Chapter 18
Charlotte could scarcely breathe as Victor opened the door to the library.
Her lips still tingled from his kisses, and her entire body felt feverishly warm beneath her gown.
She kept her gaze lowered as they stepped into the corridor, praying that no one would notice the flush upon her cheeks or the disarray of her thoughts.
Unfortunately, fate seemed to take great delight in humiliating her.
“Well,” came a sharp voice. “This is certainly inappropriate.”
Charlotte froze at once. Standing before them was Mrs. Holly, her narrow eyes wide with scandalized delight, while beside her stood the Dowager Duchess Elizabeth, looking pleasantly confused.
Mrs. Holly clutched her fan dramatically against her chest as though she might expire from impropriety at any moment. “Your Grace,” she gasped toward Victor, “surely this is not what I think it is.”
Victor did not even blink. “Then perhaps for once your imagination has failed you, Mrs. Holly.”
The older woman gasped audibly. “A gentleman and lady alone in a library at a ball,” she declared. “Good heavens, the impropriety of it.”
Charlotte wished fervently for the floor to open beneath her slippers and swallow her whole. She could still feel Victor’s hands upon her body, and now they stood before the greatest gossip in London.
Elizabeth peered between them innocently. “Oh, they are always disappearing together, this is not unusual.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened in horror.
“I found them sneaking around the rooms of Mulford Manor looking quite flustered.”
Mrs. Holly looked one second away from fainting dead onto the carpet. Victor, meanwhile, looked dangerously amused.
“Your Grace,” Charlotte whispered weakly to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth smiled warmly at her. “Do not look so embarrassed, dear. Young love is very passionate.”
Mrs. Holly let out another horrified noise.
Charlotte thought perhaps the woman might actually perish from outrage before the evening concluded.
Victor sighed as though terribly inconvenienced. “Mrs. Holly, I assure you there is no need to start composing dramatic stories for tomorrow’s breakfast tables.”
His voice remained calm, but Charlotte recognized the dangerous edge beneath it now.
“Miss Brown’s reputation shall not suffer.”
Mrs. Holly lifted her chin. “And how precisely do you intend to prevent that, Your Grace?” she demanded. “The entire ballroom has already seen you vanish together.”
Charlotte could feel the panic beginning to rise inside her chest.
This is disastrous. Utterly catastrophic.
Victor’s arm slid around Charlotte’s waist before she could react. “By marrying her, naturally.”
Silence fell so abruptly that Charlotte heard her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.
Marry…me?
Mrs. Holly stared at Victor as though he had announced he intended to join a travelling circus. Elizabeth beamed happily between them. Charlotte, meanwhile, forgot entirely how to breathe.
“I beg your pardon?” Mrs. Holly squeaked.
Victor looked supremely bored. “Miss Brown is my betrothed,” he said smoothly. “Surely that fact is no longer surprising to anyone.”
Charlotte turned slowly toward him in utter disbelief. His expression remained perfectly composed, as though he had not just casually announced their marriage to one of the greatest gossips in society.
Mrs. Holly fluttered her fan frantically. “Even engaged couples should not be alone together before marriage,” she snapped. “It is entirely improper.” Victor looked down at the woman with such cold displeasure that Charlotte almost pitied her.
Almost.
“Then perhaps,” he said quietly, “you should concern yourself with your own household rather than mine.”
Mrs. Holly gasped so violently, Charlotte feared the woman might choke. “Your Grace!”
“You spend an astonishing amount of time watching other people,” Victor continued lazily. “One wonders if it is because your own affairs are so dull.”
Charlotte pressed her lips together desperately to stop herself from laughing. Elizabeth, unfortunately, had no such restraint.
“Oh, Victor,” the dowager scolded lightly. “You must not bully poor Mrs. Holly.” She patted the older woman’s arm sympathetically. “Though, to be fair, she has been trying to marry off her daughters for years now.”
Mrs. Holly looked positively stricken.
Charlotte bit the inside of her cheek so hard it hurt. Victor’s shoulders shook faintly beside her, and she realized with astonishment that he was trying not to laugh as well. “Grandmother,” he murmured.
Elizabeth sighed dramatically. “Well, it is true.” She turned to Mrs. Holly kindly. “Do not fret, dear. I am certain someone desperate shall come along eventually.”
Mrs. Holly looked moments away from collapsing. “Your Grace,” she hissed at Victor, “control your grandmother.”
