Wilde didn’t like that. His lips thinned and he rubbed the spot between his brows. “Be reasonable. My sister is young and impressionable and a romantic. She’s going to believe the best of a situation until it bites her.”
“I will not bite her.” He would do everything in his power to see her happy.
Wilde shook his head. “I wish I could believe that.”
***
“That does not look like a pleasant conversation.” Henrietta nodded in John’s direction. Edward was storming away, his face as dark as the thunderstorms that had been rolling for days.
Charlotte shivered in a good way. She’d always hated thunderstorms. Now they would always send a tingle of excitement and longing through her.
“The duke is coming our way,” Josie added. “Goodness, I’ve never seen your brother so determined.”
Whatever Edward’s argument with John had been, she was about to hear of it.
“Sister,” he said, holding out a hand. “Dance.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes at her friends. Edward had been better at limiting his demands since he married Fiona. His wife had tempered his temper somewhat, and she’d certainly taught him that no, the entire world did not give way before him. But there were certain topics that continued to bring out the autocrat.
John was clearly one of them.
“Brother, what are you doing?” she asked when they were on the dance floor and out of earshot of the rest of the assembly.
“I am looking out for my sister.”
Mmmhmm.“That’s what your argument with John was about? The entire room saw you. You’re causing unnecessary gossip and I’d prefer you didn’t.” When she and John finally announced their engagement, she didn’t want rumors that her family was not one-hundred-percent approving of the match.
Edward grimaced, turning away from the rest of the room so only she could see his discontentment. “If Harrow hadn’t been avoiding me, I could have had that conversation in private.”
She resisted the temptation to step on his foot. “And what conversation is that, exactly?” She already knew the answer; she just wanted him to say it out loud so that he could hear what a dictator he was becoming.
“This gambling nonsense that you have running with John, I want you to end it. I know I promised you I would not interfere in your personal life—”
“Then don’t.” On the dance floor, she couldn’t punctuate the statement with the finger pointing she wanted, so she settled for a mulish, stubborn glare. “You sought no one’s permission to bring Fiona into our home, despite the danger it posed to our reputation. You asked no one’s permission to marry a commoner.”
“Charlotte…” There was a warning tone in his voice. Fiona was another topic of conversation that brought out the worst in him.
“When the two of you messed it all up and caused perhaps the greatest scandal London had seen in decades, I supported you and did everything in my power to see you happy.” She hadn’t cared that her sister wasn’t a proper lady of theton. She’d loved Fi and had been happy to continue managing the Wildeforde household so that Fiona could continue her work as a chemist.
Edward, it seemed, remembered this at least. “I know, Char, and I am more appreciative than you could realize. I simply want the same happiness for you. I don’t think John is it.”
John was very much her happiness, and it frustrated her to no end that her brother couldn’t see it. “Why? What reason do you have for thinking that he and I aren’t well suited?”
Edward sighed. He changed the course of their twirling so that she could see all the ballroom before her. “You used to be the center of these balls, flitting between one person and another, dancing every dance. It was the thing you enjoyed the most. Now you hang around the edges.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I am not ‘hanging around the edges.’ I still dance plenty—with every person I want to, including all the men whose influence you’re seeking.”
His face remained grim. “You used to dance with everyone.”
A shade of guilt twinged in her gut. It hadn’t felt good to say no tonight. There had been more than one startled face, and no matter how softly she’d delivered the rejection, she still felt awful disappointing people.
But at the same time, she felt freed by it. The men to whom she’d said no were those who consistently stepped on her toes without an apology, or whose conversation was demeaning, or who were a touch too free with their hands. She’d never enjoyed dancing with them but had, out of a misplaced sense of obligation. Because she’d wanted to be liked. Because she couldn’t say no.
Luella had been right, drat it. But John had also been right. It was perfectly fine for Charlotte to prioritize her own wants.
“Lord Harrow has helped me see that I don’t need to give other people every moment of my time and energy in order to have some worth. Is that not a good thing?”
Edward shook his head. “John loathes this world, Char. Of course he thinks it doesn’t deserve your time and attention. I worry that in your effort to win his affection, you’ll let him distance you from what you love—from the people you love—and that you’ll end up alone and miserable.”
