CHAPTER NINE

A week later, Charlotte paced the floor of her bedchamber so much she thought she might wear a hole in the Aubusson before he evening was through.

She’d already been uncomfortable with the twins’ plan to go to the pleasure gardens tonight with their new gentleman friends.

In truth, she’d been so distracted by their brother that she’d quite forgotten all about it until they’d been leaving the fair last week and reminded her of it, confessing that they’d spied their comte and his less impressive friend at the fair and that was why they’d suddenly been so insistent on having their fortunes told.

Charlotte had already had misgivings but now that she’d had those moments with Jasper, she felt even worse about the plan to sneak off. Something about it just wasn’t sitting easily on her shoulders.

And she was torn, so torn, between loyalty to the girls who had shown her kindness when nobody else had, and the man who was swiftly becoming incredibly important to her.

It had been Charlotte after all who had tried to convince him to take things a little easier with the twins. And he had. He’d spent the past week with them taking them to the theater and to museums. He’d stopped making them attend parties filled with the most boring people left in London.

Charlotte knew this because when she wasn’t with them, she was sitting by the wall alone at those same parties. Though she had to admit that since being seen with Jasper and the twins, things weren’t quite so bad for her anymore. Some people made actual friendly conversation. And the leering and inappropriate offers of carte blanche had reduced significantly. In fact, the last time she’d seen Mr. Answel he’d paled dramatically and scurried off in the opposite direction.

Jasper had done that for her. Just as he’d invited her on their outings and laughed with her, and listened to her stories about Jane and their childhood together. Stories she never got to tell anymore. And while they hadn’t been alone again since the evening of the fare, she’d still basked in every second of his company that she could.

Now she was keeping a potentially dangerous secret from him and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Early, she’d woken from a fitful sleep, her mind filled with thoughts of her almost-kiss with the earl, and her stomach filled with nervous knots. After barely managing to swallow some breakfast, she’d made her decision and darted to the earl’s townhouse to talk to the twins. But they hadn’t been home and even when she’d sat in the window all day hoping to catch them, all she’d received was a note to say they would collect her at nine o’clock.

The good news was that Mama wouldn’t enquire as to where Charlotte would be.

Jasper’s attention had worked wonders for Mama and she and Papa had been invited to a small, exclusive dinner party this evening. The type of party that Mama had only dreamed of ever since Jane’s elopement. Charlotte had only been allowed to cry off, citing a headache, because Mama was too thrilled about being invited that she hadn’t really been listening. Charlotte could have asked to dance naked through Hyde Park and Mama would have agreed.

It was just past nine o’clock now. Her mother and father had left an hour ago, Papa grumbling and Mama positively up in the boughs.

Charlotte had contemplated returning to the Fenwick residence and convincing the girls to call things off, or at least grabbing hold of Jasper to tell him what was going on. But it was no use, she knew. If Jasper had plans at his club, a weekly even apparently which was how the twins were able to plan their secret foray so well, then that’s where he’d be already and the twins were highly unlikely to listen to her.

She did love their tenacity but right now it felt like a millstone.

On the other hand, she was quite possibly overreacting. For all she knew the gentlemen were perfectly fine. Suitable, even, for the sisters of an earl. She wasn’t used to these things, and what she considered to be a little sneaky might just be how things went when someone was actually invited to events all the time.

Besides, Harriet had reiterated their promise to leave a note.

She had considered crying off the whole thing but had immediately dismissed that idea. Leaving the girls alone would be far worse than just going with them. At least if she was there, she could keep watch over them.

Suddenly, the age gap of three years between them felt like decades. She felt responsible for the twins. Worried for them and their reputations. If this all went badly, they could be ruined and she understood more than most just how damaging that could be to a person.

Though knowing Jasper as she did now, she knew he would never turn his back on them. That at least was something.

Thinking of Jasper again just made her think of that night again. Of that moment that had past between them. In the seconds after she’d pressed her mouth to his, she’d known that he was going to kiss her. Really and truly kiss her. Just as she’d know that she wanted him to, quite desperately.

All week she’d thought of how she’d felt in that moment. How, for the first time in her life, she felt as though she could understand Jane’s actions. Deep down, she’d always carried a bit of resentment for her sister, though she wasn’t proud of it. She’d supported Jane in her quest for happiness but she’d secretly never understood how Jane could have given up so much, caused so much hurt for love.

Now though. Now she understood perfectly for she knew that she would give everything to Jasper if he but asked it of her. Terrifying as it was, too soon as it may be, she knew that she would do it. Somewhere in the midst of all this, she was certain that she’d fallen in love with the man who’d been so disapproving of her at the start.

And now she was keeping something from him.

The sound of the door knocker banging rent the air and she knew her time was up. But all her instincts were screaming at her that there was something wrong about this evening. Making a split decision, she hurriedly fished out some parchment and ink from her desk and hurriedly scribbled a note.

It was unorthodox to be sure, possibly even a little scandalous. But she was past caring. When Sally arrived with her satin cloak, she pressed the note into her maid’s hand, begging that she see it delivered to White’s.

