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His thoughts were only for Charlotte. If his friends would not dissolve their agreement due to gentlemanly sentiment, John would pay it out. Although, he had won the wager in the most technical sense he had been deeply wrong in his assertions toward the female sex and toward love in general. He would pay his friends what was owed and he would do it before he came into possession of Charlotte’s dowery. He wished to have this whole affair over and done with before his marriage.
“Why, it is our steady, engaged friend.” Lord Henderson exclaimed happily, when he caught sight of Sir John. “I am surprised to see you here with us sad bachelors when you could be enjoying the company of your charming fiancée. You have earned it.”
The cheerful words cut to his heart. John felt he was a cad of the lowest order. How he had ever agreed to such a wager was beyond him, and now he must end it entirely. “I have business with you all,” Sir John said, addressing the group. “But privately.” He pushed them all a bit further from the bustle of the ballroom, invading Lord Keegain’s library. “The wager was done in poor taste,” he said.
“But you still must want to collect,” laughed Lord Weston. “That is only fair, I suppose. We’ve certainly been proven wrong. The Lady Charlotte fell hook, line and sinker. Just as you said she would.”
“You were right,” Blakely said. “The ladies do indeed believe in fairy-tales. A wager well won. Have you broken it to Lord Keegain, at least, that you are nearly penniless? Or will that come as a surprise to him too?”
“Yes, I have told him, but that is not the point. Lady Charlotte cannot catch wind of any of this. She can never know how my pursuit of her began. She is an innocent…”
A gasp caused John to turn, just as the waltz music began softly in the ballroom beyond. “Charlotte,” he said. He had no idea how much of the conversation she had just heard, but it was apparent she had heard enough. Her lovely face was contorted in pain, and in a moment, it turned to anger.
“A wager,” she whispered catching the door jamb as if to steady herself. “You bet…” She did not seem to be able to get the words out of her mouth.
“Charlotte, it is not what you think.” He stepped towards her, but he really could not dispel the rage in her eyes, at least not with the truth, and he could not offer her any more lies.
“Was the the love you promised me a fairy-tale?” Charlotte challenged, the fire in her eyes flashing with righteous anger.
“Charlotte, I-”
“You placed a sum upon my acceptance of your proposal?” she spat.
“Yes, but…”
John did not get the chance to finish. Charlotte slapped his face with such force that he reeled backwards. He could only be glad that she was at a ball and not in possession of a pistol, when she heard the news of his betrayal.
When the stars cleared from his head, he realized that his friends had deserted him faster than rats fleeing from a sinking ship, slipping from the open door of the library. They were alone.
Charlotte turned on her heel and fled out the closest door, which led not back to the ballroom, but out into the garden. Sir John followed terrified to let her go.
* * *
24
Charlotte fled out the nearest door. If she had her wits about her she would have gone the other way toward the kitchen stairs and slipped back up to her room unseen. Now she found herself in the garden and continued to hurry down the path. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Belatedly, she realized that it was about to storm. She should have fled to the privacy of her own room. Here in the garden some other individual could stumble upon her in distress. It felt as if her world was crumbling. She felt as if she could not stand upright, as if she could not draw in enough air. Charlotte forcibly steadied herself. She had never swooned in her life. She would not do so now.
She wrapped her hands around the ironwork of a garden bench as if it would hold her. The cold iron seemed to give her strength.This could not be happening. Not again.Tears welled and she dashed them angrily away.Could no one love her for herself? Would every man only see her inheritance?She had thought that Sir John was different, but what she had just heard proved he was not. He was just the same as that cad Marley.
Sir John rushed into the garden, but he slowed as he approached her, Charlotte noted. So, he had followed her.
The look of dismay on his face told of his distress, but Charlotte had no pity for him. She stopped his approach with a sharp look. He began to speak, but stuttered to a halt as she glared daggers at him.
“I can explain,” he said in a strangled voice.
“Can you?” she said scathingly. “You wish to explain how you duped me to cover your debts. Please do, sir.” Charlotte crossed her arms. The iron bench stood between her and Sir John like a barrier.
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh? Then how is it? Perhaps, I misheard,” she said icily, still not quite believing her ears. Inwardly, she fervently hoped that shehadsomehow misunderstood, that everything she had once believed was not a lie. “Did you or did younotbet that you could wheedle an acceptance to your proposal from me to solve your own financial difficulties?”
Sir John hung his head in shame.
“It is as I thought, then. Please excuse me,” Charlotte interrupted, brushing past him. She did not care if she seemed rude. She felt horrified and numb all over, and could think of nothing but getting away. The weather, in tune with her mood had turned sour. The wind had picked up and another roil of thunder echoed in the distance.
Lady Charlotte hurried away, not knowing or caring if Sir John followed her. Without any real intention, she made her way toward the double doors on the opposite side of the garden which led to the corridor outside of the ballroom. The wind rose up, turning over the leaves of the spring flowers. The music was playing brightly within the ballroom. The tones of the waltz drifted out over the garden. To think that only moments ago, she had longed to be in his arms for the dance.
Lightning flashed across the sky, throwing both of their figures into sharp relief. Charlotte remembered just a few short weeks ago when they had run to the folly and sheltered from the rain. How differently she had felt then: exhilarated by the race through the rain and the kiss that they had shared.
