Three Schemes and a Scandal Read Online Free PDF Page A

person. Occasionally she had moments. But she could not forgive the way he never really spoke to her again after that incident. Had their years of friendship meant nothing?
    “Have you been holding this grudge for eight years?”
    It wasn’t as if he gave her a chance to forgive him. He never asked her to turn about the room, or waltz, or offered to fetch her lemonade. All those little gestures signified nothing to anyone else but would have meant the world to her. She didn’t say that, though.
    “I was going to set you up with a very nice young lady,” Charlotte said. “But her bonnet became entangled in tree branches.”
    “I have narrowly escaped matrimony to one girl, only to find myself risking it with another,” James remarked.
    “I don’t want to be here either, James. And I certainly don’t want to marry someone who mocks delicate young ladies when they are in a fragile emotional state, quite possibly eats pets and then refuses to speak to their childhood friend for eight years,” she said, pausing to turn and face him. He shrugged—how infuriating! “In other words, you. I don’t want to marry you,” she added.
    Really, though, she didn’t want to entrust her heart to him again, knowing he might forsake her. Again.
    “I got that,” he said leveling a stare. His eyes were very blue, and she was all in awe of his gaze as he took her in: tussled girl, dirty dress. She must have looked like a petulant child. Except there was nothing childlike about the way he looked at her, or how it made her feel.
    “Well, say something,” Charlotte implored after he stared at her for a long while.
    Then James grinned, tugged one of her curls and said, “C’mon, Char, let’s get the hell out of here. I’m going to climb up on those crates and see if I can reach the window.”
    Like that, the moment was over, yet a hint of their old familiarity had resurfaced.
    “It would mean so much to me if your first act of freedom was to unlatch the door. I’d have the devil of a time explaining to my brother why I was locked in a folly,” she said.
    “I’m sure you would manage magnificently. I’m also sure he wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest.”
    “I’m not sure if that is a compliment. Or not.”
    “I know you, Charlotte,” murmured James. He did, like no one else. Even Harriet. She was used to being misunderstood or avoided by those scared of her reputation for wit and trouble. With those warm words, with that heated look, a little bit of her loneliness melted.
    “What time is it?” she asked.
    “A quarter to four!” James said. Then he swore, viciously. And she grinned, wickedly.
    “Perhaps we needn’t be out by four precisely. We can wait until after everyone leaves and then presumably a servant will return here for something. Thus, we shall obtain our freedom and his silence for a nominal fee. Servants are easily bribed. Don’t ask how I know that.”
    “I am due to give a speech honoring my father and commemorating the completion of this folly. I must also do so up to the standards of the oh-so-perfect Gideon.”
    “Well you’d better see to climbing out that window then,” Charlotte urged. If Gideon was half as insufferable as he’d been as a child … She supposed people like Gideon served a useful purpose in the world, such as taking on tedious tasks no one else wanted, and serving as excellent people to prank.
    “See if Harriet is outside. We can call for her.”
    James climbed up the crates, reaching for the window and pulling his weight up enough so he could peer out.
    “I don’t see Harriet.”
    “She must have helped Lucy back to the party.”
    “Your plans have failed spectacularly, Charlotte,” James said, adopting a tragic expression.
    “Yes my plan for you to climb out the window and unlock the door is not going as planned.”
    “About that …”
    “What? Why are you climbing down?” Charlotte asked, a note of panic creeping into her voice. The clock was literally