Page 1 of Always the Chaperone
Chapter One
“And he isforbidden, Matthews, from having a third, do you hear me?” Charlotte smiled at the butler knowingly, shaking away the hair over her eyes. “The earl has never been able to hold his liquor, and my brother’s wedding is not the time to test that.”
Matthews bowed and walked from the lawn to the terrace, toward a gentleman who required help. He had managed to finish an entire bottle of port single-handedly and now seemed so intoxicated that he looked unsure whether he had attended the wedding with his wife and children.
Charlotte placed two bottles of wine on the silver platter moving past her in the hands of a footman. Well, the weather had held, which was a miracle for March. The wedding had been perfect. Exactly what her brother deserved.
The lawn of Stonehaven Lacey was clipped to precision, all two hundred guests had arrived on time, and more importantly, to Charlotte’s mind, on their best behavior. It was done.
Her smile faded. It was likely to be the only wedding Stonehaven celebrated. After all, the odds of her taking a trip down the aisle were less than none.
“What a stupendous wedding, Lady Charlotte!” A woman Charlotte did not recognize beamed. “And you have undertaken all the details yourself, your new sister was telling me.”
Charlotte swallowed the temptation to say it was the only wedding she would probably ever organize and nodded.
“You are a wonder. Is she not a wonder, Mrs. Bryant?”
The most notorious gossip of Bath turned and smiled, walking over to the pair of them. Charlotte’s heart sank. Anyone but Mrs. Bryant.
“A lovely wedding,” she said in clipped tones. “Of course, nothing can quite compare to Maria’s wedding, but then it is unfair to strike the comparison. Why, I heard the other day…”
As always, Mrs. Bryant was soon surrounded by a flock of nosy people eager to hear the latest news and scandal. Trapped in the middle, Charlotte’s attention wandered, and she saw them.
Richard and Tabitha. They looked so in love, so happy. Charlotte quashed the bitterness threatening to rise each time she thought about them. She had promised herself she would not be emotional and had come through the whole day without tears. She was not going to succumb.
She needed a distraction.
“You must excuse me,” she said to the crowd, none of whom were paying her any attention, eyes on Mrs. Bryant. Breaking free from the crush, she crossed the lawn and brought her new sister into her arms.
“I could not be more pleased to be proved wrong,” laughed Charlotte. “It is clear to anyone who loves Richard that he is absolutely besotted with you.”
Tabitha laughed, her green eyes sparkling in the afternoon sun as Charlotte released her. “I do not think I could have asked for a better husband, nor a better welcome into a family. Thank you for being my bridesmaid, Charlotte. I would not have had the courage to marry today without you.”
Charlotte knew Tabitha meant her words kindly, but it hurt to see such a young thing become the new Duchess of Axwick, her mother’s title. Tabitha was barely five and twenty. Here she was, ten years older, and no closer to marriage than she had been when Tabitha’s age. “Well, it’s certainly better than being a chaperone.”
Tabitha opened her mouth, but before she could speak, a young woman approached them with a nervous smile.
“Lady Charlotte? I beg a moment of your time and apologize for the intrusion.”
Charlotte’s false smile did not waver. She knew what this interruption was about. “Yes, Miss Darby?”
Her nervous smile broadened, and she started speaking quickly as though she would lose heart if she did not speak in a rush. “It is only that I thought you may be attendingThe Magic Flutein Bath next week, and I would very much like to go. But my father is too unwell to leave the house, and I have been asked by William Lennox, the Duke of Richmond, to attend. You must have met him and his brother, but of course, I may not go alone. It would not be seemly, so I was wondering if you would accompany me as my chaperone?”
There it was. The inevitable request, and Charlotte had been so sure she would get through the wedding without one! It hurt, for she had acted in that capacity for four or five couples last Season. She did not consider Charlotte a companion but an old woman who would ensure nothing untoward occurred. But did Miss Darby have to make it so obvious?
Miss Darby had not said the wordspinster, but she may as well have. Charlotte bit down the retort that she should ask Lady Romeril to do it, for she was over sixty and definitely beyond the suggestion of scandal.
In her most genteel voice, she said, “Of course, Miss Darby. I would be delighted to accompany you. Please send round the details in a notecard, so I shall ensure not to engage myself for anything else that evening.”
“Oh, Lady Charlotte, you can have no idea how happy you make me!” Miss Darby’s eyes were wide and so was her mouth. “And to think before I thought of you, I could not conceive of anyone else who would accompany me, for you know Miss Seton is too young, and Mrs. Coulson is engaged that evening. After I saw you in the church today, I thought…”
Was there any point in trying to stem the flow of those well-meaning but excruciating pleasantries? Charlotte stared as Miss Darby allowed her mouth to run away with her, trying to ignore the hurt on Tabitha’s face. Without saying a word, she reached out and squeezed her new sister’s hand.
“And how is the Duchess of Axwick feeling?” Her brother, Richard, had crept up behind Tabitha and wrapped his arms around his new bride, murmuring in her ear.
Tabitha flushed with pleasure, and Charlotte turned away. She could not bear the happiness on their faces. At her time of life, the possibility of marriage was over. A life of chaperoning was ahead of her.
“–will tell the gentlemen. Thank you again!”
