do I have here?”
His heart was hammering, and he instinctively knew that he was at a moment in his life where he could go forward into the unknown or stay firmly planted in the known. Remain safe or step into danger?
“You have me,” he said quietly.
Her expression softened. “You have been a good friend, my lord. And I will forever be grateful for your kindness.”
He winced. Either she had completely misconstrued what he was saying, or she had deliberately misinterpreted it.
“Of course,” he said. “I will always be here for you.”
“I’m sorry I became so angry at you. It’s just that I don’t want the Chadleys involved in any of this.”
“I won’t pretend to understand why you won’t use the resources you have. You can create any life you want right here in London, and they are willing to help. But I will respect your wishes not to meet them.”
Her gaze flickered away, and that thing inside Jacob that made him such a good solicitor told him that there was more to the story.
There was a reason she hadn’t gone to them. There was a reason she’d hidden in the rookery, and there was a reason she wanted to run to America.
What is that reason?
…
Charlotte sat in the window seat in Jacob’s study and stared unseeingly out the window. She was restless and realized that she had not been outside since coming to the house six days ago. Jacob had not expressly forbidden her to leave. He’d not given her any parameters as to her behavior or where she could or could not go, other than the night before when he’d asked her not to go outside so late at night.
