Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

RUMOURS SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE

C harlotte was wandering through the gardens in search of lavender for Dominic. She wanted to make sure he had enough with him so that if he needed it, it would be there. It had been several days since she had given him the sprigs during the obstacle course, and she was sure they would need replenishing by this point.

As she passed through the garden, she noticed several people staring at her and smile soppily. It reminded her of the way people looked at exceptionally adorable puppies, and it made her cheeks flush.

"Maybe I am just imagining this?" Charlotte frowned to herself, trying to focus on her task.

She took several sprigs and tucked them in a pocket, trying to ignore the way her hairs seemed to be standing on end. She glanced around and saw the two women who had been talking to Dominic, Georgiana, and Emmeline talking and glancing at her.

She shook her head. She was being ridiculous. She felt something brush against her and turned to find Cecily beaming at her.

"And what has you in such a good mood?" Charlotte asked.

"Young love." Cecily grinned broadly as she looped an arm through Charlotte's, and they began to walk towards the castle together.

Charlotte laughed and looked at Cecily with surprise. "I thought you said no one here had caught your eye."

"They have not." Cecily shrugged at her, still looking as though she were a cat who had found the cream.

Charlotte canted her head towards the other woman, one eyebrow raised. "I am confused."

"I never said it was my love." Cecily winked at her.

"What do you mean?" Charlotte's brow furrowed even more.

"What can I not live vicariously through the romance of two people I absolutely adore?" Cecily sighed theatrically and giggled.

"Of course, you can, but it must be some kind of love for it to have made you so vicariously giddy," Charlotte said.

"Well, you would know." Cecily gave Charlotte a pointed look.

"Would I?"

"Oh, come now; honestly, I am surprised you are not giddy."

"What are you talking about?" Charlotte asked, a prickle of irritation overtaking her.

"White roses?" Cecily gestured as though expecting Charlotte to continue.

Her heart sped up. White roses? She tried to think of something to say, but her mind had gone almost completely blank.

Cecily had clearly grown tired of waiting for Charlotte to fill in the blanks and had her fingertips pressed to her own forehead, her eyes closed. "Oh goodness, how did he phrase it? ‘And I will spend the rest of my life proving that the white rose is true; I am worthy of you.'"

"What? Did… did Dominic say that to you?" Her voice sounded far away, a cold feeling stealing over her.

"He wrote it in his letter." Cecily gave Charlotte a look.

Only through sheer force of will did Charlotte manage not to ask what letter. Whatever Cecily had read, it was not one of the ones Dominic had written with her.

She took a deep breath and asked, "You would not happen to have the letter with you?"

"Of course not!" Cecily blushed. "It was being passed around, and well, I never actually held it myself."

"So everyone has read it?"

"Probably."

Charlotte shook her head numbly. "I… I left something in my room. I will see you later."

She needed to think, to find out exactly what Cecily had seen. Charlotte barely paid attention to where she was walking, completely caught up in her own thoughts. "I have been looking for you," a voice said behind her.

Charlotte turned and found herself facing Dominic's slightly odd cousin, Batty. She had not spent much time with the other woman and found that she often had a sort of dreamy, faraway look about her.

"Well, now you have found me," Charlotte said, smiling kindly. "Was there a particular reason you were looking for me?"

"I have something for you," Batty said, in a dreamy voice. "I must remember where I put it."

"Perhaps it can wait; I am rather busy right now." Charlotte took a step away, wondering what on Earth Batty might have for her. I do not even know her real name.

"Ah! Here it is!" Batty grinned broadly and procured a folded piece of paper. "I thought you should have this back."

Charlotte took it from her and saw that it was a letter addressed to her. A letter from Dominic. And it was not a letter that she recognised.

Her breath caught, and she looked at Batty, her eyes wide with shock "Where did you find this?"

