It was a very distinct peppermint scent. She adored it, it smelled lovely, clean, and a little bit like Christmas. From this day forward, everywhere she went and whenever she did smell peppermint, she would be reminded of him and she would know that he was nearby.
Thomas tugged the apron strings back behind her and tied them promptly in place. He had barely even touched her. She was disappointed by the lack of contact, but she realized that he was being a proper gentleman with her, and she had always really liked that about him.
He would tease her from time to time, but he never crossed the line with her. Never. He respected her. A large part of her hoped that one day when she was finally out in society he might even actually like her for her.
Perhaps he would even like her enough to propose marriage to her.
Her body froze, had she really just thought about that with him standing right here?
He must have sensed her frigidness because he asked, “Are you alright?”
“Yes!” Her voice cracked, but she pushed through and continued to speak.
“I’m quite well actually. Thank you for your help Lord Thomas. Well, this was nice, but shouldn’t you be on your way now?”
“You’re welcome, but I’m not going anywhere. Your brothers are supposed to be meeting me out here for some quick rugby practice before we break our fast. It’s what we do at Oxford every morning.”
“I see, so it’s like a routine of sorts?”
“Precisely. I hope you don’t mind if I stay out here for a bit with you while I wait for your brothers.”
“Of course not Lord Thomas, you’re a guest in our home and you should be allowed to do as you please.”
He bowed slightly at her quick response, and than he retreated into the library. Charlotte felt confused, hadn’t he just requested permission to stay out here on the back patio with her?
A second later the maid showed up with the tea and crumpets that Charlotte had requested earlier. A footman accompanied the maid with a small table for the tea tray to be placed on.
Behind the footman came Lord Thomas with two chairs under his arms.
He settled the chairs by the table and then the maid spoke softly, “I added an extra tea cup for you Lord Thomas, just as you requested. I sure hope you enjoy our cook’s morning crumpets.”
The maid blushed quite deeply, she then looked up to see Charlotte staring at her in utter disbelief. The maid’s blush quickly vanished and then she spoke, “My apologies Lady Charlotte, I promise the tea is still hot and ready to be served.”
“Thank you Marta, you may be on your way now.”
Marta curtsied to her mistress and then slowly left the patio, but not without one last look in Lord Thomas’s direction. Charlotte did her best not to laugh, she understood what the maid saw when she looked at Thomas.
“It seems to me my Lord, like you may have an admirer.” Charlotte said this with a teasing smile as the young handsome lord settled himself into a chair by the tea table right next to her.
“I’m not one of those sort of men Lady Charlotte.”
“What sort of men are you referring to Lord Thomas?”
“The sort of men who go after the household staff. I like women, don’t get my wrong, but I’m not going to bed a woman in my host’s house. It’s extremely improper and truly in poor taste.”
Charlotte was right, he was a gentleman with many proper manners.
She smiled at him, “You’re a good one Lord Thomas.”
“I’m the best of the best Lady Charlotte, and don’t you ever forget that.”
She laughed at his remark, but she also noticed that he was also a bit serious in his tone. Since she was a lady it was her role to pour the tea.
So, she performed her duty and poured them both a cup of tea. Charlotte knew how he took his tea.
Thomas liked his tea black, and she preferred hers with some sugar.
“Breakfast crumpet my lord?”
“Yes please, my lady.”
“Would you like some butter, or honey my lord?”
“Both would be pleasant thank you. Butter, then some honey.”
She nodded, then began to slather some butter and honey on two large crumpets. She then placed one on his tea plate, and the other one on hers.
“I usually don’t have company, nor do I share tea, with anyone when I work on my art projects, as you call them Lord Thomas.”
“So you’ve made me an exception just for me Lady Charlotte? I’m quite honored by the sentiment.”
“You could put it in that way. Yes, you’re my exception Lord Thomas.”
Her heart was pounding so hard within her chest that she thought that it would explode. He would always be her exception, she was quite fond of him and wanted him to know that in the simplest of ways without scaring him off. After all, she was a girl of seventeen and he was a young man of two and twenty.
“Thomas, just Thomas when we’re alone together. It’s what I prefer.”
“You don’t like it when people call you a lord?”
“It’s not that I do not like it, it’s that my mother always raised me to be humble about my upbringing and she was the only one, besides my little brother, who ever called me simply by my Christian name.”
“What about your father?”
“Ever since my mother died, he has always calls me Lord Thomas. I’d rather not talk about him if you don’t mind.”
