Once more, she had to drag her thoughts away from the bedchamber.
“Lady Alice, Lady Charlotte.” Wolfgang lifted Charlotte’s hand to his lips, and the warmth of his kiss made her cheeks flame even brighter. “Are you ready?”
“We’d better be,” said Charlotte. “It’s already begun.”
Across the room, Lady Hervey dipped into a deep curtsey in front of the queen. She spoke urgently for several moments, before Lady Jersey joined her and added a few comments of her own. There was quite a crowd around Her Majesty, and Charlotte’s heart soared to see how many in it were Wolfgang and her friends, or people who’d received one of her helpful handkerchiefs.
“It’s almost indecent, how satisfying this is to watch,” Charlotte said as Bishop Mayhew shot her a foul look and stepped forwardfor his own moment with the queen. “I begin to think I adore a good scandal.”
“Child! Don’t give me palpitations,” said the dowager. “Especially because I do believe it’s time.”
Charlotte kept her spine straight as they crossed the ballroom, ignoring the whispers as they waited their turn to pay respects to the queen. The dowager, who preferred to leave nothing to chance, had written to her friends among the ladies in waiting and learned that the queen was not enjoying her usual good health. When it was their turn to curtsey, Charlotte could see that Her Majesty looked gray beneath her powder, and the royal hand shook slightly when Charlotte kissed it.
Still, the queen’s eyes were as sharp as ever as she looked Charlotte up and down. “I take it from the stream of people urging clemency for you that you have no husband to present to me. Is that true?”
“I do intend to marry at some point, Your Majesty.”
“Hmph! Yet I believe I desired for you to announce an engagementtonight. Were you hoping to encourage me to forget, with the gifts you sent all summer long?”
The dowager looked over at Charlotte in surprise. “Gifts, darling?”
“Yes,” said the queen. “The most impressive was a length of pink velvet embroidered with the design of my diamond nuptial crown, but I also quite liked the bolts of silk for my daughters and the Kentish cherries.”
The dowager coughed back a laugh, which sent the queen’s eyebrows flying. “Lady Alice, you sound surprised, and yet you sent me quite a rare orchid for my collection, as well as a series of most amusing letters. I particularly appreciated how descriptive you were about young Belozersky and his swim.”
The dowager curtseyed once more. “May I say that you and your opera glass are welcome down to Clare at any time, Your Majesty?”
The queen’s mouth softened slightly. “Well, Lady Charlotte, at least you come by your temperament honestly. I also hear from my advisors that it’s not the first time a young woman’s had an encounter with Major Dumbarton.”
“It’s always more than once, with a man like him,” said Lady Alice.
“I shudder to encourage either one of you, and yet I admit to a soft spot for young ladies of strong character.”
“I only hope to live up to my namesake, Your Majesty,” said Charlotte.
Queen Charlotte smiled. “Nicely done, child. I hope I don’t regret it, but”—Her Majesty raised her voice so others could hear, though it seemed to cost her some effort—“your queen lends you her support, whether you marry or not.”
Charlotte’s knees weren’t quite steady as she sank into her deepest curtsey. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Elizabeth and Alexandra, standing nearby, raised a little cheer, and the dowager curtseyed one last time and hustled Charlotte off, lest the queen change her mind.
Wolfgang waited for her at the edge of the dance floor, lit up with pride. “My waltz, I believe?”
Charlotte put her hand in his. “Always.”
He swept her onto the dance floor, and she laughed as the ballroom whirled around them. She was so full of feeling that she wanted to lay her head against the wide expanse of Wolfgang’s chest, but it wouldn’t do to start another scandal.
At least, not yet.
On a swooping turn, Wolfgang brought her closer. “General Marlborough just confirmed that he’s discharging Major Dumbarton from the Horse Guards. The major’s ruined, not you. Although, I ought to tell you—I scuttled an economic venture of his at the beginning ofthe summer. I wanted to pummel the man, but I thought a hit to his pocketbook would cause more lasting pain.”
Charlotte grinned. “And I wrote Dumbarton’s mistress and convinced her to publish her memoirs this fall. She’s so terribly unflattering about him, and especially about what’s in his breeches, that one could almost feel sorry for the man.”
Wolfgang’s hand tightened on hers. “It’s all happening as it ought to have from the start, if we’d been thinking clearly.”
“Yes, everything’s all right at last.” Charlotte’s eyes were brilliant as she raised them to his. “It’s the first night of the Season at the Marlowe ball and I’m dancing with you.”
CHAPTER 47
