LITMIR.BIZ

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I—”

      “You don’t tease with Grayson, or else risk giving him the upper hand,” she went on as if he hadn’t tried to speak. “I know your arrival was unexpected, but you’ve been home above an hour now, and still Grayson has not assembled the staff in the entrance hall to welcome you.”

      “I don’t need—”

      “Yes, you do! The staff has been answering to Grayson for eight long months, and Grayson has been answering to no one. Begin as you plan to go on, Rafe. Take charge. You were a captain in the King’s army, surely you know how to order men about, make them do your bidding. You sent them into battle, by God, to fight and perhaps die for you.”

      “Running a household is scarcely akin to—”

      “You think that? Oh, you poor deluded man. Grayson has been all but browbeating Mrs. Piggle—your housekeeper, Rafe—and the servants have aligned themselves with either one or the other. Ashurst Hall has been an armed camp since your uncle’s death, I swear it. You need to put your foot down, today, or else prepare for a mutiny.”

      “You’re serious, aren’t you? Emmaline was in charge, surely. I can’t imagine Grayson or anyone else riding roughshod over her.”

      Charlotte’s eyes, so steadily boring into his, shifted slightly, hidden behind her lowered eyelids. “She…Your aunt was in mourning.”

      “Yes, of course. And then she was married. I can see why she wouldn’t have been paying too much attention to domestic matters.”

      “Exactly!” she exclaimed, almost as if she was pouncing on his words. “Uh…yes, that’s exactly it. In any event, what should concern you is what steps you need to take to set things to rights. After all, Emmaline won’t be returning here, not now that she’s the Duchess of Warrington, and soon to present His Grace with an heir.”

      Rafe looked at her in surprise. “She is? She never said any such thing in her letters to me.”

      “No…ah…she wouldn’t have, would she.” Again Charlotte averted her gaze. “Perhaps she didn’t wish to speak of anything so private with a man? I received a post from her just today, apprising me of the coming happy event. Not even the twins know.” She lowered her chin slightly. “The twins most especially do not know.”

      “Yes, and we’re back to the twins. My not quite grown, yet no longer quite children either sisters. You’re going to tell me I handled that badly, as well?”

      “It could have gone better,” Charlotte said, shrugging. “I would have liked if Lydia could have been more animated. And Nicole a little less so. Lydia will give you no problems, Rafe.”

      “But Nicole will?”

      Charlotte sighed audibly. “As long as you’re aware, you should be able to handle her.”

      “Really? How do you handle her, seeing as how Emmaline put you in charge of them?”

      “I simply try to think of everything Nicole shouldn’t do, and then assume that she will. A plan not without its flaws, I’m afraid, as I find my mind is not half so devious as hers.”

      “Now that’s unnerving, as I seem to recall that there was little you wouldn’t attempt. You were always either in a scrape or escaping one by the skin of your teeth. There were times I thought you headed for complete disaster, as I remember.”

      “So I’ve been told,” Charlotte said rather tightly as she got to her feet, clearly cutting off that line of conversation. “Shall I ring for Grayson? You do need to put the man back in his place, and delaying that moment only undermines you more.”

      “I’ll do it,” Rafe said, also rising. “Although I probably should change my clothes before I walk the length of the line, my hands clasped behind my back, solemnly accepting the bows and curtsies of my staff. God, Charlie, you know I’m going to laugh at some point, and make a total cake of myself.”

      “Hide a straight pin in those clasped hands, and when you feel an undukely giggle coming on, simply stick yourself with it,” she suggested, already heading for the door.

      “A straight pin. Of course. What would I do without you, Charlie?”

      She hesitated as she got to the doorway, and then turned to face him for a moment, her smile finally back after what he’d been sure was an awkward moment, although he didn’t know why it had been awkward. “Keep calling me Charlie, Your Grace, and you might just find out!”

      Rafe laughed out loud, watching her leave after having landed the perfect parting shot, and then shook his head, wondering why he suddenly felt so alone again.

      He waited a few moments before following after her, hoping Phineas had ordered a bath prepared and unpacked at least one change of clothes for him by now.

      As he mounted the stairs he continued to visually inspect his new home, the one he had run tame in often over the years, but only as his father’s son, the poor relation abandoned, yet again, by his flighty mother.

      He’d be all right, he’d be fine in a few days. His new circumstances just needed some getting used to, that’s all.

      Thank God he’d had the luck to stumble over good old Charlie—no, Charlotte. With Fitz out of commission, she was the only friend he had.

       Chapter Three

      CHARLOTTE’S PACE increased as she neared the top of the staircase and turned down the hallway to her right, heading for Nicole’s bedchamber. Once again, firmly blocking thoughts of Rafe from her mind, she was a woman on a mission.

      When she reached the door, she didn’t knock, but simply threw it open, stepped inside, slammed the thing behind her and declared, “You.”

      Lady Nicole Daughtry smiled into the vanity mirror as she continued to comb her long dark hair. “Hello again, Charlotte. My congratulations.”

      Charlotte stomped across the large pink-and-white bedchamber, her footsteps maddeningly muffled by the succession of priceless Aubusson carpets. “Your congratulations for what, Nicole? Not strangling you earlier?”

      “Of course. Oh, and about that,” Nicole said, turning on her satin-topped bench. “How did you discover our small deception? I knew the moment I first saw you that you knew. I slipped up somewhere, didn’t I? Was it something my brother said to you? I can’t imagine how else you could have known.”

      “And I can’t imagine how you got away with such a dastardly deception all this time,” Charlotte admitted, taking the silver-backed brush from Nicole’s hand and dragging it none too gently through the girl’s hair. “Not only fooling your aunt and brother, but me, as well.”

      “It’s that last part that rankles, doesn’t it?” Nicole said, wincing as the brush encountered a knot.

      “Considering that I was the only one here, actually reading the letters, yes, it rankles. Why didn’t you tell me what you were about? I would have helped you.”

      The moment Charlotte said the words she realized that, indeed, she would have aided Nicole and Lydia in their grand deception. After all, Emmaline deserved her happiness and peace of mind, and Rafe had clearly wished to continue on as he had been before his uncle’s death, escorting Bonaparte into exile and being a part of his guard. It wasn’t as if the twins had been left unchaperoned in a cave somewhere.

      Nicole tipped back her head and grinned up at Charlotte. “Yes, I thought you would have, but Lydia couldn’t be convinced.”

      Charlotte pushed Nicole’s head forward once more. “Liar. Lydia, as we both know, can be convinced of anything when you’re the one weaving fantastic stories. Admit it, Nicole, it was you who decided not to share this adventure with me. You must have spent hours and hours composing those bogus letters. I could have helped. And I most certainly could have improved upon your abysmal spelling.”

      “In

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