Charlotte would neverforgive herself. She deserved to be hanged for her crimes. First, she’d panicked during her first carriage robbery and was the cause of the Earl of Chester’s death. She’d been horrified and guilty over it for months. Hoping Michael would catch her, too afraid and ashamed to confess. And now this. She’d made certain John deVille escaped Michael’s prison at the mill. It was her fault he was running free, killing her friends! Did Preston know about this? He would never have ordered the death of the people here. He knew what Rosie meant to her. But why did deVille come here of all places? Why this tiny village of four huts and people so poor they couldn’t eat some days? She had to find out if Preston knew about it. She had to know. If he did, she would never forgive him. And why did the fool have to look at her as if he knew her? She was almost certain Michael saw. It was a look of recognition, a look of surprise. She’d been torn between running and hiding or clawing out deVille’s eyes.
Oh, she just couldn’t think about it too long. She had to be strong for dear Rosie now. But she was falling apart inside. Her façade was crumbling. She wanted Michael to hold her. She wanted…no, she needed more of the intimacy they had shared last night. But he seemed distant this morning. Of course, it could be that he, too, was heartsick for Rosie. Or, he suspected something. He didn’t question her about deVille. What should she do? It was all too much. She was going to burst.
She heard one of the women crying outside. James and Robbie were burying Warren.
She couldn’t bear the weight of it. She looked over at Rosie, sleeping in her bed. What was taking Michael so long? She needed his reassuring embrace. He’d promised to marry her. He’d taken her body. He’d made her fall in love with him. He’d made her want to change her life around. Michael. Just thinking of him made her happy. Who would have thought she could feel this way about a man of the law?
She heard a bit of a commotion outside. Rebecca peeked her head inside the front door. “Michael has returned.”
Charlotte’s heart began to race. She stood up, ready to leave and go to him when Rosie’s voice speaking her name stopped her. “Do not return home yet.”
Charlotte hurried to her side. “I have no plans on leaving you. I will stay as long as you need me.”
Rosie smiled at her and Charlotte’s heart broke. After all the years of trying to help her and give her what she needed, she ended up taking away what was most important to Rosie. It made her want to sob.
The door opened and Michael’s frame filled the sunlit entrance. For a moment, while he stood there, Charlotte couldn’t see his face. Then he stepped into the hut and looked at her. She smiled. His response was strained.
“Did all go well?” she asked him.
“Yeah.”
He came closer and stood over the bed, looking down at Rosie and took her hand. “You have my promise that I will make this right.”
“Aye,” Charlotte let her know. “We will help you.”
She felt a little better already. He would help. She loved him for his promise. She didn’t think about telling him the truth. Not yet. She needed some comfort from him. The truth could wait.
“Charlotte?” He set his gaze on her as he straightened, “May I speak with you outside?”
“Of course.” She wanted to be alone with him, too. She practically pushed him out the door.
When they stepped out, she wasted no time to throw herself into his arms. She held on to him and closed her eyes, praying that he did not reject her. His strong arms came around her and he held her tight. They embraced for a moment or two, neither one in any rush to let go. He seemed to know what she needed, and she soaked it in like a flower soaking in the sunlight.
“I spoke to two vendors in town,” he told her, standing straight so he could look at her, but still holding her. “I told them what happened, and they’ve agreed to gather supplies and have them brought over, just some extra food and spices and stuff.”
She smiled at him and tried to remember what her days were like without him in them. A sennight hadn’t even passed and yet he felt like he’d been in her life all her days.
“I also spoke to a few brickmakers and carpenters. They will help us rebuild homes for Rosie and the others. I’m going to train some handpicked men at home and send them to Bromley to keep the law.”
“You are planning a life here,” she said softly and with a warm smile, reaching up to touch his temple.
“Yes, I told you. With you.”
“And children?”
“If you want.”
“I want four.”
He gave her a doubtful look. “It hurts you know.”
She let out a little laugh. “So I have been told.”
He shrugged and she trembled a little in his arms. “Then we’ll have four.”
Something rolled over her like a wave of mud, cold and suffocating. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe. She didn’t want to breathe anymore. She broke away.
“What’s wrong, Charlotte?”