“I assure you,” Victor replied smoothly, “no man living has ever successfully managed such a thing.”
Charlotte stared at him in growing disbelief.
Is he truly doing this? Is he genuinely announcing to society that they will marry?
The words echoed repeatedly through her mind until she thought she might faint from confusion alone.
Marrying me. Victor intended to marry me. Or perhaps he merely meant to protect my reputation.
That explanation made far more sense. It had to. The Duke of Mulford was a notorious rogue who had spent all seasons avoiding respectable women precisely so marriage could never trap him. A man like him would never willingly choose a wife like Charlotte Brown.
And yet his hand remained firm at her waist.
Mrs. Holly recovered enough to narrow her eyes suspiciously. “Then when is the wedding to take place?”
Charlotte nearly choked.
Victor answered without hesitation. “Soon.”
“Soon?” Charlotte blurted before she could stop herself.
Victor glanced down at her with a warning look. “Very soon,” he repeated calmly.
Mrs. Holly stared between them greedily, clearly storing every word away for future gossip. Charlotte felt utterly trapped.
Elizabeth clapped her hands happily. “Oh, splendid.” She turned to Mrs. Holly brightly. “I told everyone Victor would eventually settle down once he found a woman stubborn enough to survive him.”
Victor looked deeply offended. Charlotte nearly laughed despite her rising panic.
“Grandmother,” he drawled.
“It is true,” Elizabeth insisted. “Charlotte argues with you constantly. It is very romantic.”
Mrs. Holly made another scandalized noise. “And now you are sneaking off into libraries together.”
Elizabeth lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Though I do think they were kissing this time.”
Charlotte wanted to die instantly.
“Grandmother,” Victor said sharply.
“What?” Elizabeth blinked innocently. “Charlotte’s hair is all mussed.” Mrs. Holly’s eyes widened in pure horror. Charlotte slapped trembling hands against her hair at once.
Victor closed his eyes briefly as though reconsidering every life choice that had led him to this moment. Then he sighed heavily and offered Charlotte his arm.
“Come along, dear,” he said smoothly. “Before Mrs. Holly combusts entirely because an engaged couple stole a few kisses in the library.”
“I most certainly shall not combust,” Mrs. Holly snapped.
Victor raised one dark brow. “Pity.”
Charlotte nearly laughed aloud. The absurdity of the moment struck her all at once, and she found herself biting her lip to contain the hysterical amusement threatening to escape. Everything had gone so horribly wrong that it almost seemed comical now.
Victor began escorting both women away, Elizabeth happily chatting between them while Mrs. Holly stood staring after them in outrage.
Charlotte walked beside him in stunned silence, her mind racing too quickly to settle on any coherent thought.
The ballroom noise swelled around them once more, but she barely heard it. All she could hear were Victor’s words.
By marrying her, naturally.
She glanced sideways at him uncertainly. Victor’s expression remained unreadable, though she noticed the tension along his jaw. He looked calm to anyone else observing him, but Charlotte had begun learning the subtle signs beneath his polished exterior.
He is unsettled.
“You cannot simply announce such things,” she whispered urgently once they were out of earshot.
“I just did.”
“Victor…”
His gaze slid toward her lazily. “Would you rather I allowed Mrs. Holly to destroy your reputation…and possibly that of your sisters through association?”
Charlotte opened her mouth, then closed it again. The dreadful truth was that he had protected her and her family. Without his declaration, tonight’s scandal could have ruined her family entirely.
Still, marriage?
Elizabeth smiled blissfully beside them. “I do hope there shall be lemon cake at the wedding breakfast.”
Victor groaned softly under his breath.
Charlotte stared ahead numbly as the reality finally settled over her shoulders like a heavy velvet cloak.
Somehow, somewhere between fake courtship and stolen kisses, this situation has become terrifyingly real, or has it?
* * *
Charlotte barely slept that night. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Victor standing in the corridor with his hand at her waist, calmly announcing to Mrs. Holly that he intended to marry her.
Then her thoughts would turn treacherous and drift toward the library instead, toward his mouth on hers.
By dawn, her mind felt entirely exhausted from chasing the same impossible question in circles.
Did he truly mean it?
The morning at Mulford Manor felt strangely quiet.
Sunlight poured through the tall windows as servants moved discreetly through the corridors.
Charlotte wandered restlessly for nearly an hour before deciding she could no longer tolerate the uncertainty clawing at her chest. If Victor had truly meant to marry her, then surely he ought to say so plainly.