Felicity looked confused. “But I thought we wanted him to marry you?”
“Not under coercion!” Charlotte swallowed her pain. “I will not be like that woman who sought to trap him in the garden. If we are to wed, it must be because he wants to.”
Helena squeezed her hand. “I think it’s brave,” she said, “to release him from any obligation even though there may be consequences for you. But even so, you deserve an explanation for his behavior. Miranda may be right. Perhaps he wants to but can’t.”
“I doubt he will even come,” Charlotte said, letting out a humorless laugh. “He was desperate to be rid of me earlier.”
Helena scoffed. “If he doesn’t come, we’ll make him regret it.”
Miranda raised an eyebrow. “Helena—”
“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Miranda. It infuriates me how we women are treated. Charlotte deserves better than this.”
They all nodded, but Charlotte sank into a gloomy silence that continued as she got ready for luncheon with the other women. She eyed her mother warily as they escorted each other downstairs, but Lady Fitzgerald said nothing about her earlier outburst.
The luncheon itself was a blur.
Charlotte sat through it, hearing conversations but not truly listening, her thoughts circling endlessly around Henry, the afternoon’s humiliation, and the note she had sent to him. She moved food around on her plate, barely eating, and when she spoke, it was only when directly addressed, her responses short and polite.
No one seemed to notice her distraction save for her mother, who shot her a couple of searching looks and once mentioned that she was unusually quiet, even for her. Charlotte only smiled thinly and assured her that she was well.
After luncheon, the ladies remained gathered in the drawing room for polite conversation. The voices around her blending into meaningless chatter as Charlotte sat among them, but her mind was elsewhere, though she tried to hide how closely she was paying attention to the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. When the time came and the opportunity arose, she excused herself under the pretense of fetching a book from the library.
Her heart pounded as she walked through the dimly lit corridors. When she reached the library, she hesitated for only a second before stepping inside, holding her breath at the thought of seeing Henry again.
Henry and William were already there. They stood by the hearth, engaged in low conversation, but both turned when she entered. William’s face was inscrutable, but Henry looked asthough he had been waiting for her. His gaze met hers, filled with something unreadable that sent her pulse skittering.
She felt another flare of hope. Could Miranda have been right?
She looked away from him, not wanting to betray her emotions.
Instead, she shut the door behind her and took a steadying breath. She had come here with a purpose, after all.
“I won’t be coerced into marriage,” she said, lifting her chin and turning to face her brother first. “And I certainly won’t have Henry forced into it either. He has made his feelings against marrying me entirely clear, and I don’t wish to be married to a man who doesn’t love me and will only end up resenting our marriage.”
William’s brows rose slightly, but he said nothing. Henry’s expression didn’t change, but his hands clenched at his sides, and his jaw pulsed.
Charlotte faced him head-on and steeled herself to say what she needed to.
“I care for you, Henry,” she continued, her voice steady despite the pounding of her heart. “I had hoped…. I had hoped you might feel the same. But I refuse to spend my life bound to someone who doesn’t want me. Despite what happened earlier, I will not let my brother and mother force you to marry me.”
She let the words settle between them and the truth of them hang in the air.
Henry took a sharp breath and stepped toward her, reaching for her, but she pulled back before he could touch her, more out of surprise than anything else. Henry’s face fell. He looked suddenly vulnerable, even boyish. The rush of affection she felt for him couldn’t be suppressed.
“Charlotte,” His voice was rough and low, almost pleading. “It isn’t that I don’t want you.”
Her heart twisted, and she sank her teeth into her lip, reminding herself not to get her hopes up. “Then what is it? Why do you keep pushing me away?”
He said nothing, the pulse still throbbing in his jaw. She had never seen him so obviously conflicted. Although she did not wish to push him when he was distraught, she also needed answers, and she knew this might be her only chance to get them. Her hands tensed in the folds of her dress.
“Why can’t you marry me, Henry?”
Still, he didn’t speak. Charlotte’s gaze flicked to William, who had been uncharacteristically silent until now, watching their exchange keenly. He clearly knew something she didn’t, and that made her angry.
“Do you know?” she demanded.
William shook his head. “No. I know that Henry would marry you if he could and that there is a reason he cannot, but he hasn’t told me what secret he is protecting.”