"I cannot remember. But I thought it seemed rather… Well, it seemed wrong that everyone should see something so personal." Batty frowned. "Though it is well written, it is not meant for any eyes but yours I would think. Well, possibly Grandmama, but she would not spread such a thing about the estate."

"Thank you," Charlotte said though her voice sounded oddly far away.

"For what?" Batty canted her head towards her.

"For returning this to me." She waved the letter at the woman.

"It seemed the right thing to do. I love my family dearly, but they can be a little… excessive… at times." Batty shook her head, a mix of amusement and affection on her face. "Absolutely no sense of privacy, any of them. And horrible gossips."

"You do not care for gossip?" Charlotte asked.

Batty gave her a frank look before shaking her head. "I find it hard enough to keep my own business in order; why should I seek to add others to the mix?"

"A sensible approach." Charlotte found herself warming to the other woman and made a mental note to get to know her better. "I cannot say I particularly care for it either."

"I imagine you would not." Batty sniffed disapprovingly. "Imagine rifling through someone's private things just so you have something to talk about when there is an entire world to explore!"

"Some people find the lives of others far more interesting than their own," Charlotte said. How often have I heard people talking about this person or that? It is just seen as part of the ton.

"It is probably because they are removed from it. It is much easier to be interested in something that will have no real impact on you," Batty said sagely.

Charlotte nodded and then a thought occurred to her. "Do you know how many people have read this?"

"No idea, I am afraid. Though even if they have not read it, most will have heard it or at least some version of it. Like I said, they are terrible gossips. Or I suppose quite good gossips, depending on how you look at it." Batty stroked her chin thoughtfully.

"Either way, I am not sure I enjoy the result." Charlotte frowned. We did want them to find our letters, but I did not think it would be anything like this when they did.

Batty patted her arm reassuringly, giving her another sympathetic look. "It is why I prefer the company of my terriers. At least they cannot read. Well, I do not think they can read."

Charlotte laughed. "I think we would all be in rather a lot of trouble if dogs could read."

"Less than if they could talk," Batty added seriously. "I would advise you to put that somewhere it will not be found. At least, if you would like to keep it. I recommend the bible."

"The Bible?" Charlotte asked, trying to work out how serious Batty was being.

"Yes. My family are oddly superstitious about the book, and I doubt any of them would dare take a letter that had been hidden in it." Batty paused and then added, "Your other option would be keeping it in your socks. Few people wish to explore another person's socks."

"Thank you, I will keep that in mind." Charlotte smiled at her, trying not to imagine how she might feel if any of Dominic's relatives were rifling through her socks.

"See that you do." Batty nodded firmly.

"Truly, you do not know what this means to me," Charlotte said, glancing at the letter in her trembling hand.

Batty gave her an ingratiating smile and gently patted her on her forearm. "I am glad that you and Dominic have found each other. I do worry about that boy."

Batty disappeared before Charlotte could ask her what she meant. She looked at the folded paper in her hand and glanced around her. The gardens seemed mostly deserted. She took a steadying breath and began to read the letter that everyone seemed to be talking about:

My Precious Plum. Charlotte rolled her eyes at the nickname but found herself smiling in spite of herself.

I have spent so long trying to put my thoughts into words. Yet nothing has felt quite right. Therefore, I ask your forgiveness, for this will likely be imperfect, but at least, it will be honest.

She scanned through the paragraph, blushing as he talked about how much he admired her kindness, her compassion.

"Does he mean any of this?" Charlotte murmured to herself as she continued reading the letter. "Or is it all part of the ruse?"

Lavender and violets will forever make me think of you. And the gift you made of the former will mean more to me than I can say. When you gave me that lavender, you gave me more than flowers. You gave me hope.

Charlotte's breath caught, and her heart seemed to trill in her chest. "I can see why Georgiana and Emmeline were so emotional. This feels… real."

She tried to remember his face when she had given him the lavender. To see if it matched with the depth of sentiment conveyed in his letter, but she could not bring it to mind. She could only see his smile and before that, the brittle, scared anger.

