Page 65 of Unmasking the Diamond
“I have improved,” she cut in.
“I doubt it,” he said, and there was that warm, familial confidence in his voice that both annoyed and reassured her.
She brushed past him. “I will not be subject to this harassment,” she announced with theatrical finality. “I shall lie down.”
“Charlotte, come back here,” Alistair’s voice carried up the stairwell, clipped with command.
“No,” she tossed back over her shoulder without slowing.
“Will you please talk some sense into her?” his voice rose again, the older brother who still thought she was a child to be managed.
Jane’s softer tone drifted towards her from below. “Let her be for now.”
“But something is clearly upsetting her,” Alistair persisted.
“Give her time,” Jane said.
Charlotte’s hand tightened on the banister. She was grateful for Jane’s steady presence and Alistair’s concern, but right now their care felt like a net she might get tangled in. She needed quiet. She needed time to think.
She arrived at her bedchamber door and opened it. Her maid, busy tidying the dressing table, glanced up with a smile. “Welcome home, Miss.”
Charlotte crossed the room without answering and let herself collapse onto the bed, arms flung wide. “I may simply lie here until I die,” she declared. “Plan my funeral. Tell everyone goodbye. I shall miss them.”
Sally laughed. “I take it you did not enjoy your carriage ride with Lord Luca?”
“I have had better carriage rides,” she admitted.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Sally asked.
“No.” Charlotte rolled onto her back and stared at the plaster roses on the ceiling, letting her hands fall limp at her sides. “I want to sleep and forget this entire day ever happened.”
“What about Lady Benson’s ball tonight?” the maid ventured, coming nearer.
Charlotte groaned and grabbed a pillow, pressing it dramatically over her face. “Go in my place. No one will notice.”
A soft tsk came from across the room. “You do not give thetonenough credit. They notice everything.” Sally moved to the windows and drew the drapes, dimming the room. “Rest, Miss. I’ll come back later to dress you for this evening.”
From under the pillow, Charlotte’s voice emerged faint and muffled but still laced with dry humor. “If I am still alive by then.”
Sally laughed again as she departed from the room. Charlotte closed her eyes, willing herself to sink into sleep. But an image of Luca came into her mind. She groaned softly into her pillow. Of all the things to think of, why must it be him?
Luca sat rigidly in the carriage, the rhythmic creak of the wheels and the clatter of hooves doing little to quiet the storm in his mind. He ought to have been reviewing the questions he intended to ask Miss Dawlish, mentally preparing his strategy before they arrived in Cheapside. But every time he tried to focus on the matter at hand, Charlotte’s face intruded—those defiant blue eyes, the way her chin lifted when she challenged him, the rare softness she tried so hard to hide.
He dragged a hand down his face.This is ridiculous. She’s distracting me even when she’s not here.
Across from him, Rupert lounged with his usual careless elegance. The faint smirk playing at his lips warned Luca trouble was brewing.
“Do you want to explain what happened earlier with Miss Winslow?” Rupert asked, breaking the silence.
“No,” Luca replied curtly.
Rupert’s smirk widened into a grin. “You have fallen for her, haven’t you?”
Luca exhaled slowly, staring out at the soot-stained buildings passing by. “Must we do this now?”
“It is quite evident that you have affection for her,” Rupert remarked.
“I am engaged to her.”
