An Improper Situation (Sanborn-Malloy Historical Romance Series, Book One) (24 page)

Charlotte couldn’t help it. Tossing decorum aside, she discreetly removed her gloves so she could brush her palms against the soft, goat leather seats. What a luxury. She relaxed and would have closed her eyes if Jason hadn’t been there. But that would be beyond rude.

Still, for a moment, despite Jason’s friendly society, the coziness of his carriage reminded her of her peaceful study, her own comfortable chair, and her solitude. She sighed.

“
What is it, Miss Sanborn?” Jason’s soft tones seemed to match the upholstery of his plush vehicle.

She laughed at her own foolishness.
“I don’t want to sound provincial, but I cannot believe all that has happened in such a short time. If you could see where I was just a week ago, and now, Faneuil Hall.”

“
You could never be provincial,” he returned, making her blush, “but I expect our lively city is, without a doubt, a vast change from . . . Spring City, was it?”

“
Yes, where—”

“
You and Thaddeus grew up.”

She closed her mouth quickly with a snap, as his words caught her by complete surprise.
“How did you . . . ? That is, do you know my brother?” she asked, her heart suddenly pounding at the thought of seeing Teddy.

“
I met him on a trip along the northwest passage.” Her companion regaled her with a story that made her almost wish she were a man. It seemed they met soon after Thaddeus had left home, two young men from very different backgrounds, both searching for their purpose.

Charlotte was astounded.
“But how on earth did you know I was here, Mr. Farnsworth?” she asked.

“
Please, call me Jason. How did I know?” He tapped the side of his black bowler with his ivory handled cane. “I know my city, Charlotte. I keep my ear to its workings and know what’s what.” He looked out the window a moment as if contemplating those workings.

“
Thaddeus talked a spell of wonder about his older sister, the renowned ‘Charles Sanborn.’ So, when it came to my attention that one Miss Sanborn was coming to stay with her aunt, I thought to myself, could it be? Thaddeus’s older sister lives nigh two thousand miles from here, but, sure enough, it was you. I sent over my card as soon as I knew you were here.”

She ignored the liberty he had taken in using her first name, and the fact that he hadn’t told her aunt outright that he knew her family. After all, he was a friend of her brother’s and she decided then and there that she liked him, despite his slightly dandified ways.

Uppermost in her mind, however, was one question, and she asked him directly, “Do you know where my brother is now?”

Jason Farnsworth shook his blond head.
“Not a clue. Thaddeus Sanborn comes and he goes, always a wanderer, but he’s sure to show up sometime, no doubt when you least expect it.”

That was true. He showed up out of the blue, stayed a week—two, at the most—and then left, sometimes only once or twice a year.

Though they always had a great deal of affection for each other, Teddy never hid his dislike of the humdrum of daily living in Spring City. And Charlotte tried not to let her heart break each time he left her behind.

At the top of Alicia’s front steps, Jason paused.
“I hope you will allow me to take you out in the evening to see the brighter, sparkling side of Boston. Perhaps without your young charges,” he added, gesturing after the children who had already run inside with Bridget.

Intrigued, Charlotte could think of no reason to decline. So this was how it felt to simply be with a member of the opposite sex, without the soaring passion that took over her spirit whenever Reed was near. This was nice, a little tame by comparison, but also less draining. They’d been on an even keel all afternoon.

But what about Reed?
He was supposed to be showing her his birthplace, and she wanted more than anything to share it with him. She would hate to be busy when he returned from his trip. On the other hand, Jason had been more than kind.

Surely, an evening out with him would be a welcome distraction while she awaited Reed’s return. She looked up into Jason’s dancing felt-brown eyes.

“I would like that,” Charlotte told him, then remembering how Alicia preferred to handle her social engagements, not to mention having no idea whether it would be acceptable for her to go out with Jason unchaperoned, she added, “but I couldn’t possibly say when.”

“
I wouldn’t think of pinning you down, Charlotte,” he said, leaning against the doorway to the annoyance of Gerald who was waiting to close it, “to a date, that is.”

Charlotte knew he was teasing her and smiled. It would be agreeable to spend more time with one of Thaddeus’s friends.

“Oh, what a dazzling smile, pierced me right in my heart,” Jason told her, holding his chest melodramatically. “Don’t worry about saying when. I’ll leave my card again and hope that our plans coincide for an evening. The sightseeing was delightful, Charlotte, as are you.” He took her hand and kissed it again.

As his carriage pulled away, Charlotte basked in his flattery for a moment, even though it was obvious he was a shameless flirt. She barely got in the door before her aunt emerged from the parlor.

“On a first name basis, are we?” Alicia didn’t look entirely displeased. It seemed one could be familiar with a man—if he was the
right
sort of man.

“
He turns out to be an old friend of Thaddeus’s,” Charlotte remarked. “I didn’t even know my brother had been to half the places Jason mentioned.”

“
Well,” Aunt Alicia sniffed, “if he’s been to Boston, he certainly hasn’t contacted me.”

“
Mr. Farnsworth didn’t say Thaddeus had ever been here,” Charlotte said, trying to soothe the older woman. They were getting along so well, despite Helen Belgrave, that Charlotte hated to have anything break the peace.

It seemed that the issue of her questionable behavior would dissipate if she remained under Alicia’s roof and allowed her aunt to keep an eye on her. Of course, Charlotte was determined to be on her best behavior at the party, though the hope of dancing again in Reed’s arms was far too thrilling to renounce for the sake of decorum.

*****

Unfortunately when the night of the ball arrived, Reed had not. Over the course of the week, Charlotte had made the acquaintance of two ladies who came calling to meet Alicia Randall’s niece, but Charlotte had received neither a visit from Reed, nor any word that he was once more in Boston.

