“Shall we take a turn about the room?” he asked.
***
That Charlotte was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met was not new information. It had been apparent from the moment she had walked into Wilde’s study with her hair in braids and her bare toes poking out from beneath her nightgown. His cock had gone hard then and had been in a semi-permanent state of arousal ever since.
That she was loyal and kind had been equally obvious from the moment she’d showed up, determined to extricate him from the debacle his brother had placed him in, at whatever cost.
That she had a dry wit and a propensity for trouble he had discovered last night, his own self coming alive unexpectedly with the excitement.
Tonight’s new information, startling at that, was just how she teased the fun out ofhim. She’d even convinced him to play ridiculous parlor games that he should have hated but that were made enjoyable by her laughter, the interesting conversations she sparked, the lively and engaging small talk that was witty and humorous and yet not at the expense of others—a form of small talk he’d never previously experienced.
He found himself sitting close to her because his body simply couldn’t sit away, as though they were opposite poles of a magnetic field. Ultimately, he found himself becoming a little infatuated with this intelligent, headstrong, sweet woman.
When Lady Braddon gestured for the string quartet to play, John didn’t hesitate before asking Charlotte to dance. He was vaguely aware of the looks exchanged by other members of the party. The obvious affection he and Charlotte had for each other had clearly been noticed, but while that should’ve been enough for him to keep his distance—for him to keep his promise to Wilde—it wasn’t.
“You seem to be having rather a good time,” Charlotte said as John slipped a hand around her waist and started moving them in slow circles around the room. “I’m almost loath to suggest we move on to the more important portion of tonight’s activities.”
The plan was to leave Lady Braddon’s soiree separately. John would circle the block in a hackney cab with Charlotte’s change of clothing folded neatly in the satchel he’d given to their host’s butler.
But as much as they needed to return to The Lucky Honeypot, he wasn’t quite ready to let her out of his arms.
“I think we have time for a dance. The night is still young. Men will lose money at the tables until dawn.” He was tempted to draw her closer, but they were attracting enough attention as it was.
Yet still, she inched toward him anyway, and his temperature rose. “For someone who hates dancing as much as you, you’re awfully good at it,” she said.
It pleased him that she was pleased. He added a flourish to their next turn, delighting in her widening smile. “My mother insisted I learn back before she realized I was a lost cause,” he said as they came together once again.
Charlottetut-tutted. “You’re the most intelligent man in London. You’re a partner in a business that has not only made a fortune but also improved the safety of rail travel for everyone. You’ve been lauded in the business sections of the newspapers too many times to count over the past decade. You’re hardly a lost cause, John.”
She was so determined to see the best in people. It was a trait he didn’t share and could barely understand, but he appreciated in her, regardless. “I was a lost cause to my parents. I was not as witty or charming or good-looking as my older brother, and for much of my childhood, they thought me stupid. I could barely talk and when I did, the syllables tripped over themselves so badly that I was unintelligible.”
Charlotte stroked her thumb over his hand, a tiny movement that kept him here in the present rather than allowing his mind to wander too deep through his memories.
“My father knew I was defective from the beginning. He didn’t waste any time or affection on me. My mother hoped I would grow up to be ‘normal.’ She insisted I learn every part of what it was to be a gentleman, but that I must do it better than everyone else to compensate for my failings.
“So I learnt to dance, to ride, to shoot. I can fence well enough. I can even best your brother in a boxing match, although he weighs more than I. But it was never enough. I was still broken in her mind. When I stuttered, she would burst into tears as though I was causing her physical pain.”
“Which is why you so rarely speak,” Charlotte whispered. “I thought it was because you didn’t like people.”
“I don’t like people, but mostly because people seem to share my parents’ opinion of my worth.”
“That’s not true, John.” For a brief second, she raised the back of her hand to his cheek, and he leaned into it, inhaling the scent of roses and summer at her wrist. Then she dropped her hand quickly, glancing around them to see who had noticed such an intimate gesture.
“You are not defective,” she whispered. “Your speech hurts no one. Truthfully, I don’t even notice your stutter. I suppose it must be there if you say it is; I simply don’t hear it. There’s nothing about you that needs fixing.”
That gave John pause. He’d spent years learning to overcome the tangle of his tongue. These days, it was only an issue that rose in times of great pressure. He’d stuttered more in the past month since he’d returned to the bosom of society than he had in the past decade.
But not with her. She was a point of safety in the turbulence.
“I stutter less when I’m comfortable. When I’m surrounded by people I trust.” Which was her, apparently.
She grinned, her joy reaching all the way to the crinkles of her eyes. “My Lord Harrow, should I take it to mean that I have made it onto your impossibly small list of friends?”
Chapter 18
Their second night at The Lucky Honeypot was proving even more profitable than their first. They’d entered separately and practically ignored each other for the first few hours to quench any suspicion that they were working as a team. John had won a fortune playing vingt-et-un while Charlotte had had mixed results at whist depending on her partner.
She’d done quite well playing with the Earl of Withington, however, and her pot was at least twice the size that it had been when she walked in.
