The linen was useless for blotting her tears. She lay there in a miserable welter of sorrow, sobbing quietly into her arms, when Lina found her.
She put her arms around her, murmuring soft, comforting things, helping her to her feet, repositioning (he cover around her naked body. "Where are your clothes, dearest?"
"I. . . in. . . the. . . nursery," she said between hiccups. "Don't go there. He's in a rage. "
"'He doesn't know the meaning of the word rage" Lina said darkly. "Did he hurt you?"
Charlotte shook her head. "No. "
Lina knew the halls as well as Adrian had. Within minutes she'd brought Charlotte back to her rooms, Meggie bustling around her, making clucking noises as she helped her bathe. "He certainly marked you, that one," she said. "I hope you did the same to him. "
Charlotte closed her eyes, refusing to think about it. Refusing to think about the bite mark on his shoulder, the scratches on his back.
“Don't worry, sweeting," Lina said. "He'll marry you, make no doubt about that. If he thinks he can get away with this without offering for you. . . "
"He did offer for me. I told him no. "
Lina's astonishment mirrored Adrian's, and Charlotte's ire began to rise again. "Why does everyone assume I should be grateful for the tidbits of attention he's tossing me?" she demanded. "I don't want a cold-b1ooded marriage of short-term lust and long term politeness. ”
“It doesn't have to be that way," Lina protested.
"Yes, it does. That's what he's offering me. He was quite astounded that I would refuse such a magnanimous offer. He probably thought I would be struck dumb with gratitude. Well, I'm not grateful. I'd rather spend my life a fallen woman. I'd rather marry a ragpicker and live in the stews of London than marry that. . . that arrogant pig bladder. "
Lina was sitting on the bed beside her, a troubled expression on her face. "Charlotte, you have to marry him. I think you might be increasing. "
Charlotte looked at her blankly, the words making no sense. And then the meaning was clear. "No," she said flatly. She thought about it a moment. "Absolutely no. " The strange sense of lassitude and energy, the feeling of fullness and growth. "I can't be. "
"Meggie says you haven't had your monthly courses. Just a few drops of blood, and that's often a sign of pregnancy. You've been tired all the time, sick in the morning, the smell of bacon makes you ill when you used to eat it by the pound. We won't know for sure, but you have all the signs. You have to marry him"
"No," she said stubbornly. "That just makes me even more convinced. I'm not going to bring a child into the world and give him a. . . a. . . jackass like Adrian for a father. "
"You want to bring a bastard into the world?" "We can raise her together. That is, unless you're sending me away for gross immorality. "
Lina's laugh sounded suspiciously close to tears. "No, darling, I'm not. And if you don't want Adrian then you don't have to have him. We'll figure something out. Go away to the continent, or out to the country during your confinement. No one need ever know. ”
"I'm not giving the child up," she said.
"We'll tell everyone the baby was an orphan we've taken into our home. Don't worry, darling, it will be—"
Her bedroom door slammed open, and Adrian was standing there, fully dressed, vibrating in rage. "You didn't think it worthwhile informing me that you're pregnant?" he roared.
Charlotte stiffened, her own "Where did you get that idea?"
"From Monty. He wants to know you won’t marry me as well. ”
“Because I don’t love you. ”
It was the wrong thing to say, but she was goaded. He looked at her in complete astonishment, and then laughed. "Why in the world would you think love has anything to do with what's between us? It's healthy lust that we ought to enjoy as long as it lasts, and then—"
"That's enough," Lina broke in hastily. "I believe you've put your foot in your mouth enough for one day. Why don't you go back down and chew on it for a while. Charlotte needs her rest If she is increasing, and we're not even sure of that, then we need to take extra-special care of her. "
Adrian's eyes narrowed. "You told me you've been entertaining gentlemen nonstop since you arrived back in London. What makes you think the child is mine?”
Meggie had just set the tea tray down in her lap, and Charlotte didn't hesitate. She picked up the pot and flung it at him, scalding tea spewing out over the bedroom.
It hit him on the unmarked side of his face, slamming against his cheekbone and breaking. The tea drenched him, but he didn't flinch, even as blood began to trickle down his cheek from the spot where a shard of china had sliced through the skin.
"Be damned to you then," he said, and slammed the door as he went.