Margaret placed a delicate hand over her stomach. “I feel well, but if the other children are anything to judge by, that feeling will not last long.”
“Congratulations,” Seth slammed Elliot on the shoulder, “my old friend keeps many secrets, short of his disappearing andreappearing act. And I feel rather affronted that he did not tell me that you were expecting another.”
“It is hard to tell you anything of late, old man. If you are not carousing, you are in company with a certain young lady. I feel I have lost my best friend.”
He smiled as he said it, but Seth knew him well enough to know that a message was being communicated.
He had never ceased to try to dissuade me from the lifestyle I chose. Well, he would be overjoyed if I shared the conversation I had with Amelia the other night... Except, not Amelia. Charlotte…
“And will I finally have the opportunity to meet your betrothed this evening?” Margaret looked between the two men.
Seth grinned boyishly. “You shall. She is coming here in the company of her Aunt and cousins, the Willoughbys of Prescott Estate. In fact, I am waiting for her now,” he finished, looking around the space.
“Betrothed to the celebrated socialite and expert on all things etiquette and fashion.” He shuddered visibly. “I cannot begin to imagine the posturing she must have you doing.”
Seth gave a half-laugh. “She attempted to train me like a prize spaniel.”
“And by the looks of it, she has managed rather well,” Margaret beamed with pride alongside her husband.
The pair eventually took their leave to mingle elsewhere.
How long has it been since I set foot in an assembly room? Up until a few months ago, I would not have been caught dead here and had no interest in any woman who wanted to be seen here. Margaret tells no lies. How quickly things change…
The doors beside him were open, ushering in a polite stream of guests and chatter. He barely noticed them—until she appeared amid the bloom. Charlotte.
She moved into the room behind her aunt and cousins, not yet aware of him watching. Seth saw her in quarter profile first—the graceful line of her jaw, the delicate slope of her neck—and the rest of the world quietly fell away. She glanced around with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted in quiet wonder, as if the room held some enchantment only she could see. That unguarded smile—sweet, almost shy—struck him like a blow.
God help me. I almost wish I had never touched her. Never kissed her. Just to know what it would be like to do so now, for the first time.
She wore no jewels, only a pale, elegant gown that whispered refinement without ostentation. It needed no embellishment. She needed none. Never before had a woman captivated him as much as she had after knowing them intimately. Always, hisinterest waned after the thrill of the hunt. But she still drew him in. He was utterly bewitched.
She turned toward him and to Seth; it seemed to happen impossibly slowly. He was aware of her dark curls falling about her face with the movement of her head, of the gown moving over her body, concealing and yet revealing as it caressed her curves as he so yearned to do again. And again. And a few more times for good measure.
Damn this place and these people. If I had a wish, it would be that they vanish and leave me alone with her. Damn all wills, solicitors, and grasping usurpers. I would give it all away to have her beneath me presently.
That thought surprised him. In the briefest moment that it took Charlotte to turn and find him, he knew that if she had asked, he would give up his Dukedom, his lands, and his wealth. He would make himself a beggar.
I am utterly enthralled by her. Ordinarily, the women I bed cling to me. Now, it is I who cannot let go.
He stepped forward but slowed as he noticed Charlotte’s smile fall away. Something passed across her beautiful features, akin to a shadow. A frown creased her brow, and after meeting his eyes once, she glanced away. Seth experienced a chill deep inside. A shiver ran up his spine that he knew to be fear.
“Lady Nightingale,” he moved ahead nonetheless and greeted her formally, bowing. “You do make even the briefest of absences feel far too long.”
“It has been two days, Your Grace,” Charlotte replied, her tone polite, her eyes not. “I imagine a man such as yourself is well-practised in surviving longer absences.”
She had placed her hand in his for the faintest of moments before removing it. The rest of her family turned to acknowledge him, but he ignored them. Reginald took her elbow as though to steer her away. Seth stepped forward and removed his hand, smiling over gritted teeth.
“I trust I can rely on being granted the lion’s share of the dances this evening, my lady,” he said to Charlotte, searching her face.
“Amelia, we will take seats over there,” Reginald muttered, reaching for her arm again.
Seth faced him squarely. “My betrothed will sit with me this evening. Off you trot, now, dear boy.”
He spotted anger flicker across Reginald’s face briefly. Then the man turned to Charlotte, his lips curling with smug satisfaction.
“Amelia,” he declared, with deliberate emphasis.
“I will join you shortly, cousin. I should speak to His Grace first,” Charlotte coaxed.
