“Lady Luella is not the solution. I don’t know what is, but I will help you find it.”
Chapter 5
Raise my dowry.” It was the first, most logical solution she could think of.
Edward’s eyebrows shot up. Even Simmons, who was the best of London butlers and rarely expressed any kind of emotion, cocked his head as he turned from the front door to help Edward from his greatcoat.
“Should we discuss this elsewhere?” Edward asked, handing the butler his hat and gloves and glancing around the foyer. Two footmen stood nearby whose eyes were trained on their slippers, but who weren’t, in fact, as part of the wallpaper as they’d like to appear.
Charlotte had been waiting on the stairs most of the day for her brother to arrive home, sitting on the landing, swirling patterns in the thick pile of the rug. She didn’t want to wait any longer, not even as long as it took to walk to Edward’s study.
“Don’t you think it’s time, Ned?” she asked as she trailed after him down the corridor. “This is my fourth season and I remain unmarried.”
Edward didn’t answer until they’d reached the study and the door had firmly shut. He turned to her, his arms crossed, with the expression he normally reserved for disagreements with their brother or when casual negotiations with an ambassador over port turned hard.
“Your dowry is incredibly generous. Your lack of a husband is not due to a lack of money.”
From the desk by the window, Fiona cleared her throat, drawing attention to her presence. She tucked a tooth-worn pencil into her braid and gathered her papers. “Should I leave?”
Edward nodded curtly, but Charlotte held up her hands. “No. Stay.” John had been Fiona’s mentor. He’d been the one to teach her chemistry and physics after he’d caught her reading his scientific treatise rather than sweeping the floor as she’d been hired to do. Fiona owed John her entire career. If the subject came up, she would definitely side with Charlotte on the matter.
“It is a generous dowry, brother, and I’m appreciative. But it’s clearly not enough. I’ve had but two suitors this season, and neither were the caliber of men to make my insides flutter.” Her insides hadn’t truly fluttered in years. There had been the occasional flip when a particularly handsome man had said something flirtatious. But the heart-racing, breathless, butterflies-rioting-inside-her feeling that characterized her interactions with John had disappeared when he had.
She’d thought they’d disappeared for good until she’d seen him again last night.
Edward rubbed the spot between his eyebrows. “What sum do you think will attract a gentleman that fifty thousand would not?”
“Eighty thousand pounds.”
Edward dropped his hand, his eyes wide. He stared at her as though she’d grown two heads.
He was going to say no outright. She was certain of it. He had that cautious expression he used when he was looking for a way to deny a request without beginning an argument. She’d seen it during the dinner she’d arranged with the German ambassador the month before, and he was giving it to her now.
Fiona used her husband’s momentary silence to interject. “That’s a very specific number, Char,” Fi said, crossing to her husband and pushing him not-so-gently toward the armchairs by the fireplace. “What need do ye have ofeightythousand pounds?”
Drat.She’d wanted to avoid this particular part of the conversation. She’d hoped to first convince Edward to increase her marriage settlement and then speak to John before sharing the plan with her siblings. When dealing with the duke, one needed all of one’s ducks lined up neatly.
But it was clear Ned was not about to agree to the increase without a more specific explanation.
She took the seat opposite the two of them, spread her skirts out neatly, and then folded her hands in her lap. Edward’s fingers drummed on the chair’s arm.
“John is being forced to marry Lady Luella Tarlington because her eighty-thousand-pound dowry would solve his financial predicament.Luella.” She added the last for emphasis.
Edward’s expression shifted. It was as grim as the gathering clouds outside. The drumming stopped and his fingertips pressed into the leather. “No.”
It was the answer she’d expected, so she remained calm. It was merely the first point of negotiation. “Why not? You can afford it. You’re one of the richest men in England.”
Edward closed his eyes for a long moment before he opened them and caught her gaze in his weary one. “Charlotte, be reasonable. It’s not about the money.”
Drat. Money was easy to haggle. “Then what? John is your friend. I would think that you’d want to help him secure his estates and stay free from the fangs of that woman. Fi, tell him.”
Fiona shook her head softly and the hope Charlotte had been holding on to slipped.How could she?After everything John had done for her, how could Fiona turn her back on him?
Putting aside the steep disappointment, Charlotte turned her attention back to the man who held her future in his hands. “Well then? What reason could you have not to support one of your oldest friends?”
Edward’s face twisted at her criticism. “I will support him in every way I can,” he said through gritted teeth. “But that does not include allowing him to marry my little sister in order to save his own hide. Money be damned, it is not a union that I will stand for.”
Charlotte couldn’t remember the last time her brother had raised his voice at her. She never gave him cause to.
