“To your aerie,” she said.“Now.”
He made another face, but Charlotte saw he was smiling as he turned for the stairs.
McClellan was gathering the plates from the table. “Change, eh? Perhaps it is I who will be asked to go,” she murmured.
“And leave me without jam tarts? Heaven forfend.”
A chuckle rose over the clink of cutlery. “The lads seem very fond of my Dundee cakes as well.”
“So am I,” replied Charlotte as she began helping to clear the table. “The cuisine in this house has improved markedly since you arrived. So I do hope you have no plans of moving on.”
“None whatsoever.” McClellan carried the dishes to the tiny scullery by the pantry. “The position suits me.”
“Even though this is a rather eccentric household?” she asked.
The maid set a hand on her hip. “I hopethatisn’t going to change.”
A rattle of the back door saved Charlotte from having to reply. She heard it open and close, followed by the brusquestomp-stompof mud being shaken from boots.
A moment later, Wrexford appeared in the kitchen and shrugged out of his overcoat.
“Tyler allowed you out dressed in that?” McClellan raised her brows. “His standards must be slipping.”
The earl added his shapeless hat to the pile of rumpled wool. “Much as it pains your cousin’s sensibilities, there are times when it’s best not to flaunt my lordly finery.”
“Thank you for coming, milord,” interjected Charlotte. Her nerves were too taut for bantering. “The others have not yet arrived. Would you care for some tea while we wait for them in the parlor?”
Wrexford extracted a bottle from the fold of the overcoat and placed it on the table. “I took the liberty of bringing a bottle of Scottish malt. I imagine Henning—along with the rest of us—will need something stronger than tea before the evening is over.”
Curiosity lit in McClellan’s eyes, but she turned back to clearing away the remains of supper. “You two go on. I shall bring a tray with glasses and the spirits in a moment.”
* * *
Wrexford followed Charlotte, noting her rigid gait and the steel-stiff set of her shoulders. Her trepidation was understandable. Snakes may shed their skin often, but in his experience, most people found the process of stripping off one persona and assuming another profoundly daunting.
And here she was attempting to do it for the second time.
“Try to relax,” he murmured as she assumed an awkwardperch on the edge of the sofa. “You are among friends. We’ll be here to help you navigate through all the shoals and eddies that lie ahead.”
She managed a shaky exhale and allowed herself to sink back against the pillows. “I’m very grateful for—”
“Love doesn’t require gratitude,” he said.
The lamplight caught the crosscurrents of emotion as her eyes widened in shock.Lovewas a word that was rarely said aloud by either of them.
“In a close-knit friendship, such as ties our little band together, it’s understood that we’re all here to help each other.”
Charlotte looked momentarily bereft of speech.
A good thing, he decided, as she might be tempted to ring a peal over his head when he showed her what was in his coat pocket.
Ah, well—in for a penny, in for a pound.
Parchment crackled as Wrexford took a seat in the facing armchair and withdrew a packet tied with a wide black ribbon. “With that in mind,” he continued, “I thought that these might prove useful to have.”
Her gaze turned wary.
“They won’t bite.”
