Page 45 of An Unwilling Earl
She wanted to walk in the sunshine. She wanted to feel the fresh air on her face. She wanted to see other people. She wanted to blend in like a proper miss and not a vagrant to be avoided.
She wanted to be normal for just a few hours.
She rummaged around her room in search of a cloak. It seemed that Mrs. Smith had made it her duty to convert all of Cora Baker’s gowns to fit Charlotte. She’d even discovered that Charlotte preferred a little less lace on her gowns and had been kind enough to take a lot of the furbelows off.
She found a rather plain gray one and shook it out. After wearing black for the past five years, gray seemed like a breath of fresh air.
“Where are you going?” Mrs. Smith suddenly appeared in the entryway as Charlotte was opening the front door. She jumped as if she were caught doing something wrong.You’re allowed to leave. You’re not being held against your will.This wasn’t her aunt’s house or the rookery.
“I thought I would take a stroll around the park. Would you like to join me?”
Mrs. Smith’s cheeks flushed, and she ran her dust cloth through her fingers in an agitated fashion, and Charlotte wondered if maybe she’d been given instructions to not let Charlotte out.
“Of course I can’t go walking with you,” Mrs. Smith said, rather harshly. “I have far too much to do, and you should not go out on your own. It’s not done.”
“Then you should go with me.”
Mrs. Smith sniffed, but Charlotte thought she detected a ghost of smile, quickly gone.
“Really, Mrs. Smith, I’m just going down the street to the park. I need some air. I haven’t left the house in days.”
Mrs. Smith looked unconvinced that this was a good idea. “His lordship never said you couldn’t go out.”
“Well, there you go.” At least she wasn’t a prisoner.
“But he never said you could, either.”
“Really, Mrs. Smith. I hardly think a stroll through the park should merit this discussion.”
Mrs. Smith seemed to think about it. “You really haven’t been outside in days, and that’s not good for a body.”
“Certainly it isn’t.” Charlotte was trying hard not to grin. Mrs. Smith really was a gem, and she guarded this house and “his lordship” like a dragon did its eggs.
“Very well. As long as it’s just down to the park and back.”
“You can join me.”
Mrs. Smith harrumphed, but her eyes glittered, and for a moment they shared a smile, a small confidence, and a crack in the formality of their relationship.
“Go on with you.” Mrs. Smith snapped the dust cloth in Charlotte’s direction, and Charlotte giggled as she hurried out the door.
At her aunt’s house she had only been allowed to go outside if they were walking to church, which they did several times a week. Other than that her aunt never left the house and had seen no reason for Charlotte to leave it, either. In the rookery, Charlotte had always gone outside because the stench of the place had been overwhelming, and escaping the smell and deprivation had saved her sanity, but there was only a small window of time to be outside in the rookery, and Charlotte had always been aware of that.
This day was bright and warm, such a change from the cold, rainy spring they’d been having. She’d told Jacob that she was going to visit Cotton today, but it had been a passing thought, something she knew she had to do soon in order to put her plans into action. But not today.
She thought of Suzette, wondered how she was faring. Suzette was a survivor, and no doubt she was living just fine without Charlotte. More than likely she enjoyed having the lodgings all to herself. Or maybe she was charging rent to someone else to live there and pocketing some extra coin. That seemed more like Suzette.
Charlotte found herself at the edge of the market. She’d walked farther than she had intended and much farther than the park. Mrs. Smith would not be pleased if she knew.
The market bustled with activity, people going this way and that, calling out greetings, haggling with the vendors. It was a place vibrant and alive with humanity, and she grinned, wanting to be in the middle of it all.
And then she saw him, and everything inside of her went cold.
Chapter Fourteen
He stood in a darkened doorway, watching the people pass him by, his face shadowed by his top hat. But she knew exactly who he was. She would know him anywhere.
Charlotte’s heart pounded right down to her toes. She swallowed through a dry throat, her feet fixed to the ground. She couldn’t move even if she wanted to.
