An Inconvenient Trilogy Part 33

She explained to Michael what had occurred and her heart sank further as he shook his head at her words. "I was only trying to act in Charlotte's best interests," she finished defensively.

"You should have left them alone. Now Charlotte is aware of some of Halkyn's past and it may influence her, as it did before," Michael replied calmly, but it was obvious that he was disappointed with Elizabeth's actions.

"Surely she needs to know the truth?" Elizabeth asked in disbelief. Her husband was so committed to doing what was right in every area of his life; she could not believe that he was suggesting that she should lie.

"We all change Elizabeth. You must have seen the changes in Halkyn from the first moment that he introduced Charlotte to us. He is not the man who offered for you!" Michael responded, unable to stop his teeth grinding a little at his last words.

Elizabeth moved to her husband and wrapped her arms around his neck. "My feelings have never changed since I first fell in love with you. I could never have been tempted into marriage with Stephen," she said, reaching up to kiss him.

Michael returned the kiss, but pulled away after a moment. "Just remember how you reacted when you realised there were difficulties in the way of our happiness. You fought against them, and perhaps Charlotte is doing the same," he offered, smiling at his headstrong wife.

"But Stephen's view on marriage...." Elizabeth started.

"He told me he was afraid that if they married he would hurt her," Michael interrupted. "Those are not the words of someone who is untouched by love."

Elizabeth groaned and put her head on her husband's shoulder. "I am a fool. I may have damaged my friendship with them both."

"Leave them be and they will work it out and forgive you along the way," Michael said rea.s.suringly, hoping that his words held enough conviction.

Charlotte had mixed feelings about the conversation that she had overheard. She had returned to ask Elizabeth a question about the possibility of donating a quilt to the tenants that was in her bedroom, but had not uttered a sound once she had realised the conversation had been about herself and Stephen.

Herself and Stephen. It seemed her feelings were correct; they did have some sort of history. It had not sounded as if the situation had been destined for a happy ending. It was so frustrating to not be able to remember everything yet, although memories were coming back, more than she was admitting to anyone else. Her feelings for Stephen were strong, she had the suspicion that she would always feel safe while he was around and she also felt loved by him, which was in direct contradiction to what Elizabeth had hinted at.

Elizabeth was obviously questioning Stephen's commitment. Charlotte did not seriously think that Elizabeth was jealous, anyone seeing her with Lord Dunham could see she was besotted with her husband, but there was obviously a reason why she thought Stephen would hurt her. She puzzled over it during the following evening. There was no sign of Stephen during the evening, which made the meal overly long in Charlotte's view. She was so used to his presence, to know that every time she looked up, his eyes would meet hers, that she felt quite miserable without him.

Then Violet and Edward announced that it was time they were returning to London. "I miss my social whirl," Violet explained with a smile. "I had hoped we could still take Charlotte with us, but I think a little longer here would be of more benefit."

"I was to come to London?" Charlotte asked. "I don't think I have ever been there before."

"You spent a night there some time ago," Elizabeth supplied. "But there was no time for socialising; you were collected from just outside of London and the morning after brought to visit us."

"Really?" Charlotte responded, clearly distracted by the new information.

Elizabeth was relieved that Charlotte did not ask any more questions. She could not lie to her friend, but at this point did not want to start explaining the history of her arrival with them.

The following morning Violet and Edward left Dunham House. Charlotte had waved them off and then returned to her bed chamber, she was still mulling over the information obtained from the previous evening. Her thoughts were disturbed when she was sent a message that she had a visitor. She hurried to the morning room, wondering who would visit, as she knew very few people in the area.

Elizabeth greeted her as she entered and introduced her to Mr O'Hara. He was a pleasant looking young man, who stood and gave a low bow at Charlotte's entrance. He smiled in welcome to Charlotte and explained that he had lately been out of the area and had only just returned to hear about her accident.

"I took the opportunity of riding over immediately to see for myself that you were well," he said, fixing her with a wide smile.

Charlotte smiled at the visitor, she had a definite feeling that she had met him before. "I am well thank you, as you can see. The scar will be easily hidden under my curls," she said.

"You were very lucky," Mr O'Hara murmured, a sympathetic expression on his face.

"I have been very well looked after," Charlotte responded. "You will have to forgive me Mr O'Hara, I know we have met previously, but my memory has not returned fully. I'm afraid I cannot remember our previous acquaintance."

Mr O'Hara flushed slightly. "It is of no matter, we were excellent dance partners and I am sure in the future we will have the opportunity to be so once more."

Charlotte had frowned at Mr. O'Hara's flush. She seemed distracted for a few moments as she tried to recall her previous meetings with him. Mr O'Hara chatted about his recent visit to London and the ladies responded politely.

They were interrupted by the entrance of Lord Halkyn. He looked at Mr O'Hara with mild interest, before bowing to the ladies and taking a seat near the window. His entrance stilled the conversation for a few moments, but then Mr O'Hara continued.

"Is Lord Dunham at home this morning?" he asked Elizabeth.

"He is, would you like me to ask him to join us?" Elizabeth responded.

