Page 42 of Miss Beresford and the Beast

“Pray don’t faint again,” Charlotte said. “All is well here.” She took Lucy’s hands in hers, giving them a reassuring squeeze. “Lord Eversleigh? Allow me to present my dear friend Miss Champion. We were at school together.”

Lucy’s anxious gaze darted to Magnus. Her already white face turned the shade of her gray dress.

“Lucy?” Charlotte continued just as she might have done if she were introducing two genteel acquaintances at a West Country assembly. “This is Lord Eversleigh. He’s been looking after me since my unfortunate accident.”

Magnus acknowledged Lucy with a stiff inclination of his head. “Miss Champion.”

Lucy swayed where she stood.

“Oh no.” Charlotte gripped her friend’s hands tight. “You mustn’t succumb.”

The constable rushed forward to join them. “I have your smelling salts, Miss Champion.”

Charlotte stopped the man with a look. “She’s perfectly fine. She only requires a moment to collect herself.”

“Oh, Charlotte,” Lucy moaned. “How could you come here?”

“That scarcely matters,” Charlotte said. “I’m here now, and⁠—”

“We must away from this wretched place at once!” Lucy said.

Charlotte suppressed a flicker of irritation. It was one thing to be frightened of demonic earls and evil curses and quite another to completely forget one’s manners. “Really, Lucy,” she scolded. “Take hold of yourself.”

Lucy tugged at Charlotte’s hands. “We must away!”

Charlotte sighed. There would be no reasoning with her. Not when she was in this state. “Very well,” she said. “We shall go just as soon as his lordship fetches my new dog.”

Lucy was startled out of her emotional paroxysms as effectively as if Charlotte had just doused her with a ewer of cold water. She ceased pulling on Charlotte’s hands, fixing her with an alarmed stare. “Your dog? What dog?”

“A handsome stray I found during my walk into the village,” Charlotte explained. “I’ve named him⁠—”

“You can’t have a dog at Sowerby Hall!” Lucy objected. “Mama would never allow it!”

“It’s only temporary,” Charlotte said. “Just until I can take him home to Beasley Park. He’ll be no trouble in the meanwhile.”

Lucy didn’t appear to hear her. “Mrs. Goodenough won’t allow it either. She can’t abide dogs. Nor can Mr. Frog. He sneezes for days whenever he encounters one.”

Charlotte’s temper began to rise. This was so like Lucy! Hopping from one distressing thing to another, like someone dancing on a bed of hot coals. Fear, anxiety, ladylike indignation. Always the sole voice warning of consequences during any reckless endeavor Charlotte and her school friends had embarked upon. Always the one most likely to fall into a fit of the vapors when things began to go wrong.

“How can you spend the summer with Lucy Champion of all people?” another school chum had asked Charlotte as they’d been packing at the close of the term. “She’s so terribly high strung.”

“She’s also an excellent card player,” Charlotte had returned undaunted. “And an equally capable horsewoman. I sense she’s courageous as well. Or will be when she at last finds her nerve. Besides,” she’d added, “I’ve never been to North Yorkshire. It promises to be an adventure.”

Charlotte couldn’t regret her words. Not even now. Had she not come to stay at Sowerby Hall, she’d never have visited Bead’s Hollow. Never have found Chance. Never have met Magnus.

“I shall keep him away from them until I return to Somerset,” she promised Lucy. “No one need see him at all. I can⁠—”

“No, Charlotte,” Lucy said. “Unequivocally, no. I can’t go against my mother and the entirety of the staff. It’s impossible.”

“Nothing’s impossible, surely,” Charlotte replied.

Lucy’s expression took on a mulish glint. “This is.”

Charlotte slid her hands free of her friend’s with a disgruntled frown. “Well, I call that rather poor spirited.”

Magnus remained silent beside her. The constable was silent too, only a pointed cough betraying his impatience.

“When I invited you,” Lucy said to Charlotte, “you agreed to abide by my mother’s rules.”