“This afternoon.”
“Oh.” She straightened slightly. “My family arrived in town. They are staying with my uncle, the Viscount of Lambourne.”
Victor nodded. “Indeed.”
“I left a word with Mr. Baxter before taking the carriage.”
“Yes,” Victor said lightly. “Baxter informed me.”
Charlotte frowned faintly. “Then why ask me?”
Victor’s mouth curved slightly. “To see what you would say.”
Charlotte stared at him in disbelief before huffing softly. “You truly are impossible.”
“I have heard that often,” he smirked.
“I know you still do not trust me,” she continued, “but I am nothing if not honest.”
Victor studied her for a moment with that unreadable expression of his. Then, without responding directly, he began circling her slowly as though assessing her.
Charlotte immediately became suspicious.
“What are you doing?”
“Hm…” he said as though giving an item an inspection.
“Your Grace?” she questioned, feeling the heat take over her.
Victor glanced deliberately toward her gown. “You will require something more suitable.”
Charlotte frowned. “Suitable for what?”
“Society, of course,” he said.
She looked down at herself instinctively. “There is nothing wrong with this dress.”
“There is if one intends to attend society beside a duke and his grandmother,” he said as he stopped circling her.
Charlotte blinked in surprise. “The opera?”
Victor moved toward his desk and lifted a large box resting upon the floor beside it. He placed it carefully atop the polished wood before gesturing toward it.
“Open it,” he said.
Charlotte hesitated. “What is it?”
“A crocodile,” he teased.
She narrowed her eyes. “You are mocking me.”
“Yes,” he agreed easily, “and it is diverting, but now open the box.”
Charlotte approached cautiously before untying the ribbon and lifting the lid. Her breath caught instantly. Inside rested the most beautiful gown she had ever seen. Soft yellow silk shimmered beneath the sunlight like liquid gold while delicateembroidery trailed across the bodice and sleeves in elegant detail. The fabric looked impossibly expensive.
Far too expensive.
“Oh,” Charlotte whispered.
