Page 76 of Miss Beresford and the Beast

The knowledge gave Charlotte all the courage she needed.

“Lord Eversleigh rescued me when I fell from his wall,” she informed the shopkeeper. “He saved my life. It’s no less than I’d expect from an officer who served with distinction in Her Majesty’s navy.”

The man stopped midsentence. Doubt crossed his face. “A naval officer?”

“So he claims!” Mrs. Kitteridge said.

Charlotte’s temper flared. “It’s not a claim!” she returned in a burst of passion. “It’s a verifiable fact! As is his innocence regarding the tragedy you still insist on blaming him for. He was exonerated eleven years ago!”

“Charlotte.” Lucy touched her sleeve in whispered entreaty. “Do lower your voice.”

Charlotte took a ruthless hold of her emotions. She was ashamed to have lost her grip on them, if even for a moment. Shouting only ever made things worse.

The bell above the door sounded behind them, announcing the arrival of more customers. A group of village women entered, chattering amongst themselves.

Charlotte took a deep breath. Moderating her tone, she turned to the shopkeeper. “He is a captain, sir. A great hero, in fact. Now…regarding my order.” She opened the drawstring closure of her purse with a dramatic flourish. “As I’m a visitor in Bead’s Hollow, I naturally don’t expect you to charge it to my account.” She withdrew a hefty roll of banknotes. “I trust that cash will be sufficient?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Istill don’t know why he would agree,” Lucy remarked an hour later as the Champions’ gig bounced over the rutted road back to Sowerby Hall. “Nor why the baker would. Nor the butcher. They despise Lord Eversleigh and his family.”

Charlotte settled in her seat next to Lucy, immensely satisfied with the result of their endeavors. “They may despise him, but they’re not stupid.”

“To be influenced by a bit of money? I call that very stupid.”

“Not a bit of money, Lucy. A lot of money.” Charlotte turned her face to the afternoon breeze. The burgeoning warmth of summer kissed her skin. “Even Mrs. Kitteridge couldn’t gainsay them in the end.”

Lucy giggled. “The look on her face! Like curdled milk.”

“It was, wasn’t it? I suppose that’s some recompense, given all the dreadful things she said.” Charlotte turned back to Lucy, admitting, “I was mortified.”

“You were magnificent,” Lucy said.

“So were you,” Charlotte told her.

Lucy dismissed the compliment with a flick of her hand. “Friends must stand up for each other. That’s what you’re always saying. Even when one of us is behaving without care for her reputation.”

Charlotte had no need to inquire which friend she was in this scenario.

“What amazes me,” Lucy continued, “is that any amount of money would be able to persuade the tradespeople to call at Moorcross Manor.”

Charlotte wasn’t amazed in the least. “My father says that a person’s prejudices rarely prevail when countered with an appeal to their own self-interest.”

Lucy gave her a doubtful look. “Their desire for coin was greater than their hatred of the evil earl?”

Charlotte smiled. “I was counting on it.”

Lucy’s lips curved into a brief smile in return. “You have a terribly strategic mind, Charlotte. A ruthless one too. You must have learned that from your father as well.”

“Many think him cold,” Charlotte acknowledged. “I daresay he is if one opposes him. But he’s ever been a dear to my sister and me. And he would move heaven and earth for my mother.”

Lucy pulled a face. “My father spends all his time at his farm in Ireland. I never see him unless my mother takes me to a horse race, which she refuses to do because of their corrupting influence.” She jolted in her seat as Mr. Frog drove them over a rut in the road. “They met at a grand ball in Belgrave Square, did I ever tell you? It was awfully romantic.”

Yet now they live apart, Charlotte mused to herself as she gripped the edge of her seat.

It wasn’t what Charlotte wanted for herself. An awfully romantic meeting and courtship that deteriorated into a cold, distant marriage. No. She wished for something more. Something as extraordinary as it was enduring.

“How did your parents meet?” Lucy asked.