One was a beautiful ring of rose gold with a ruby at the centre. It was stunning. The other was a silver ring with a large diamond at the centre.Not that one.And the third was a beautiful white gold ring with a pale blue sapphire.
Dominic looked between the sapphire and the ruby, wondering which it was that caught Charlotte’s eye.Not that it matters, she has already made her choice.Yet he could not help but remember how her face had lit up when she had looked at the rings. His chest constricted.
“Do not tell me you want a ring for yourself?” Charlotte’s voice said behind him though there was a brittleness to her teasing.
Dominic turned and smiled at her. “I think I would look rather fetching in an engagement ring, don’t you?”
“You are ridiculous.” Charlotte shook her head and to his surprise, looped an arm through his as they left the shop.
Dominic found he quite liked the feel of walking arm in arm with Charlotte. And as he helped her back onto her horse, he found that he missed the feeling.What is wrong with me?
The ride back was decidedly more quiet then their ride to the shop. Dominic kept catching Charlotte with a far off look in her eyes. Eventually he asked, “Is everything well? I thought you would enjoy that.”
“It… It is silly.” Charlotte avoided his gaze.
“I quite like silly things,” he said.
“I mean, engagement rings are such a rarity in these times, and yet here I am, and of course it would be just my luck that the only bit of jewellery I will ever be given by a man is a — a ploy.” She laughed, but there was little mirth in it.
“Well, the ring itself is not a ploy. Merely the occasion behind it.”
“Still. It seems… well, ironic I suppose,” Charlotte said sadly.
“At least, you will get to keep the ring,” Dominic teased. “A lovely memento of our time together.”
Charlotte smiled. “I suppose I will at that. Though it seems unfair that you will have no such memento.”
“Perhaps you can give me a lock of your hair. That is a rather traditional gift is it not?”
“It is.” Charlotte shook her head. “If you win the next challenge, you can have a lock of my hair.”
“I will hold you to that.”
“I am a woman of my word.”
“I know you are,” Dominic murmured, and suddenly he found himself quite excited for the next challenge.
Chapter Eighteen
HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT IS REAL?
“What did you mean by what you said to the Duke?” Lady Bellmore said when Charlotte and she were in her rooms later that evening.
Charlotte had wanted time to herself to ponder over the afternoon, but her stepmother had insisted on joining her. The woman had been watching her with an oddly curious and calculating expression all afternoon.Does she know?
If she knows the truth, what would that mean for our plan?Charlotte’s chest squeezed. “What are you talking about?”
“I noticed that you seemed rather put out in the shop, and well, snatches of your conversation carried as we rode.” Lady Bellmore surveyed Charlotte seriously. “What did you mean that the engagement ring would be a fake one? Nothing in that shop was counterfeit.”
Charlotte swallowed. “Nothing. You must have misheard me.”
Something within her roiled. The same odd disappointment that had sat with her all afternoon seemed to solidify and spiral into something deeper. She tried to force it away but met with little success.
“I do not think that I did.” Lady Bellmore moved closer, an unreadable expression on her face as she scrutinised Charlotte. “And by your face now, I am sure I have not.”
“I do not want to talk about it.” She turned from her stepmother, a lump forming in her throat.
She felt a hand close firmly on her wrist, and she turned to look at Lady Bellmore. “If it is what I think it is, then we must talk about it.”
