Page 33 of A Perfect Engagement
“Daniel! Are you alive?”
He popped open his eyes to find Charlotte’s worried face peering down at him. She had scrambled up into the hay pile to see if he lived. How sweet. With an impulse too strong to resist, he reached out to grab her ankle and sent her tumbling into the hay.
“Alive? Yes, I have never felt more alive.” Laughter bubbled up in his chest at her shocked expression as she lay motionless in the hay.
“You did that on purpose. You brute!” she sputtered.
He laughed so hard tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. “Do you want to have a turn? It was quite exhilarating,” he asked.
“I think not.” Charlotte sat up and began brushing hay from her skirts.
“That’s three for me then. I believe that evens it up for our day of new experiences.”
“It has been a fun morning.” Charlotte surprised him by lying back down to stare up at the massive wooden beams crisscrossing the barn’s ceiling. “I have never laid in a pile of hay. Which is one more for me.” She grabbed a handful of hay and threw it up in the air.
He could think of oh so many new experiences he could show her. Charlotte lay just three feet from him. Close enough if he rolled toward her, he could run his fingers across the soft skin of her cheek, could lean in and kiss her berry lips.
“What did it feel like? To run away from home, I mean.” Charlotte asked. “You mentioned you traveled on the continent.”
“I didn’t exactly run away from home.” He paused. Had he? “The other night when the duel with Rawlings was mentioned, that was true. Although the situation was not what everyone thought. I helped a friend, but I never compromised her, we just made it appear as though I had. Anyway, when Rawlings lost the duel, he blustered all over town about it, the fool. You’d think he’d be embarrassed to have lost. Miles thought it would be best if I left England to travel for a bit. He and my father were worried about appearances. I suppose I grabbed at the suggestion because I was at loose ends. So to answer your question in a very long way, I guess, yes, it felt good to get away from my life for a while.”
Charlotte sighed wistfully. “Yes, I imagine it would. I don’t know if I am adventurous enough to travel overseas. What was your favorite city?”
“I would have to say Venice, Italy. The entire city is built out on the water. People traverse by boat through the canals. It is a bustling port. There are beautiful homes lining the canals. Italian society is warm, and the food is amazing.” Daniel imagined Charlotte cuddled next to him in a gondola, his arm tight around her as they watched the sunset, a golden orange over St Mark’s Basilica.
His description elicited another wistful sigh from Charlotte. “What about your brother, does he like to travel?”
Her mention of Miles slapped him like cold water in his face. “My brother has the means to take you anywhere you would like to travel,” he said, his voice more clipped than she deserved. He tried again. “Honestly, I’m not sure what Miles likes to do these days. He seems so changed since my father died, and I have been gone. We seem to be living lives so far apart from each other.”
He missed the camaraderie he and his brother always had before. What had happened? Was it simply a product of growing up? Miles certainly seemed different. So reserved, living his life by the strict rules of society, marrying because he was supposed to beget an heir. Was his brother so stuck in his new role he wasn’t himself any longer? Daniel pushed himself up to a sitting position and rested his arms on his knees. When they were boys, they always had the same friends, enjoyed the same diversions. Miles had grown into his responsibilities, and the distance between them grew.
Charlotte turned her head to gaze up at him. Her dark-fringed eyes were filled with understanding. “Sometimes those of us who are left behind have to do whatever it takes to survive in the world we inhabit.”
Standing up, he leaned down to offer his assistance to Charlotte. “Like you with Lucius, I miss my brother. I need to make more effort to see him. Life has gotten in the way.”
Charlotte held up her hands to grasp his outstretched ones. He easily righted her, but as they attempted to wade out of the acre of hay, Charlotte stumbled. She tumbled backward against him, sending them both off-balance. Daniel ended up on his back again, this time with his arms full of Charlotte. And wasn’t that a treat.
She wriggled in an attempt to get off of him, and his body ignited in delicious torment. She froze the minute she felt his rock-hard erection; even the layers of her skirts couldn’t mask it when they lay pressed so close together. Her face flamed, and her gaze shifted away from his face. Her second attempt to get off of him was successful. Getting to her feet, she scurried down through the hay like a frightened rabbit. Blowing out his breath in a long stream of air, Daniel took his time getting up.
“Stupid brother, all his fault. Damn him, short-sighted fool…” he muttered as he made his way off the hay. Charlotte stood with her back to him at the entrance of the barn, staring up at the gray sky.
“Look, it has stopped raining. We should head back while we can.” She didn’t glance his way but strode over to her horse. Using a bale of hay for help, she mounted her mare. Then before he could even respond, she trotted out of the barn into the damp afternoon.
Chapter Fifteen
Today was the most fun I have had in a long while. So that is one more for me. ~H
Lost in herthoughts, Charlotte held onto the bedpost for support as her maid, Lizzie, pulled the strings of her corset together. She stared down where the note Daniel had sent lay on her bed. It had been accompanied by a small bouquet of bluebells. The cheerful flowers represented the fun of their day together perfectly. She thought of Daniel’s infectious good humor, his solid strength, his uncanny ability to see what she was feeling. No one had paid her such close attention since Lucius had left home. Her friends, as dear as they were, only saw as much as she wished them to see of her secret worries, of her self-doubts. But Daniel always deciphered her moods. It was damned disconcerting.
Had he been able to see the desire flash through her today when she’d fallen on top of him? When the hard evidence of his own desire had been so obvious? They were playing with fire. She needed Hawksridge to return immediately. Once he was here, surely all of her tumultuous feelings for Daniel would transfer to Miles, where they rightly belonged.
The door burst open, and her mother swept into the room. “Lizzie, that will be all. I will help Charlotte finish dressing for dinner.”
Her maid stepped back and gave a quick curtsy to Lady Markham before exiting the room. The thunderous expression on her mother’s face told her she was in trouble.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Charlotte Annabelle Grisham, did you go into town today instead of participating in the hunt?” Her mother barely took a breath before continuing. “I specifically told you the hunt would be an excellent opportunity for you to show off your skills as a horsewoman to your fiancé, didn’t I? Plus, you are the hostess of this party. You should be leading all the activities we have planned. Not shirking your duties!”
