Page 27 of Under the Seductive Ladys Charm
Yes, she might not be who he was looking for, but it was entirely possible that she might be a wonderful young lady to get to know anyway.
*
Charlotte was sitting in the library enjoying a brief respite. She had been allowed a blissful hour of quiet and even though she knew not the reason she was going to take advantage of it by reading. She was lost in a book when Henry, the doorman here at the London house, gave the door of the library a knock with his knuckles. “Pardon me, Miss Browne, but there is a delivery for Miss Easterly.”
“Oh?” Charlotte had never received a package for Amanda before. She followed the doorman back to the entrance hall to find a vase of flowers waiting. Charlotte could not help but glance at the note attached to them. “They are from a suitor. She will be delighted. Is she in her room?”
Henry shook his head. “She is entertaining a guest in the conservatory.”
Charlotte scooped up the vase and gave Henry a smile. “I shall make sure she gets them.”
Ever since her decision at breakfast to start looking for her own destiny, Charlotte’s mood had improved. She was hoping that this trend of Amanda being kept busy by guests and suitors would continue and she might be able to manage a free hour to go into town. Perhaps she could come up with a reason to visit somewhere away from the estate.
Charlotte pondered what she really wanted as she walked down the hallway. She might not marry a prince or anything similar, but thought she might possibly marry a merchant or even a soldier. Yes, perhaps she could, but there was still the dowry.
Her thoughts were warring back and forth as she entered the conservatory. It was only as she entered that she heard a male voice. She knew that voice. Charlotte quickly ducked back out of the room before anyone noticed her.
She breathed a sigh of relief at her narrow escape as soon as she was well out of sight. Lord Stanhope was here. Why was he here? Had he worked out her secret?
No. Charlotte doubted that very much. After all, if the man had sussed her out, would she not know about it by now? He must have come to call upon Amanda. There was a little flair of jealousy in her that Charlotte tried to squash down. She had no reason to be jealous of a man she had only just met.
Although, he was a man who had offered to court her. That surely had to count for something. Charlotte took the vase upstairs to Amanda’s bedroom.
Katrina was laying out a dress and looked up at Charlotte’s entrance. “What is that?”
“A vase of flowers for Amanda from a suitor,” Charlotte explained as she set the flowers down on the dressing table. “She was with a visitor, so I did not want to disturb her.”
Katrina nodded and Charlotte left the room quickly. Since they had been in London, Katrina had not exactly been nice to Charlotte, but they had fallen into a pattern of ignoring each other. Charlotte was fine with that.
Out in the hallway, she thought more about the man with Amanda in the room below and she could not resolve her feelings on the matter. Charlotte took the stairs down with a destination in mind. When she felt lonely or sad at home, Charlotte would often escape into the garden.
Thankfully, the upper crust of society had wonderful gardens and Charlotte went out of the door with a sigh of relief. She walked among the flowers. It was not until she sat down that she began to truly think of what she had lost and where she was.
She wanted to marry. She wanted to be happy and to be proud of herself again. Charlotte could hardly remember what that felt like.
How long had it been since she could truly look in the mirror and like who she was? Charlotte thought it was probably before her father died certainly. He would never have allowed her to live this way. She shuddered to think what he would say if he were here now.
A bird let out a mournful cry. She looked all around but couldn’t see any sign of the bird.
She pushed down her tears. She would not cry. There was no reason to cry. She had a plan.
Still the tears came. Still they rolled down her cheeks. Try as she might to wipe them away, they remained anyway.
Katrina was happy in her role. The thought of the maid brought shame to Charlotte. How could she not be happy with what another felt contented with?
“I am no better than Katrina,” Charlotte told herself. She did not belong in fancy balls and yet they persisted behind her eyes when she closed them for even a moment.
Lord Stanhope had been intrigued by her, why could not another man? Charlotte reminded herself that Lord Stanhope had been enamoured with a falsehood. Amanda’s cruel joke had gone wrong because she had caused him to suffer as well. Would she tell him of it?
Charlotte wondered if they might marry and then laugh about her little maid playing at being a lady. “What a lovely story to tell their children,” Charlotte whispered. “I will not have children. I shall raise other people’s children.”
If being governess was what it took, then that was what she would do. She could scarcely do otherwise and at least she hadsomeexperience. Charlotte sighed up at the clouds. “Pray you send lightning down and strike, lord.”
The skies remained spitefully clear and Charlotte resigned herself to her fate. What would she do otherwise? She had not saved much, not nearly enough to offer as a dowry.
She covered her face and cried as softly as she could. It would not do to bring attention to herself with a guest about. She would die of the embarrassment if Lord Stanhope truly saw her for what she was.
*
