“This is serious,” she exclaimed.
“That usually makes matters more entertaining.”
Charlotte stared at him. “Your grandmother told Mrs. Holly and her sisters that we are engaged.”
The room fell silent. Victor blinked once, slowly. Then again.
Charlotte began pacing almost immediately, clearly too agitated to stand still. “This was a mistake,” she muttered. “I should have listened to you about Hyde Park.”
Victor said nothing at first. Instead, something cold and instinctive stirred quietly within him.
Ah. So this was her plan.
The thought arrived swiftly and unpleasantly. Public gossip. Society spreading rumors faster than wildfire. An unmarried duke suddenly linked openly to a respectable young woman.
Marriage. She means to trap me into it. No. Absolutely not.
He had spent years carefully avoiding precisely this sort of entanglement. He had watched too many men trapped in miserable marriages through scandal, manipulation, or obligation. Freedom mattered too much to him to surrender it because society demanded he clean up gossip with a wedding ring.
No woman will ever corner him in matrimony.
Slowly, Victor rose from his chair. Then he smiled.
* * *
It was not the charming smile society adored, nor the playful grin he offered careless companions and willing ladies. This was the colder smile Charlotte first encountered in his study upon arriving at Mulford Manor, the one sharp enough to warn rather than comfort.
Charlotte immediately stiffened beneath it.
“Well,” Victor said smoothly, “I suppose we are engaged now.”
Charlotte looked utterly horrified.
“What?”
Victor folded his arms loosely across his chest, studying her carefully. “Society will certainly think so by evening.”
“I am so sorry,” she blurted immediately. “I did not mean for this to happen.”
“Did you not?” he said.
Charlotte stared at him in disbelief. “Of course not.”
Victor tilted his head slightly. “Convenient regardless.”
Hurt flashed briefly across her face before irritation swiftly replaced it. “I came here to fix the situation.”
“And how exactly do you propose doing that?”
“I shall write to Mrs. Holly immediately,” Charlotte declared. “I shall explain everything.”
Victor almost laughed aloud. “My dear Miss Brown,” he said dryly, “the ton has never once in history cared about the truth.”
Charlotte frowned stubbornly. “People will listen.”
“No,” Victor corrected calmly. “They will gossip.” He moved toward the sideboard, pouring himself another cup of coffee.“Your letter would simply become another amusing detail for them to discuss over tea.”
Charlotte looked increasingly panicked as the reality settled around her. Victor watched her carefully over the rim of his cup. If she orchestrated this, she was remarkably convincing.
