Spinster Ever After (The Spinster Chronicles #7) - Rebecca Connolly Page 0,44
all the time. I am not likely to make any sort of impression now unless I make some drastic changes, which is what we have done.”
“Steady on,” Michael muttered, smiling for the effect of others around them. “I wasn’t insulting your efforts.”
She’d have glared at him had they been anywhere else. “Weren’t you? I haven’t seen you about in ages.”
“You haven’t sent for me. You could have done.”
The flippant words held the same sharp edge his previous words had done, and they rankled just as much. “When have you ever needed an invitation?”
“We aren’t sixteen anymore, Charlotte. I cannot just call without a reason and have it pass the gossips unnoticed.” He paused in the act of reaching for his drink again, then shook his head and continued. “It wouldn’t be right, and it wouldn’t be fair.”
Charlotte ignored appearances and propriety, staring at Michael blatantly and without shame. “Right and fair? To whom, Michael? Everyone knows we are friends, as evidenced by this seating arrangement. No one would suspect anything untoward. They haven’t done so yet.”
Michael exhaled roughly and straightened, keeping his gaze ahead rather than on her. “To me, Charlotte. If I am always tied to you, it will make things deuced awkward, if not impossible, to find a wife for myself. How can I attach myself to someone else if everyone assumes that the only woman in my life is you? You are not the only one seeking a change of situation.”
Nothing could have prepared her for those words from him, and she could barely comprehend the meaning behind them. Was he saying he wanted to get married? When had that been decided?
Before or after she had decided to do so?
“You’re pursuing matrimony?” Charlotte whispered. “When was this decided? You never said.”
“I don’t tell you everything.”
They ate in silence, and the space between them might as well have held its very own blizzard for all the warmth there.
It wasn’t right, her arguing with him about this sort of thing. She was pursuing matrimony, so why shouldn’t Michael? Just because they had never spoken of it did not mean he should not, or could not. He was free to do as he liked without reference to Charlotte. It was entirely possible that her decision to marry had given him cause to consider the topic and, especially given his mother’s wishes, give in and pursue the same.
Why should they fall out over it?
“No, of course,” she murmured, unsure if he would hear her, or if he’d care to. “Nor should you have to.” Forcing herself to brighten, she made a show of enjoying her meal. “Have you entered into a courtship with anyone? I shall have to give my consent to your choice, you know.”
Michael grunted once, the tone flat. “No, I have not, and yes, I presumed as much. And I am not… That is… Marriage is not my primary concern, I am only allowing myself to consider the possibility.”
Charlotte considered that with a playful tilt of her head. “Oh, by all means, consider away. Anyone in particular we are considering as yet?”
Now Michael looked at her in full, smiling in what had to be the first genuine manner all evening. “No, Charlotte.”
“No what?” she pressed, the playacting growing easier. “No, you aren’t considering anyone?”
“No, there is no ‘we’ in this scenario,” he said simply. “No, I am not discussing any of this with you. No, you do not get to pick someone out for me. No, we will not be exchanging details of any future courtships either of us are engaged in as some sort of commiseration of its troubles. No, no, and no, Charlotte.”
She giggled in spite of herself but sensed that Michael wasn’t injecting as much humor into his words as she was. “But I can help, Michael. You know I can.”
He shook his head firmly. “I have all the help I need. Besides, I’ve read every issue of the Spinster Chronicles. I know all of the advice on courtship and the like, and I’d rather not be so closely examined.”
The message was unmistakable; Charlotte was to have nothing to do with Michael’s impending yet currently hypothetical courtship. She was, in effect, to be excluded. Did that mean he wished to be excluded from her attempts, as well?
Charlotte absently fiddled with the base of her nearest fork, her throat working as she tried to find words. “And… if I would like some advice on my own courtship? When it happens? Might I ask your opinion on