Wells found the lady’s grasping repulsive.
“Ah,” his mother answered, coming into her own. “I’m afraid you misunderstand, Countess.” The Duchess’s smile now menaced. “I was referring to youreldestgranddaughter, not your youngest.”
The lady frowned again. “Forgive me, Your Grace, I have but one granddaughter, my daughter’s youngest, Miss Mercy Pendrake.”
“You have three,”Mamaninformed her sternly, “and it is the eldest we have come to discuss.”
Wells was by now actively shooting daggers at the woman seated across from him, daggers which made the lady’s lined face appear almost to fold in upon itself.
“I can assure you I do not,” Lady Enright stated coldly.
“I assure you, madam, youdo.” Wells’s patience broke. “I intend to marry your eldest granddaughter, Miss Charles Merrinan, and have received permission already from her father, Sir Benedict. I have come here out of respect to Miss Merrinan only, to inform you, her mother’s family, of my intention. For once it is announced, Countess, you will be forced to recognize your late daughter’s children, because if you do not, I can assure you as future Duke I shall no longer recognizeyou.”
The woman’s countenance paled a shade as she rapidly began to ring the bell, calling for smelling salts and her husband, the Earl of Denbigh, to attend her at once,at once!
The Duchess, meanwhile, smoothed her skirts and patted Wells’s knee, making him for once grateful for her presence. She would know how to handle the rest of this conversation. He could count on her to make things right now for Charles, and in so doing, make things right for him.
Wells had never been so fond ofMamanas in that moment.
“Charlotte,” Madame LeBrecht intoned, “I can assure you the gentleman in question is a most wealthy, most generous man whose offer, should you prove pleasing, is to keep you in absolute comfort.” Her eyes abruptly narrowed. “Youdoknow what that means, don’t you?”
Charles was stunned but not shocked, imagining the gentleman who’d fondled her legs the other day now had other intentions. “Yes,Madame, I am aware what?—”
“Then you will surely take him up on his offer, as it is not something a woman in your position dismisses lightly.”
“I have no desire to be another man’s mistress, madam.” Charles was equally firm. “I was Lord Wellesley’s mistress long enough to know exactly what the position entails.”
Madame LeBrecht hissed at her. “Then you will not be so foolish as to forgo this opportunity, girl, not when I tell you what will happen if you do not.”
Charles’s ire flared. “If I do not?” she parried. “If I do not, then I shall leave your establishment, madam. I shall find employment elsewhere.”
“No, Charlotte.”Madame’shiss had turned to coo. “You will be forced to continue working for me, only not as shop girl here to mymessieurs, but as an altogether different sort of girl at my other establishment, a house that sees more frequent and far less sophisticatedclientele.” The lady’s eyes burned a hole into Charles’s soul as fear began to gnaw in the pit of her gut—fear that she attempted to control.
“You cannot make me work for you here, or elsewhere, madam,” she countered, chin up.
“Can’t I though?” The lady snapped her fingers and immediately two forbidding strongmen emerged from the shadows of the room, men Charles had not even known were at the shop.
Her fear grew into full-blown panic.
“So what shall it be, Charlotte?”
The two men already flanked her sides, standing terribly close.
“The fine gentleman who wishes to keep you in great comfort, or themanygentlemen who will be less gentle when they sample your wares at my other shop.”Madame’seyes glittered savagely.
Charles’s heart sank. She’d no choice but to submit. In an hour or two the chance to flee would perhaps present itself. But not now. She was not so foolish as to tempt fate and be cast into what she could only presume was this woman’s cathouse.
“Very well.” She savagely stared back at the woman seated so smugly before her. “I shall endeavor to please the gentleman in question.” She bit her lip. “But I shall not forget your treatment of me, madam.”
“I daresay you won’t,Charles.” A faint smile played at the corner of the lady’s mouth. “Nor will the gentleman, no doubt.”
Madamerose from her seat and snapped her fingers again, causing both men to grab hold of Charles.
She struggled in their grasp.
“Simply a precaution against your bolting,chérie,”Madametold her. “And to make sure you’re delivered to the gentleman’s rooms forthwith. Remember, you are to fulfill his every wish, obey his every desire, for if he chooses not to keep you, I shall keep you for myself.”
And with that, Charles was dragged from the shop and stuffed into a carriage, to be delivered God only knew where, and to whom. A fate far worse than being caught stealing chickens.
