“Bates, are you all right?” she called to him.
“I am well. Thank you, my Lady.” Though his flustered voice suggested that he was not completely calm. “The master, he…”
“I know.” Charity nodded. It was apparent Bates wished to go and find Seth, but Seth had left that morning on a confidential trip.
“What in the devil’s name is happening here?” the Earl of Holmwood snapped. “Why do you address the household staff as if they are under your command?”
“Because this is my residence now,” Charity answered her father rather matter-of-factly.
“Your residence?Pah!” Yet it was not her father who had spoken this time. Charity turned her head in the direction of the doorway where she recognized the other voice.
No… it cannot be.
“It is absurd,” her father muttered darkly in agreement.
“Why ishehere?” Charity asked, gesturing in the other man’s direction.
“You dare utter such nonsense? Good Lord, have you taken leave of your senses, young girl?” Baron Tynefield interjected. “Lord Holmwood, I fear your daughter may need to be checked at Bedlam.”
Isobel squeaked in horror and even Rufus barked as if he recognized the man's accusation for what it was.
“I assure you, I am perfectly sound of mind, thank you,” Charity responded calmly, lifting her chin high. “But as for your uninvited presence—”
“Charity! You disappeared!” her father thundered, his voice drawing increasingly nearer to her. Rufus positioned himself beside Charity’s leg and must have taken to inching forward from the way his tail brushed her gown. When he snarled, herfather’s footsteps fell still on the marble floor. “My daughter, myblinddaughter is abducted, I spend weeks scouring for her, determined to bring her home. And now she questions why I have come to rescue her?”
“Papa, even you are not so foolish. You know I was not abducted. I ran away,” she answered simply.
“This is sheer madness, utter lunacy!” Baron Tynefield blithered on as he also rounded on her. “There is only one remedy to such lunacy—"
“No, my Lord, the only lunacy here is that which you possessed by deluding yourself into believing I was abducted,” she hissed sharply, jerking her head in his direction to make herself plainly understood. He froze in his tracks. “You see, Lord Tynefield, upon learning that I was to be wedded toyouthe following morning,I sought to take my future into my own hands. My father and sister chose not to help me avoid a fate I abhorred, so I sought assistance elsewhere.”
“What are you saying?” Lord Holmwood muttered in disbelief.
“I am saying that I chose to flee, Papa, and what you see before you…” she paused, stretching out her arms, “is my home now.”
A strange silence descended upon the room. Charity was well aware of the sound of labored breathing around her. Her father must have taken another step forward, for Shelby was the one to growl this time and step in front of her protectively. Her father fell still again.
“She has lost her senses,” Lord Tynefield declared after a minute or so of silence. “There can be no other explanation.”
“No, that is not true. Merely because a woman's desires diverge from your own does not render her insane,my Lord,” Charity said drily, determined to maintain her calm composure lest she be accused of hysteria next. “I desired to be here, and so I am. I am not the vulnerable daughter who needed to be shielded from the outside world,” she added, this time facing where she understood her father to be standing.
“Nonsense,” Lord Holmwood barked. “We will finish this when we return. You are coming home with me at once, Charity.”
“No, I refuse. How in good heavens did you even find me?” she asked, curiosity piqued. They had taken great pains to conceal her presence here, although Seth had voiced concerns a few days earlier about the difficulty of maintaining secrecy while arranging for a special license. Still, for everything to be revealed so quickly, without warning, was a little far-fetched. She had assumed she would be given a week to prepare at the very least before the truth was uncovered.
“A contact of mine at the registry office reached out,” her father said in a rushed tone. “He inquired about my daughter's need for a special license to wed after months of preparations with the Baron.”
“You can tell him I required it for my impending marriage,” she stated plainly. “I am to be wed.”
“You are betrothed to me.Duncan, what is this charade you have invited me to?” Lord Tynefield growled.
“Not any longer,” she countered, shaking her head, a small smirk gracing her lips when she noted his breathing shift at her reply. “The master of this estate, the Duke of Axfordshire, has proposed marriage to me, and I have accepted.”
“No…” Her father's voice faltered, barely recognizable, suddenly breathless and feeble at her words. “Not him. Not to this family. No, I refuse it. I refuse it!”
This family? What does he mean by this family?
She tilted her chin toward him, narrowing her eyes curiously. “Papa, why do you—” But before she could inquire further, the Baron’s voice abruptly interrupted.
