“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.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ONE MAN’S TRASH IS ANOTHER WOMAN’S TRIUMPH
Dominic could barely hear a word Charlotte was saying over the blood pounding in his ears. He shook his head, feeling numb with disbelief as he stared at the letter in his hand. The letter he had written, that he had completely forgotten about.
“Batty gave this to you?” he asked as Charlotte’s words eventually penetrated the soup of his brain.Where on Earth did she find it?
“Yes, she said she thought I should have it. That it seemed wrong that everyone else should have something so private.” Charlotte looked at him, and he saw an odd restlessness in her expression.
“Everyone else? Who found it first?”Who has seen this? Oh God, what must she be thinking?He tried to keep his voice calm and level.
“I have no idea, but it seems most people have read it,” Charlotte replied, gesturing around them. “Batty thought that by the evening everyone would know it’s contents.”
“Have you read it?” Dominic asked, his voice hoarse, his mouth dry.
“It seemed rather unfair that everyone else would read it and I would not,” Charlotte admitted. “After all, it was addressed to me.”
“I did not mean you to see it,” Dominic said.I should never have listened to Frederick.
Charlotte frowned at him, a mix of hurt and some other emotion he could not quite name on her face. “Then why would you leave it where anyone could find it?”
“I did not think I had.” He frowned, trying to remember where he had left the letter.
“Clearly, you did, or we would not be having this conversation.” Charlotte pointed out.
“It does not matter either way; it appears every person in the estate has read the damn thing,” Dominic said bitterly. “I expect they will be quoting parts of it to me at dinner.”
“Did you mean it?” Charlotte asked.
“What, that they will quote it at dinner? Does that really surprise you?” Dominic laughed, but there was no mirth in it.
He felt a mix of shame and humiliation course through him. She had seen the letter, his letter. And now, she was standing in front of him, looking furious. His heart sank.
“No, I mean the letter. What you wrote.” She gestured to the paper in his hand.
