Chapter Seven
Before the earl could respond to her challenging words, Charity spun on her heel and dashed from the room and his townhouse. She dashed from the earl’s home all the way to 48 Berkeley Square. The journey was not a long one, and, with the aid of the footman, she hurriedly descended the carriage steps and lightly ran up the steps of the ladies’ club. She greeted their highly dependable and loyal butler while handing over her pelisse.
Hastening down the hallway, the sound of laughter tugged her to the main sitting room, where they had their wager board. Opening the door, she saw several ladies gathered around the large, mounted board. With a quiet laugh, she noted the latest dare was for Frederica to kiss her infuriating newly appointed guardian, the Marquess of Wolverton. More interestingly, ‘dare accepted’ was scrawled beside it.
Charity closed the door and dashed up the staircase to the second floor. She went to the large room reserved for card playing, knowing that would be where she would find Prue and Theo at this time of the day. Pushing that door open, she smiled to see that she was correct. All the ladies present had their bonnets discarded, their coiffures unpinned, and their feet bare of stockings and shoes. Several glasses of sherry also rested on the table with plates of cakes and small sandwiches.
Removing her hat and gloves, Charity hurriedly dropped them on a sofa that held all sorts of fripperies. She removed her boots and unpinned her hair, ruffling the shoulder-length auburn hair with a sigh.
“Do I have news for you all,” she said with a grin, barely able to prevent herself from touching her still tingling mouth. Being kissed…desired…was all overwhelmingly new to her. Thankfully, her heart had calmed. On the brief carriage ride, it had felt as if it would burst outward.
“You look like the cat who stole all of the cream and kippers from the breakfast table,” Harriet said, arching her brow.
Charity paused, realizing she was truly delighted that the earl had taken liberties. “I…I was kissed.”
That had all the ladies playing whist—Prue, Agatha, Harriet, and Lucinda tossing down the cards to provide their rapt attention.
“Kissed?” Prue said, looking flustered. “Did this happen while you completed the dare?”
Miss Frederica, who had been quietly reading, lowered her copy of Emma gently onto the walnut table. That tidbit added to the kiss was finally enough to pull her from the engrossing read.
Theo, the wonderful leader of their ladies’ club, straightened from where she sat with her bare legs curled on the sofa, her book also forgotten. “You managed to complete the dare? You stole back the letters?”
“I did last night.”
The ladies stared at her with varying degrees of excitement and shock. Then questions spilled from their mouths in quick succession.
“How did you do it?”
“Did you get all the letters for Jenna?”
“What does the dare have to do with you being kissed!”
Laughing, Charity held up her hand for silence. Quickly, she relayed everything that happened.
“Yes, I see it now,” Lucinda said. “Your lips are red and swollen. That, my dears, was a most thorough kiss, not just a peck.”
Charity blushed and then laughed.
Frederica frowned. “The gentleman who broke into Viscount Sallis’s home and also kissed you is Lord Ralston, Jenna’s brother?”
“Yes,” Charity said, walking over to the mantle to pour herself a glass of sherry.
There was a moment of silence as they all absorbed that news.
“It still does not make any sense,” Harriet cried, looking flabbergasted. “Lord Ralston…and he kissed you just now in his library?”
Charity nodded, smiling widely, loving that she shocked her friends. “Yes, he did, and as Lucinda said, it was very thorough.”
Theo frowned. “The Earl of Ralston?”
“Yes.”
“Are you certain it was he?” Prue asked.
This was getting ridiculous. Charity laughed. “I was there…and it was the earl.”
Theo grinned. “Ralston does not strike me as the romantic type. He always seems so aloof and unapproachable.” Theo put down her glass of sherry, her expression thoughtful. “There are whispers he is seeking a wife. Perhaps he was testing the waters with you, Charity.”