Chapter 34

Chapter 34

"Let me read it," Charlotte said, holding her hand out for the parchment as Aunt Lydia waved it in the air to dry the ink. "I want to check you have everything correct."

Aunt Lydia snapped it through the air, holding it out of Charlotte's reach. "Are you quite sure about this, Charlotte?" she asked, her eyes glazed with seriousness. "Have you forgotten that he is penniless?"

Charlotte smirked. "But he is not penniless, Aunt Lydia. It is true that he may have experienced some financial troubles when he first inherited the title, but the duke is intelligent enough to have made the right investments. His financial problems are over."

Aunt Lydia glanced up at Alexander, her brow furrowed in disbelief. "Is that so?"

He nodded. "Not that I am obligated in any way to share my financial situation with you, yes, it is so. I have more than enough wealth to look after Charlotte in every way. In fact, her own wealth can sit in the bank and accrue interest for all I care, there ready for when she wants her own adventures."

"Then why on earth do you want to marry her?" Aunt Lydia cried.

Charlotte gasped, hurt that her aunt could say such a thing. She had many a positive attribute, and she was certain that Alexander appreciated every single one of them.

"It is a good job I do not want to see Uncle Elliot sad," Charlotte snapped, "because otherwise the duke would see to it that your reputation were ruined for good."

Aunt Lydia glared at her, though she knew she had been beaten.

"And I thank you not to speak of my future wife in such a way," Alexander added. "I love her, and that is quite enough."

"You are being somewhat unfair, Aunt Lydia," Arthur added.

"And this has nothing to do with you," she cried, whirling around to face her nephew with a furious expression.

Charlotte took the opportunity to snatch the parchment out of her hand, quickly scanning the words on the page. She smiled, satisfied that her aunt had finally done the right thing.

Dearest Elliot, she wrote,

I am writing to tell you that I have made a grave error in judgement. I fell prey to gossip and slander which I have recently discovered to be untrue. Alexander, Duke of Ashbourne, is not the man he was purported to be by certain other members of the ton. Indeed, he is an upstanding citizen, and it has become very apparent to me that his love for our niece, Charlotte, is strong and true. If it pleases you, my good husband, it would be a wonderful thing if you could renew your blessing for their union.

Until we meet again, my love,

Lydia Fairchild.

Charlotte handed the page to Alexander to read.

"It is a shame you could not own up to your part in this," he muttered as he read, "but at least the outcome will be the same. You trust he will take your advice?"

Arthur snorted from the corner of the room, amused by such a thing. "Uncle Elliot will do whatever my aunt wishes. Whether it is love or punishment, I am not sure, but either way, he is obedient."

"He is a good man who wants a quiet life," Charlotte replied. "Nothing more."

With a huff at her own defeat, Aunt Lydia threw herself onto the couch and crossed her arms like an overgrown child who hadn't got her way.

"Well," Alexander said, folding the parchment up. He went over to the desk, allowed a drop of wax to land on the seal, then he stamped it with Aunt Lydia's own stamp. "There is only one thing left to do then," he said, turning to grin at Charlotte.

Charlotte tilted her head curiously. "Is there? Have I forgotten somebody?"

Alexander placed the letter down on the desk, then turned fully toward her. His smile was soft at first, barely there, but the more he looked at her, the bigger it grew. He didn't need to say any words, for they were all there in his smile and in his eyes. Charlotte gazed back at him and told her everything she was feeling, too. The cord that bound them together felt stronger than ever, and Charlotte somehow knew that nothing and nobody could ever break it.

"Charlotte Fairchild," Alexander began, and Charlotte felt her chest vibrate with all the possibilities of what was to come.

"Yes," she muttered, her voice barely there. Would he propose to her again? Hadn't he done that already? She bit her bottom lip, hoping to hear the sweet words once more.

"When I went to Hampshire with Stewart, I was not expecting to even make a friend, let alone fall in love. But then I met this lady. She was so different, so unusual, and she captured my attention instantly."

"Who was she?" Charlotte asked, enjoying teasing him. "Do I know her?"

"Funny enough, you know her better than anyone," he said.

He took a step closer to her, an invisible band pulling them together, and Charlotte forgot about the rest of the world. Aunt Lydia and her scowl, Arthur and his perpetual grin, the tea going cold on the side. It all faded into an inconsequential background, for Alexander was the only one she could see. He was her life, her light, her everything.

"Do I now?" she asked.

"I have never known a woman so certain about who she is before. You do not blindly follow the ways of the ton , yet you are graceful and elegant. You follow your heart but with it, you are good and honorable. You are beautiful beyond compare, Charlotte, both inside and out."

"You are too sweet, Your Grace," Charlotte whispered for fear her voice would break and she would descend into tears of happiness.

"No, you are too sweet. When I first met you, I was drawn to you. Curious about you. But even then, I did not think love was in the cards. I did not think I would ever love again. But you coaxed it out of me, Charlotte, and you have made me a better man for it. It was your love, in truth, that gave me the strength to follow my investments and draw them into profit. You have fixed my heart and with it, you have fixed me."

He took her bare hand in his, and the touch of his skin sent sparks flying through her body. How, after all this time, could he still have such an impact on her?

"I could only do so because you fixed me," she replied. She stared up into his eyes and knew she would never get tired of peering into them, into him. "I didn't think I was capable of love, nor did I think a man would ever treat me as I wanted to be treated. But you made me see that it was all possible."

"I am glad you think so." He smiled at her once more, then he got down onto his knee and looked up into her face.

"My darling, beautiful, Charlotte Fairchild. Would you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?"

Aunt Lydia groaned in the background, and Arthur sighed happily, but neither sound mattered to either Charlotte or Alexander. The only sound that mattered was Charlotte's cry of ‘yes!' as she leaped forward into his arms.