Lord Sterling laughed and gestured the way. “Yes, Alice is here. Don’t tell my wife you view my sister as safe. I think she has aspirations for you both.”
The idea made Michael groan, and he slowed his step. “Please, no. I cannot bear to disappoint your wife, and I don’t want to give your sister hope. I don’t want to do anything except get through this evening with some entertainment in life and my reputation intact. I don’t want to start rumors, I don’t care to stop any, I simply want to be here. I know I cannot be invisible anymore, but please don’t make me important.”
Lord Sterling folded his arms and gave him a thorough look. “Are you finished?”
Michael blinked once. “Yes…”
“Good. Dance with Janet first, she’ll be pacified that way. Come on.” He put his hand on Michael’s back and steered him onwards, shaking his head in some disgruntlement.
As luck would have it, Janet was with the Spinsters conglomeration, which enabled Michael to join them in a natural way without raising speculation.
He’d thank Lord Sterling later for that, if nothing else.
He shook hands with the men, extended greetings especially to Camden Vale and Lord Radcliffe, whose courtship of Lady Edith some months past Michael had entirely missed. Both seemed particularly pleased with their lot in life, and Michael found himself strangely envious of their joy.
He caught sight of Janet and moved to her. “Lady Sterling.”
Her dark eyes twinkled as she grinned. “Mr. Sandford. I’m so pleased you could attend this evening.”
“As am I, my lady,” he replied with a bow. “Might I have the honor of the next dance?”
Her expression brightened further still. “Why, of course! I’ve seen you dance a bit more this Season, and I must say you are rather good at it.”
“Passable at best, my lady, I assure you.” Still, he smiled at the compliment, as one was prone to do in Lady Sterling’s company. “It is all due to the partners I have chosen. That is the trick. A passable dancer may appear skilled if his partner exudes excellence. I never choose anything less now.”
Lady Sterling shook her head, laughing quietly. “Oh, you have learned well, Mr. Sandford. Most impressive.”
Michael grinned. “I beg your pardon, my lady, but I have always been able to flatter well and with sincerity.”
“You simply never did?” she suggested.
“Correct, my lady.”
She nodded now, seeming all the more pleased. “Perfect.” She looked at something behind him, and her smile deepened. “I do believe someone would like to speak with you, sir.”
Michael turned in surprise, that surprise shifting something in his chest as Charlotte stood there, lovelier this close than she had been at a distance.
Something about her seemed stiff, hesitant, almost nervous, yet a ringlet near her left ear drew his attention, his fingers itching to touch it.
“Charlotte,” he said, grateful he didn’t sound out of breath or guttural as he did so.
She smiled a little, but it wavered. “Michael, would you mind terribly if I had a word? Out on the terrace, perhaps?”
He blinked at the suggestion and glanced out of the windows. “The terrace?” he repeated.
“Capital idea,” Lady Sterling praised. “Privacy while in full view of us. You know the way, don’t you, Charlotte?”
Charlotte smiled at her, nodding. “I do, thank you, Janet.” Her eyes flicked up to Michael’s, the hesitation returning. “Michael?”
He gestured for her to lead on. “Of course.”
The smile flashed across her face. “Thank you. Only a quick word, back in a blink.” She turned on her heel and hurried away, leaving Michael to follow in confusion.
What in the world was this?
Oh, she would die before she could get the words out of her mouth.
Back in a blink? Was she all of ten years old once more trying to convince her mother that she hadn’t behaved badly?
The terrace was expansive, and it was well lit, but Charlotte would have given anything for a dark garden and a hedge between them.
Her heart pounded almost violently within her, and she pressed a fist to it in an attempt to force it into submission.
How could she confess to Michael that she loved him if she could not hear anything? Could almost see her heart beat as her pulse seemed to exist behind her eyes…
“What did you need a word in private for?” Michael laughed as he came onto the terrace with her. “Surely you have no secrets from the Spinsters.”
She swallowed with difficulty, willing herself to have the strength to turn and face him. “They wouldn’t think so, but this has nothing to do with them, and everything to do with you and me.”
“Oh, dear,” he sighed, sounding so like the friend she had known before all of this that she found herself smiling, the tension in her lessening just enough that she could turn to him now.
She exhaled slowly and forced her fingers to unhook from each other and fist at her sides instead.
There would be no turning back from this.
“You’re not going to believe this, Michael,” she began with a strained laugh, “and in fact, I barely believe it myself, but it is the truth, and I have to tell you now or it will not happen.”
His attention was fixed on her, his eyes hooded in the dark of the night. He had stilled, seeming to barely breathe as he stood there. “You hate my mother, don’t you?”
Charlotte blinked slowly, then blinked again as his words replayed in her mind. “Wait, what?”
He shook his head, exhaling slowly. “I’ve suspected for years, but you’re finally admitting it, aren’t you?”
“Erm, no?” Charlotte gave Michael an incredulous look, wondering where in the world he pulled that thought from, and how he could possibly think she would need the privacy of the terrace to tell him something like that. “I mean, she isn’t my favorite person, but she’s not…”
“Ah ha!” he cried, pointing at