She continued to read his letter, breathing deeply as she did. The scent of juniper and pine seemed to permeate his words, overpowering the smell of ink on paper. It made her feel as though Dominic were standing beside her.

She read:

I keep thinking about white roses, and if I could ever hope to be worthy of you. How could I hope to be worthy of you? To even dare to proclaim that I think so seems arrogant to the point of idiocy. And I would, at least, like to irritate you only a minimal amount with this letter. But as I wrestle with whether or not I am worthy of you, I realise that it does not matter.

At least, it does not matter what I think. Only you can declare me worthy. All I can do is spend the rest of my life proving that you were right.

Her breath caught, and she read the words again and again. "Only you can declare me worthy. All I can do is spend the rest of my life proving that you were right."

The letter ended with a hastily scrawled signature. She read it again, hoping it would calm her treacherous heart. You do not even know if there is any truth to his words. This could all be some elaborate game.

"But what if it is not? Do I even want these words to be true?" Charlotte murmured, looking down at the paper in her hand.

She felt as though her chest was in a vice, as though a hand had clamped around her and was forcing her not to breathe. Her head swam, and she forced herself to breathe deeply and slowly. Juniper and pine seemed to wash over her, and she realised that she wanted Dominic to mean what he had said.

"But… why?" Charlotte shook her head. "He is a rake, and I have already made that mistake."

But is he really? a treacherous voice asked her in the depths of her mind. She thought about everything she knew of him, everything she had seen of him.

"He is charming, of that there can be no doubt." Charlotte was walking, barely paying attention to anything around her. "It is easy to see why women would be drawn to him, but that does not mean it is reciprocated.

"He is thoughtful. And caring. He has a soft heart. And kind eyes." Charlotte ticked off his qualities on her fingers and then glanced down at the letter. "He says he wants to spend the rest of his life proving that he is worthy of me, but do I even think him worthy?"

"Drat! I do. Or if not, I want him to prove that he is." Realisation struck her like a brick. "What is wrong with me? What does this mean? This was not supposed to happen!"

She glowered at the letter in her hands, frustration and hope seeming to war within her chest. She felt as though she were being torn apart. Her heart seemed to swoop with delight that there might be some truth to the letter.

Or perhaps it was simply fear? Maybe that was what she was feeling. After all, it was so unexpected.

"One way or another, I am going to get some answers. And there is only one man who can give them to me." Charlotte gritted her teeth and glanced around for someone who might know where Dominic was.

"Have you seen Duke Verimore?" she asked a passing servant, trying to keep her voice pleasant, even as her emotions seemed to tumble around her.

"Yes, Your Ladyship. I believe he is in the blue drawing room," the servant said. "Do you know which one that is?"

"Is it the one in the West Wing that overlooks the statue of Apollo?" Charlotte asked.

"That is the one." The servant smiled at her.

"Thank you." Charlotte was barely aware of leaving the conversation.

It was as though her feet were moving of their own accord. Snippets of Dominic's letter kept running through her mind. Each time it was accompanied by an odd swooping sensation in her stomach though whether it was joy or fear or some mix of both she could not say.

Finally, she reached the door of the drawing room. She knocked, praying that no one else would be with Dominic.

"Enter," his voice replied.

She opened the door. He was leaning against the window, an oddly pensive expression on his face. When he saw her, it vanished and was replaced instantly by a warm smile.

"What is this?" Charlotte blurted before she could stop herself, waving the letter at Dominic as she shut the door behind her.

He looked at her, nonplussed. "It looks like a letter? Is it one of ours? Which one is it?"

"It is not one that I recognise," Charlotte breathed.

"Is your memory that poor?" Dominic laughed and took the letter from her, and then his eyes widened.

He looked at her, shock and confusion on his face. "Where did you get this?"

"Batty gave it to me," she said.

Dominic looked as though she had punched him. I suppose that answers one question at least.