AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What might the earthly part of him think of her deception? If not her deception, then her courting a poet with no prospects, as Eleanor had rightly put it? Suddenly, a funny thing occurred, for her father looked at her with those clear blue eyes of his. He said, “You will fret your life away, my darling girl. Go! Dance—dance while the music plays!” gesturing her away.
She would go; she would dance.
Snaking around the guests, of which more piled in by the minute, she came face to face with Benjamin by the window. They were nearly nose to nose, for neither had thought to look up while they walked.
“Ah, you’re—“
“I’m so sorry, I hadn’t—“
“Oh,” Charlotte sighed. “It’s only you.”
“Only me.” He grabbed her beneath the elbows and positioned her less awkwardly before him so as not to bar passage around the dancers.
Heat brushed across her chest. “Delight me with the tales of your adventures, then,” she said once propped against the wall. Merciful wall! “How was she? How did you like her?”
Benjamin dipped his head and smirked. “She was perfectly nice.”
“Perfectly nice?” Charlotte suckled at her bottom lip. “Well, if you like that sort of thing, I suppose.”
“Do I seem the type to favor perfectly nice women, Charlotte?”
“You seem the type to favor them over your pretend lovers.” She cursed herself inwardly. “Not that they should mind, of course. They are, after all, fictitious, these lovers, no doubt lacking the right to—”
“You ramble when you’re nervous.”
“So, I’m nervous, aren’t I?”
“What must I call it?” He tapped a finger teasingly against his lip. “Jealous?”
She scoffed. “You do flatter yourself!” Before she could protest further, he swiped the dance card from around her neck. “What are you doing?”
“Making sure I don’t scorn you anymore. We dance next and once more after that.”
He turned toward the dance floor only to immediately freeze. Charlotte looked over his shoulder, whispering his name to no avail. Curiously, Benjamin was looking straight for the doors, where a few new guests had arrived: a lord and his lady, a set of debutantes and their chaperone, and a man who seemed to be a navy officer of some sort, a raven-haired girl hooked at his arm. He was a portly sort, his brown hair cut close to the scalp, with a thick beard and mustache. He seemed to be the object of Benjamin’s cold fixation.
“You know that man, don’t you?” She held the cuff of his jacket between her forefinger and thumb. “Benjamin, you must speak with me,” she whispered into his ear.
He turned so quickly that he almost knocked her off her feet. Without a word, he grabbed her by the wrist and made for the parlor. It had almost completely cleared out, the party having migrated next door for the dancing.
“Stop!” she commanded as they crossed the threshold. Benjamin wrapped himself behind the wall, and he was panting. “You must tell me what has frightened you so!”
“Frightened?” he echoed back as though the word were an insult. He straightened up, shaking his head. “You’re right. I know him.”
“From the War?”
Benjamin stilled, his green eyes wide and angry. “Did you invite him?”
“What? Of course not! I’ve never seen the man in my life.”
He started to pace just as the last two occupants of the room cleared out. “Your brother then, or Gamston.” With a growl, he spun around and planted a fist into the wall.
Charlotte gasped and pulled him away. “You will not!” she cried, holding his fist in her hands until he seemed to calm. “Whatever you think has been masterminded against you—you are wrong. Now, tell me who he is.”
“You don’t want to know,” he snarled.
“If you intend to punch holes in the walls of my home for his appearance, I feel it best I do. Unless you mean to take out your anger on me next.”
He looked genuinely hurt. “I would never—” He cut himself off with a groan. “He was my captain.”
