Read Online Heir to Rowanlea by Sally James - Free Book Online Page A

for her she would be given a message. Charlotte watched them go, thinking how odd it was that Harry, who normally had no patience with people who were afraid of dogs, seemed to have had his protective instincts aroused by Elizabeth’s feeble behavior.
    * * * *
    Two days later there was an important ball, and Charlotte wore her first really grand ball dress of pale silver gauze, with an underdress of white silk embroidered with pale blue. Her mother, surveying her proudly, thought there could not have been another girl so fresh and attractive, for although Charlotte lacked classical beauty, her sparkling eyes and the red lips that curved into the most enchanting smile gave her a most pleasing vivacity, and her ready appreciation of everything humorous, coupled with instant sympathy for real distress, made her a charming companion.
    Many of the men at the ball seemed to share that opinion, for she was besieged by would-be partners, and several men previously strangers contrived to win introductions to her. Charlotte herself was unconcerned, and bestowed her hand for the first dance on Jack. During it, in between the movements of the country dance which frequently separated them, she gave him a graphic but disjointed account of the disastrous meeting between Elizabeth and Wolf.
    “Harry escorted her home and has said nought about it since. I think he took her driving again yesterday, but he does not say where he has been.”
    “No, he did not, for I did,” Jack replied. “He saw us and looked daggers, but I pretended not to have seen him and did not stop.”
    “Don’t make him jealous of you!” Charlotte said in alarm. “Oh, look, there she is, just come in. Where is Harry?”
    “With one of the Westering females, I think,” Jack answered. “You do not fear he will call me out?” he added with a laugh.
    “No, of course not, but he does do mad things! Let us go and sit down. It’s impossible to converse while dancing. Tell me about the race. What are these horses you have bought?”
    “Oh, the sweetest goers you’ve ever seen,” Jack enthused. “I had them from Pauling.”
    “Lord Pauling?”
    “Yes, do you know him?”
    “No, we haven’t met, but Elizabeth was boasting about his horses and his big house in Berkeley Square, and how he was making up to her.”
    “Has she a large fortune?” Jack asked quickly.
    “Not enormous, but quite enough to buy a title. Why do you ask?”
    “It’s going round the clubs that Pauling was badly dipped last month, and was retrenching. He’s sold several of his hunters, and means, he explained to me, to go abroad for a while. Unless, I’ll hazard, he can find a rich wife! I had hoped to get his bays, for they’re the primest bit of cattle I’ve ever seen, but he wasn’t selling them and I had to make do with his second pair. But they’re still good enough to beat Harry’s greys,” he added, grinning down at Charlotte. “Will you back me?”
    “Harry’s greys are unbeatable when he is driving them,” she replied quickly. “No, Jack, I’ll not bet on you. Not unless you permit me to drive with you.”
    “Drive with me? What nonsense is this?”
    “Oh please, Jack. Just consider, unless one is the most depraved female, like Letty Lade, one can never do such things as drive in races, like you men can. If you take me, I might persuade Harry to ask Elizabeth. She says she is afraid, but if it were really possible, and she thought Harry might invite some other girl she might agree. And if he won, she would regard him more favorably.”
    Jack was reluctant, but in the end she persuaded him, and he promised faithfully to arrange it with Harry.
    “Though he won’t be at all pleased, it might induce him to take fewer risks,” he warned.
    “But you’ll take fewer as well, so the race will still be even,” she pointed out, and watched gleefully as he left her to seek out Harry.
    She discovered not all of the men shared her confidence that Harry’s greys were