"Ah, no," Mr O'Hara replied, again flushing. "I would like to have a private word with him if it is possible."

"I'm sure it is. Would you like to follow me?" Elizabeth rose and led the way out of the room, with Mr O'Hara close on her heels.

"Is that one of your conquests?" Stephen asked mockingly when they were alone in the room.

"You tell me," Charlotte responded tartly.

"He looks like he would moon over you," came the scornful reply.

"He obviously has good taste then," Charlotte responded, making Stephen laugh loudly.

Elizabeth returned to the room and raised her eyebrows at Stephen. "You sound happy," she said.

"I shall stop it immediately," Stephen responded, a little coolly. He still had not completely forgiven for her lack of faith in him.

Elizabeth and Charlotte made small talk, expecting Mr O'Hara to rejoin them when he had finished speaking to Lord Dunham. Both were surprised when fifteen minutes later Lord Dunham entered the room alone.

"Has Mr O'Hara left us?" Elizabeth asked her husband.

"Yes, he thought he would leave it to me to pa.s.s on his message," Michael said, sitting opposite Charlotte.

"All of a sudden this morning has become interesting," Stephen responded, but managing to still sound bored, but he did sit a little forward on his seat.

Michael flicked a look at Stephen, but ignored his comment. "Charlotte, you will not remember, but Mr O'Hara asked for your hand in marriage before the accident happened."

Charlotte flushed, but the three occupants were more distracted by the sound of Stephen sucking in a deep breath. He did not say anything, so Charlotte turned back to Michael. "Did he?" she asked hesitantly. She was terrified of the thought that she may have accepted him and now be tied to an engagement.

"Yes he did. He has asked today if he could renew his addresses to you, asking for my blessing for him to speak to you about the subject again," Michael said, aware of Stephen in the background clenching his fists.

"So, I hadn't agreed to anything?" Charlotte asked, almost sagging with relief.

"No, you, er, had actually decided against the match the last time we spoke about it," Michael said, smiling at Charlotte. "Do you not remember?"

Charlotte looked at Michael and then suddenly smiled. "I kissed him," she said simply.

"You did what?!" Stephen roared from the window seat.

Charlotte, Michael and Elizabeth all jumped simultaneously at the sound of Stephen's words. Charlotte flushed a deep red, Elizabeth looked stunned at Charlotte and Michael tried to suppress a smirk.

"I-I kissed him," Charlotte repeated, more hesitantly this time. Stephen looked angrier than she had ever seen him before.

"I heard you the first time," Stephen ground out through visibly gritted teeth. "I was just wondering why you would do that and why you would admit it to a room full of people?"

"I just remembered," Charlotte tried to explain. "It just came out, I suppose it was the relief about remembering something."

"What else is there to remember?" Stephen snarled.

"Halkyn," Michael said, a warning note in his voice. He was not going to allow his young guest be bullied under his roof, even if the motivation was nothing more sinister than jealousy.

"Do you not think it is an important question?" Stephen asked with a snarl. "I should follow him and rip him to shreds, taking advantage of an innocent."

"I used him, not the other way round," Charlotte responded honestly.

Stephen looked as if he was fit to burst, but before he could say anything else, Elizabeth intervened. She had seen what appeared to be a flash of pain cross Stephen's features at Charlotte's words. "Charlotte, you are with friends, but you must be careful what you say. You cannot mean what your words suggest."

"Lord Dunham understood at the time," Charlotte said, appealing to Michael for help.

Michael did not know whether to laugh or groan at Charlotte's words. Halkyn looked ready to jump on him and pummel him into the ground, while Elizabeth looked so indignant at being kept in the dark over something like this, that he knew he would suffer later. If he had the choice, he would take the pummelling from Halkyn, Elizabeth was far more frightening to him.

He sighed, "I did and I still do, but I don't think it is appropriate to talk about it now, do you?"

Charlotte flushed and glanced at Stephen. "No, probably not," she admitted, looking down at her hands. "I'm sorry; I got carried away with the excitement of remembering a clear sequence of memories."

"It appears it wasn't the only time you got carried away, if your memory serves you correctly," Stephen said, standing and walking to the door. "I wish you happy." He did not give anyone else a chance to respond, storming through the doorway and up the stairs. The room seemed to go still, as everyone heard the thud of his footsteps on the stairs.

"Thank goodness for st.u.r.dy craftsmanship," Elizabeth said lightly, referring to the strength of her staircase. "Now, I take it the kiss had in some indirect way, something to do with Stephen?" She asked Charlotte.

"Yes," Charlotte said, blushing furiously. "It nearly got me into trouble then and it looks like it's nearly happened again. I remember that I had listened to everyone telling me that Stephen was no good for me and so when Mr O'Hara tried to kiss me, I kissed him back," she explained to Elizabeth.

"And what happened then?" Elizabeth asked.

"I pulled away when I realised it wasn't really enjoyable. Mr O'Hara wasn't very happy at my admission that I was trying to force myself to like him!" Charlotte admitted with a grimace as the memory became clearer.

