Page 29 of How to Seduce a Duke this Autumn
Her lips pressed into a thin line as she picked up the note. Well, she had to admit, looking at the thing did send a small shiver down her spine. “Does he honestly expect me to meet him?”
“Meet who?” Waylon’s voice came from behind her.
Charlene’s head whipped around so quickly her neck protested. Her brother appeared in the corner of the orangery, one brow arched, and he strode up to her, swatting away the branch of a fern.
She scrambled to fold the letter and tuck it into the folds of her skirt, her movements far from subtle. “No one in particular,” she said, forcing a casual tone.
“You expect me to believe that? Because you’re hiding that letter like it’s a state secret.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to burden you with my secret affairs,” she said drily.
He didn’t press. Most likely believing it was some nonsense scribbled by Maddie or Ashley. She turned back to her orchid. “Shouldn’t you be busy tormenting someone else?”
“I was on my way to do exactly that when I remembered something,” he said, stopping a few feet away. His expression shifted, losing its teasing edge. “You danced with Cross last night.”
Charlene froze. It wasn’t a question. She should have known he would notice. Her brother noticed everything. “Oh, so you recognized him, too.”
“Hard not to,” her brother said, his tone darker now. “He hasn’t changed much. Except for that ugly mask, of course.”
There had been nothing ugly about it. “It was just a dance.”
“Now that Adam Cross is duke, he’ll have his pick.” He wagged his index finger in the air. “And the woman Rotheworth picks will be the reigning queen of the Season.” He nodded as if he couldn’t help but agree with himself. “Perhaps of the Ton.”
Charlene tasted acid. The woman he picked…
Somehow, the scandal with David paled at the thought of what Adam Cross had to offer.
But was he truly that different?
“Nothing is just something when it comes to that family. You didn’t think to mention it?” he pressed, stepping closer. “The man appeared a year after disappearing after that night, and you just… waltzed with him?”
“It was a masquerade,” she shot over her shoulder. “I saw no harm.”
“No, harm? Char, what happened a year ago wasn’t ‘no harm’.”
“That was a year ago.” Why was she defending the man? She shook her head. “And he’s a duke. It would do no good to have him as an enemy. Besides, nothing happened.”
“Look at me, Char.”
She sighed, turning to her brother.
His gaze searched hers. “I don’t care whether he is the king of England. If you hurt my family, you are my enemy.”
“Stop,” Charlene said, rubbing her temple. “He didn’t hurt me.” Not with actions, anyway. However, sometimes words stung more than any thorn could. “He didn’t prevent it either.”
Her brother’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t argue. “Fine. But if he does anything I don’t like, I will set that family ablaze, duke or not. Just look at today’s M-Press and you’ll understand why I am so worried about you.”
“I don’t need to read that. If there’s anything noteworthy, Ashley and Maddie will inform me.” Charlene smiled at that. “Plus, he won’t. Besides, we don’t have that sort of relationship where he could hurt me.”Not anymore. I’m tainted already, and he’s the only one who knows it.
Her brother stared at her for a moment longer before nodding once.
“Very good.” He glanced at her orchids. “Then I shall leave you to your plants.” He mumbled something about infernos among the Ton and shades in the damp greenhouse as he left, but Charlene paid him no heed.
Neither did Charlene watch him leave before returning to the ghost orchid, pulling the letter from her sleeve. She stared at the bold handwriting once. Friends… She could barely recallanything except that night a year ago. It’s as though it eclipsed all the good ones that came before.
Just as well.
There was only one path to walk, and that was forward. Not backward. She crumpled the letter in her fist, frustration bubbling to the surface. “The nerve of the man to send me such an invitation. Let him stand in the park alone to all eternity for all I care.”
