Page 78 of An Unwilling Earl
“My God,” he said. “My God.”
It had never been like this for him before. Never had he felt this way when he’d made love to Cora. This was so different. So wild. He couldn’t even name it, but he knew he wanted it over and over again.
Charlotte was also breathing hard, her chest heaving.
“I think…” She licked her lips, took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to think, but that was the most amazing experience ever. You’re right. It does get better.”
He laughed and threw his arm over his eyes. He had no idea what to do with this new wife of his, but he knew that he wanted to love her well, every single night.
Chapter Twenty-Three
A few days later Charlotte was in the upstairs private sitting room when Mrs. Smith came in all breathless, her dust cloth waving. “You have callers.”
Charlotte shut the book she’d been reading, a mystery that she had purchased from the bookstore.
“Callers?” she asked, confused. “Here? For me?”
Mrs. Smith nodded, a look of almost terror on her face. Jacob had to have had callers before. This couldn’t be the first time Mrs. Smith had to accept a caller.
“Where do we put them?” Charlotte asked.
“I don’t know. I guess in his lordship’s office.”
Charlotte closed her eyes. “We have to get a better formal receiving room.” Then she looked at Mrs. Smith in horror. “Who is it?”
What if it was someone she didn’t want to see? She wasn’t really prepared to come out into Society as the Countess of Ashland just yet. She didn’t know how to act like a countess!
And here she thought she could educate American girls on the aristocratic ways.
“The ladies—” Mrs. Smith squeezed her eyes shut as if she was trying to recall exactly the names of the women downstairs. “Crawford. The ladies Crawford. A lady and her daughter.”
Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief. Sarah and her mother. She’d known them practically her whole life. They wouldn’t expect her to act any differently.
“Do you have tea and food to serve them?”
Mrs. Smith nodded so vigorously that her cap slipped over her eye.
Charlotte took a deep breath. “Then I will greet my very first callers.”
She found them in Jacob’s office—thank goodness he was out at business meetings today or they would have had to kick him out of his office. Sarah immediately went to Charlotte and gave her a warm hug. Her mother, Lady Crawford, was a little more reserved in her greeting but still warm.
“Congratulations on your marriage,” Lady Crawford said. “Your mother would be proud.”
Charlotte’s throat tightened unexpectedly at the mention of her mother. “Do you really think so?”
“Oh, I know so, dear. She would have been proud of everything you have done.”
Charlotte blinked the wetness from her eyes. “Thank you for saying that.”
“She was a beautiful bride,” Sarah said, causing Charlotte to blush.
Mrs. Smith bustled in with tea and put it on Jacob’s desk, and Charlotte realized that they were all still standing.
“I apologize that I don’t have a proper sitting room,” she said. “I guess we’ll have to make do.”
“This was a bachelor’s home for so long,” Lady Crawford said. “It will be good to bring a feminine touch to it. It will give you something to work on while Lord Ashland is busy with other things.”
“Yes.” They all sat in uncomfortable straight-backed chairs. What would her life be like if she stayed on as the Countess of Ashland? What would she do with herself all day?