Elizabeth laughed. "I can't imagine why! Oh, Charlotte, you could have got into so much trouble!"

"I know, especially as Lord Dunham and Mr Dawson discovered us alone together," Charlotte admitted. "Lord Dunham was very understanding."

"Oh, he was, was he?" Elizabeth said, giving her husband a clear indication that she would not be so understanding for being kept out of such an incident. "I would not have been quite so pleasant to Mr O'Hara if I had known he was going around kissing my guests."

"Hardly a serial offender," Michael said drily. "You can be a.s.sured that I put him fully in the picture about my opinion of his behaviour. It does appear though that he stills has a high regard for you Charlotte, and would like to pay his addresses again. He a.s.sures me that he would act in the correct manner this time."

"He seems a very pleasant young man," Charlotte started, trying to put her feelings into words without giving everything away to her hosts. "I'm afraid that although I have little to offer any man in the form of dowry, I could not accept his proposal. I am not attracted to him in any way and I can't see that changing."

"Do you not wish to give it more time because of what has happened? You may feel different if you spend more time in his company?" Elizabeth asked gently.

"No," Charlotte responded firmly. "There is no reason to try and force something when I know it would be futile."

"It is how you felt prior to your accident, so I am not surprised at your answer," Michael responded. "I said that I would send a note to him advising him of your response. I feel I have heard all I need to be able to send out a clear message."

"Thank you," Charlotte responded meekly, full of relief.

Chapter 24.

Stephen had never experienced jealousy before and struggled with the rage that it caused within him. She had kissed another man. Not only had she kissed another man, she had kissed him after they had shared kisses. The memory of which haunted his dreams, but obviously not hers. He wanted to despise her, instead the feelings he was experiencing just made him want her even more.

She had kissed another man after Stephen had offered for her. He could not even gloat that she would never receive another proposal, the d.a.m.n fop had offered for her not once, but twice. As he walked to the stables he ground his teeth. If he ever saw the man again, he would make him realise what the consequences were to anyone trying to steal his woman.

His woman. She was and would always be his as far as he was concerned. She had turned to him when she had needed help. Stephen swung up onto his horse, but by the time he had reached the edge of the stable yard he was turning his dark mood in on himself. He had rejected Charlotte; he had made it obvious he had not taken the thought of a marriage with her seriously. It was no wonder that she had rejected him.

By the time he reached the outer parkland he could no longer blame Mr O'Hara for proposing marriage. In fact, his proposal showed good taste, Charlotte was beautiful and charming. It was little wonder that she had received a marriage proposal that was serious enough to be asked twice. He dug his heels in the horse's flank and set off across country. He needed to let off steam. He had to rid his mind's eye of the picture of Charlotte with someone else.

Charlotte escaped the house, her cheeks still warm with embarra.s.sment of confessing her feelings to her hosts. She was sure they must think her an immature miss, something that at the moment, she could not really dispute.

It seemed ironic that the man she wanted was anything but amenable, but the man she was not interested in had taken the trouble to seek her out and had asked to pay his addresses to her. She shook herself mentally; Stephen had been amenable when they had spent the afternoon in the billiard room. He had been amusing, relaxed and charming. Something he had not been after Mr O'Hara's visit. She sighed as she strode out across the grounds, a walk and deep thought was required.

Stephen saw the figure long before he reached her. Her pelisse billowed out behind her as she walked briskly across the country. He had noticed how she always chose earthy colours, greens, creams, browns, yellows. They suited her colouring, even now, her hair contrasting against the browns of her jacket and the bonnet. He smiled to himself, she was too beautiful to be constrained to such limited society, but he was glad she was. He could not cope with one rival; he would never cope with a ballroom full.

He knew exactly the moment that she recognised him, her face blushed in the way he found charming. He groaned to himself, when had he started describing something as charming? He was beginning to realise that where Miss Charlotte Webster was concerned, any endearment was not misplaced. For the first time in his life, he began to wonder if he was becoming a besotted fool.

Stephen drew his horse to a stop near Charlotte, and dismounted.

"Good afternoon Miss Webster," he said bowing.

"Good afternoon," Charlotte said, curtseying, but looking at Stephen warily, he had never referred to her by her family name so formally before.

"Are you taking a general walk, or are you seeking something in particular?" Stephen asked, falling into step beside her, letting the reins of his horse hang loosely in his hand.

"Just a general walk," Charlotte responded, looking at him with trepidation. His demeanour was pleasant, but his body was still stiff and she had the impression that he was ready to spring into action, to do what, she was less sure of.

"In that case may I join you?" Stephen asked, not really giving Charlotte the chance to refuse as he walked alongside her.

"Of course," Charlotte replied quietly. She watched the wind blow through his hair that was peeking under the brim of his top hat. She flushed slightly, she suddenly had the thought that she had touched that hair before.

"Anything wrong, Miss Webster?" Stephen asked, picking up every change in expression that Charlotte ever made.

"N-no," Charlotte stammered, flushing deeper.

"Perhaps you undertook this walk to remember more of Mr O'Hara's kisses?" Stephen said, unable to resist the urge to goad her.