She quirked her mouth at him, and then at Preston. Had he nothing to say?
“I did not think you were coming,” Preston told her with an even slighter smile than her own.
“Oh?” She cocked her brow at him then glanced around. “Whom did you invite when you thought I was not coming?”
Sebastian chuckled and shook his head at his friend. “You stumbled straight into that one, Sutton.”
Preston angled his masterfully groomed blond head to sneer at Sebastian. “I did not stumble.” He turned to Charlotte next with a glint in his blue eyes. “And your attendance had no effect on my invitation list, my dear Charlotte. You were and always will be first on the list.” He let his smile shine full force on her.
She let him take her hand and bring her knuckles to his lips. Sebastian’s silver tongue had nothing on Preston’s. It’s what had landed her in front of more justices of the peace than she cared to remember.
“I lifted a hefty ruby ring for you today,” she told Preston. “But I was stopped by a man in strange attire. He accused me of robbing him. I did not. He robbed me, though. He took the ring and two watches!”
Preston’s face grew bright red with leashed fury. “Where is he? I shall get the ring back!”
“He’s at a justice of the peace by now. There was a constable—I did not get into trouble, Preston,” she added quickly when he threw up his hands. “He did.”
“The fewer constables crossing our paths, the better, Charlotte.”
“This man took hold of me three times!” she snapped at him. She didn’t look at Sebastian when he slipped away. “Thankfully, someone found a constable, else who knows what the man would have done next!”
“Forgive me,” he repented when she pouted.
“What are you doing out here anyway?” She didn’t want to ruin the rest of her day by thinking about the bold, pesky stranger from this morning.
“Lord John Eddren, Duke of Crawley, is traveling to London in a sennight,” Preston told her. “Sebastian has his route. He wants to stop his carriage and rob him.”
“And what did you tell him?” Charlotte asked, making her way toward the house.
“I told him to do what he wants. I have friends in Cheam who will keep him out of jail if he gets caught.”
They stepped into the huge mansion, much larger than Bristol Manor, the house left to Preston by his parents, who died in a hunting accident six years ago. Preston took the deaths well, despite being only eighteen when he lost them and on his own.
He hadn’t given up even on the hardest days when it seemed he fought his Tory fight alone. He rose to power by robbing for the poor and then running the largest criminal alliance in southern London.
“Charlie! So good to see you,” said a woman in a gray, quilted riding suit. Black curls peeked out from beneath her gray, feathered cap.
Charlotte hated being called Charlie. None of her closer friends called her anything but Charlotte, and that was how she liked it.
“Maddie,” she responded in kind to the Earl of Mitcham’s daughter, Lady Madeline Evans. “So good to seeyou. We must get together.”
Before Maddie could make any plans, Charlotte hurried off into the crowd. She lost Preston and saw Amanda—worse, she saw Amanda standing with her closest friends.
She stopped and, all at once, she felt her hopes and dreams floating away on a cascade of pale blond curls draping Amanda’s shoulder.
Charlotte took a deep breath and put on her most practiced smile. “Amanda,” she greeted, holding out her gloved hands.
“Charlotte!” Amanda’s cornflower blue eyes grew as wide as any wild deer. “I thought you weren’t coming!”
A pang in her chest. A hook of regret in her insides. “Aye, so Preston mentioned,” she muttered. She bit down on her tongue until she tasted blood. “Well,” she said, smoothing out her riding coat. “I was not planning on staying. I only stopped by to tell Preston about something.”
“Oh, he just stepped outside with Sebastian. But I’m sure he will come running right back to me when he’s through. Why do you not wait for him?”
“No, thank you. I saw him already.” Charlotte kept her smile intact and turned it on her friends. She’d never let them see how their betrayal hurt her. It was better to see who her truest friends were, and Sophie and Eloise were no longer them.
She spun around on her heel. She wanted to leave. She didn’t think anything could be worse than home. Perhaps she was wrong. Being here at Preston’s with Amanda clearly spending her time with him was worse. Amanda’s words followed her.I’m sure he will come running right back to me.Ugh. She’d like to give Amanda a bruised eye or maybe a swollen lip.
She thought she heard Sophie call out to her, but she didn’t respond.