Instead, it was Jason Farnsworth who escorted her to the Tremont House, as her aunt had predicted. She wore her new gown of midnight blue and allowed Bridget to do her hair as Alicia had suggested, styling it in an elegant chignon that showed off the graceful curve of Charlotte’s neck.

As she descended from Jason’s carriage, she couldn’t help wishing that she were in Spring City at Drake’s barn with Reed and the children and the sweet smell of hay. But the children were home with Bridget, Reed was nowhere to be seen, and the smell of women’s perfume thickly infused the night air.

Charlotte walked between the four Doric columns of the hotel’s entrance with her hand on Jason’s arm and put a tentative smile on her face.

“
I can see at a glance that you are the loveliest woman here, Charlotte,” Jason murmured in her ear as they descended the grand steps to the ballroom. “That is, I could, if I could take my eyes off of you.”

Charlotte had grown used to Jason’s liberties with her name, not to mention his free-flowing compliments. She had appreciated his company over the past few days and was now extremely pleased to be with at least one familiar face.

As for the rest of the glittering crowd, there was not a person that she recognized—until she saw John Trelaine across the room.

A few women sat in a semi-circle with the men hovering around them as bees to sweet flowers. John handed a drink to a pretty round-cheeked woman and then looked up to catch Charlotte’s eye.

She felt a pang of guilt a moment later as she watched him take in her male companion, but shook that off as a ridiculous notion. After all, John could not know with certainty that anything had occurred between her and Reed, unless Reed had confided in his associate. She doubted he would have openly compromised her in that way. Before she could approach John, she heard her aunt’s voice.

“
There you are, Charlotte.” Alicia, with her hair threaded with pearls and styled higher than ever, called out from a regal chair that gave her a good view of the whole room.

Charlotte approached the dais next to a set of large French doors that led to an expansive wraparound terrace. The doors stood open now to let in the cool night air. It was Jason who responded.

“As promised, Aunt Alicia, I have delivered her to your party.”

Alicia looked at Jason carefully. There was a glint in her eye, as she admonished him.

“First of all, I am not your aunt, nor have I given you leave to address me as such. Second, this is not my party, though I do believe it might not have come about if not for my participation.” She gave a small smile of satisfaction .

“
Charlotte, you must meet the hosts, my good friend Amelia and her husband, Oliver. I think they’re by the violinists.”

“
In that case, Mrs. Randall,” Jason amended, with a kiss to Alicia’s gloved hand, “allow me to begin the rounds. I know just about everyone and will see to it that Charlotte does, as well. Of course, as you say, we’ll start with Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Holmes and work our way back to you.”

“
It seems that I have nothing to say in the matter,” Charlotte said, “but am to be trundled around like a carthorse.” Alicia only laughed, so Charlotte allowed Jason to begin the introductions.

“
It won’t be so bad,” he promised, “I’ll steer you clear of any tigers.”

An hour later, it did seem to Charlotte as if Jason knew everyone and now, so did she.

“Mr. Charles Greene,” Jason said, and Charlotte turned to greet one more guest, “may I present Charles Sanborn.”

She gasped at his use of her pen name and started to protest, but then Jason added,
“Charlotte, this is Mr. Greene of the
Boston Post
.”

“
Oh, sir, it is an honor to meet you.” Ten minutes went by in which they spoke of editors they both knew and writers they admired, and then it was nearly time to dance.

“
If you’ll excuse me a minute, Mr. Greene, Mr. Farnsworth,” she took leave of them and headed to where she’d seen other ladies going to check their hair. As she left the powder room, to her unwelcome surprise, she met with a familiar face.

Helen Belgrave looked more like a wolf hunting her meal than an invited guest.

“Let’s skip the niceties, Miss Sanborn.” There was a tone to her voice that Charlotte was not going to put up with.

“
You will kindly be civil or we will not have this discussion at all.”

Helen narrowed her dark eyes until they were merely slits.

“Just what in blue blazes are you really doing in Boston?”

Charlotte raised her eyebrows. So much for pleasantries in the cultured city.

“I would have thought that was obvious. After all, it was you who spoke to the children’s grandmother about my suitability as their guardian.”

“
Oh!” Helen sounded peeved and exasperated at the same time. “As if I’d thought that would bring you hundreds of miles. What
does
he see in a picayune creature like you?”

Charlotte blanched at this indirect mention of Reed; it was odd, indeed, to have a stranger discuss her private affairs.

“You are a mousy spinster from the middle of nowhere, a bookworm at that! When he came to St. Louis—”

“
Reed went to . . .,” Charlotte trailed off, abashed that she had admitted to an interest in his comings and goings. But it was too late. Helen seized on her slip, like a cat on a mouse.

“
Reed,” she sneered. “By what right do you call my lover by his Christian name?”

Charlotte knew that Helen spoke the truth. Reed and Helen
had been
lovers. He’d admitted that much, but she also noted that Helen had dropped the pretense of being affianced. Yet Charlotte could think of nothing to respond. She could hardly say, “Well, we were lovers, too, so I am allowed to take that liberty.” She blushed at her own thoughts.

Helen noticed Charlotte’s high coloring.
“Even the word
lover
is too much for such a prim, dried-up oddity as yourself.” She looked down a moment and smoothed her satin skirts, then she shot Charlotte a direct glance and smiled.

“
I guess he didn’t tell you when he sent me off to St. Louis that he would be joining me on his way to Boston. Reed has always loved that city, and it was the perfect place for us to . . . well, make up from our little quarrel.”

“
I understand you have a sister living there,” Charlotte remarked, keeping her voice calm. The notion that Reed had left her in Spring City, after their emotional conversation, only to go to the awaiting Helen was a devastating blow, but she had to find out if any of what he’d said had been true.