Victor said nothing at first, merely looking at her, really looking this time, and then, quite unexpectedly, he laughed.
Charlotte’s grip tightened. “I fail to see what is amusing,” she said stiffly.
“That,” he replied, gesturing lazily toward her raised arm, “is perhaps the most unconvincing weapon I have ever encountered. I've seen potatoes bigger than that.” His gaze flicked over her, amusement lingering. “Though I admire your enthusiasm.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks, though indignation quickly overtook it. “I thought… I thought someone was in need of assistance,” she said.
His brows lifted slightly. “Indeed,” he said. “Though I do not recall requesting assistance.”
He grabbed his shirt, but he did not pull it on.
Why does he not dress himself at once? This is most inappropriate.
Charlotte lowered the candlestick with a sharp motion. “I did not expect to find you engaged in… such behaviour.”
“And what behaviour might that be?” he asked coolly as he stepped toward her. His lids lowered lazily.
“The behaviour of…a rake, Your Grace.”
The amusement faded from his expression at once. “You are in no position to make such accusations,” he said evenly. “Particularly as you have just disregarded a direct instruction not to enter this room.”
Charlotte lifted her chin. “I believed there to be a threat,” she said. “I should think that justifies my actions.”
“You have also,” he continued, as though she had not spoken, “interrupted a private engagement.” His tone sharpened slightly. “Which was both unnecessary and inconvenient.”
Charlotte let out a disbelieving laugh. “Inconvenient?” she echoed. “Your grandmother is upstairs, asleep, and you see fit to conduct yourself in such a manner under the same roof?”
His gaze darkened slightly. “My conduct is not your concern,” he said, taking large strides toward her.
“And yet I am employed in this household,” she replied. “I should think its propriety concerns me at least a little for I would not have my reputation tarnished by association.”
They stood far too close now, and she hadn't quite realized how the distance between them had vanished. Charlotte could feel the heat of him, the quiet intensity in his gaze far more unsettling than his earlier mockery.
“If propriety concerns you so deeply,” he said softly, “you might begin by observing the rules set for you.”
“If decency concerns you at all,” she returned, “you might attempt to practice it.”
For a moment, neither spoke. The air between them felt charged, taut with something neither of them seemed willing to acknowledge.
Then his lips curved slightly. “If you wished to take her place,” he said, his voice low and deliberate, “you need only have asked. There was no need for such theatrics.”
The nerve of him!
Charlotte stared at him, stunned. “How dare you,” she said, her voice sharp with fury.
“I merely offer a solution,” he replied.
“You offer an insult,” she snapped. “And a very poor one at that.”
His gaze lingered on her a moment longer, as though measuring her reaction. “You are remarkably quick to anger,” he observed.
“And you are remarkably intolerable,” she returned.
A silence followed, and Charlotte felt something shift within her, not uncertainty, but decision. “I will not remain here,” she said suddenly.
His brow lifted. “No?”
“No,” she repeated firmly. “I shall not endure such behavior, nor such insinuations, for nothing could be more clear to me than the fact that I would never ever want such a man as you.”