If anyone should find out that she was sending notes to a gentleman’s club her name would never recover from the damage. But she pushed the worry down and made her way to the waiting twins and their mysterious friends.

***

J asper sipped at his tumbler, his mind wandering from the conversation around him.

The two gentlemen currently occupying his table had been friends since their days at Eton and he valued them both. But lately it seemed that he couldn’t concentrate on anything. His thoughts were on Charlotte.

Was she being dragged to another social event tonight? Would she be mistreated? Would someone speak ill of her, and if they did, what petty revenge would she enact upon them?

He felt his lips curling at the idea. He always enjoyed hearing her escapades, the way her chocolate-brown eyes grew fiery, the way her lips quirked in that impish way that meant she’d done something wicked.

“Where is your head at, Fenwick?”

He looked up in time to see his friends sharing a knowing look.

“Just thinking,” he answered, a tad defensively.

“Hmm. Thinking again. This wouldn’t be about that stunning golden-haired young miss your sisters have been spotted all over London with, would it?”

Jasper’s head snapped toward his oldest friend at that. Rafe Newell, Earl of Somerville had been at Eton with Jasper. The duo had become a trio when they’d attended Oxford and met Gabriel, the Marquess of Westford in their first year.

“What do you know of Charlotte?” he demanded of the grinning earl, jealousy rushing to the fore at Rafe calling her stunning.

“Charlotte is it? Pretty name for a pretty lady.”

“Miss Forrester,” Jasper corrected himself through clenched teeth. He’d wanted to punch Rafe plenty of times during their friendship, and often had, but never before because of a woman. Still, there was a first time for everything.

“Forrester?” Gabe repeated. “Why does that ring a bell? Wait, wasn’t there some sort of uproar a couple of years ago? The sister getting herself in trouble with a farmer or something?”

Jasper’s hackles rose further still. He expected this sort of thing from Rafe, but Gabe was usually the more level-headed of the three. “The sister ,” he said slowly, “is happily and respectably married. And Charlotte’s family is not up for discussion.”

His friends gaped at him but he refused to acknowledge his unusual behavior. They’d never seen him act like this before, he knew. But that was because he’d never felt like this before. Something he was absolutely not going to admit to these blackguards.

“Come, man,” Rafe laughed. “You can’t be serious. From what I hear, your Charlotte is nothing more than a wallflower on her way to being a spinster. Though I admit, it’s not often a young woman can hold her own with your sisters in the beauty department, but the wallflower is – oof.”

Rafe’s words were cut off, along with his oxygen, by Jasper grabbing him by the cravat and cutting off his air supply. “Another word, Somerville, and it’ll be your last.”

Rafe coughed and spluttered but held up his hands in supplication. Their little spat had drawn attention but Jasper didn’t give a damn. The rage coursing through his blood at anyone, especially a dear friend, speaking ill of Charlotte was incendiary and he was seconds from taking it out on Rafe’s pretty face.

But before he could make good on his plan, the smug bastard laughed and held up his tumbler in a salute to Gabe. “I told you,” he wheezed triumphantly. “You owe me ten. Five pounds. And I’m not adding it to your tab.”

Gabe tutted in disgust while Jasper watched in confusion as he reached into his dark green superfine and pulled out the note, slamming it on the table between them. “You just cost me that, you idiot,” Gabe grumbled.

Jasper looked between the two men in amazement. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

“We’re not blind, Fenny,” Rafe said, deliberately using the moniker that Jasper hated.

“And we’re not stupid,” Gabe added. “We’ve heard about the chit. We’ve seen you when you talk about her.”

“And given that you made that little Answel toad piss himself last time he was in here talking about her, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that you’d developed something of an interest in the girl.”

“I was less convinced than Rafe, old romantic that he is,” Gabe tacked on while Rafe batted his lashes. “But even I can’t deny it after that little performance. You’ve gone and fallen in love, haven’t you?”

Jasper choked out a laugh. “I haven’t even kissed the girl, for Christ’s sake,” he scoffed, an odd sort of panic rising in his throat.

Gabe and Rafe merely watched him in silence before Rafe opened his damned mouth. “That’s not a no, Fenny,” he pointed out with a smirk.

“I-I,” Jasper intended to deny it. To tell them both how utterly ridiculous they were. How could he have fallen in love with the wallflower after a couple of weeks and one, chaste peck? It was beyond lunacy.

And yet.

He couldn’t bring himself to say no.

It was Gabe who laughed softly, shaking his head, an odd sadness in his eyes. “Given that I’ve just lost good coin on this situation, you better do something about it soon,” he warned.

The arrival of a servant carrying a folded note on a silver tray stopped Jasper from having to think of a response to what they were saying. He grabbed it with thank, grateful for the distraction.

His relief however lasted only as long as it took to read the damned thing.

He cursed under his breath, jumping to his feet so quickly that his chair hit the floor with a loud clatter. His friends immediately sensing the change in mood rose with him.

“What’s going on?” Rafe demanded, all playfulness gone. “What happened?”

“My sisters happened,” he bit out before turning and running for the door.