“Of course, I apologize for the intrusion on such a personal matter. It was rude of me even to question you about him. My sincerest condolences for your mother.”
“Thank you Lady Charlotte, she died a long time go. My brother and I were very young, he was barely two years old when she passed.”
“I’m sorry Lord...Thomas. You may call me Charlotte, just Charlotte if you like. If we’re going to be calling one another by our given names, that’s what I prefer you call me as well.”
“How about Lottie?”
She laughed, “No, Andrew is the only one I’ll permit to call me that.”
“Why does Andrew get to be so special?” He asked with a mischievous grin on his ever so perfect face.
Charlotte leaned improperly close to him and whispered close to his ear, “Just between us, he’s my favorite brother.”
“You can’t favor one brother over the other, they’re twins Charlotte.” Thomas said this with a tad bit of shock, but Charlotte could see the truth in her eyes. He found her revelation humorous, and he was genuinely enjoying her company on the back patio.
She shrugged nonchalantly, “Just because they are twins Thomas doesn’t mean their attitudes, personalities, nor their relationship with me is an identical one.”
“Touché my lady.” He laughed as she faked a bow to him in her chair.
“I’m glad they brought you home this weekend.”
She let that admission slip from her lips, and she didn’t even know why she had said it out loud in the first place, but she didn’t regret letting him know how she felt about him being here in her home.
“Why is that? You don’t like Westbrook or Bradley, or the others for that matter? The Marquess of Lyon is quite the catch.”
“I like them all. They’re all the most kind and respectful of gentlemen, even The Earl of Sweeting at times can be a nice fellow.”
“Even Lawrence? Wow...Charlotte. I’m shocked that he has made it into your family’s good graces.”
Charlotte laughed, “He’s a good young man Thomas, just like you.”
“But?” He questionably asked her.
“But...he’s not you.”
Why did she say that! She reached out for her teacup, as she brought it to her lips she told herself to just relax, to pretend as if she hadn’t just admitted that she favored him above all other gentlemen of her acquaintance.
She looked up at him for a moment and she could see that he was surely and thoughtfully studying her with his icy eyes. She felt as if he was reading her like a book, so she sighed and sipped
at her tea hoping he would change the subject of conversation.
“Come now, you can’t just let it go that easily. You need to feed my ego Charlotte, it’s starving for your compliments. Come on.”
He joked by rubbing his stomach, “Rumble, rumble…feed me Charlotte.”
She laughed so hard at his joking manner that laughing tears ran down her plump cheeks. He continued to make faces as if he was a young boy and it was all too funny.
“Thomas, please...stop.” She laughed and laughed until she began to hiccup in an unladylike manner. She could never imagine being so open like this with anyone else outside of her family, except for Thomas.
“Fine! You win Thomas, please stop.”
She wiped at her eyes and smiled. He stopped being facetious at once and then he sat forward in his chair. His elbows elegantly rested upon his thighs, and he looked like a glorious sculpture model ready to be turned into a clay masterpiece.
He then said to her sweetly in the silkiest of voices, “Go on then my sweet English rose.”
She could not believe that such a sweet endearment was coming from his very own mouth right this instance. It was definitely worthy of a swoon, but Charlotte did not believe that she was the type of woman who was prone to swooning. Thank goodness she was sitting down right now, because if she was standing up she might have swayed just a little bit.
His kind words had shocked her, in the best of ways.
Was she still asleep, because all of this suddenly seemed like a dream to her, she was dazed by his utterance. She had to talk to him, and to tell him her version of the truth. She had said she would, and she always stayed true to her word. This could truly go in any sort of way. Whichever way it went, Charlotte hoped that it wouldn’t scare him away.
That would be the worst possible outcome.
“Alright, the truth is that I think that they favor you most of all. You’re the only one who has been invited alone to our home, and the twins always sing about your high praises. That must account for something.”
His response was quick, like a sabers swift cut in the air.
“I am flattered to hear that your brothers are fond of my friendship. I am glad to know that that is something very important to you Charlotte, but I’m far more curious about how any of what you just mentioned results in me being your favorite?”
He replied with a mischievous smirk. He was most certainly a sly one, and Charlotte knew that she had just got stuck in a trap. She wouldn’t have to answer him if she didn’t want to, but a part of her actually wanted to answer him.
So she did just that. Honesty was the best policy, at least sometimes it was. Charlotte hoped that this was one of those times.
Charlotte bit her lip bottom lip, and sucked on it as he plumped up hard. She had to talk to him and explain her reasoning, but she was tremendously nervous. She thought about ceasing the entire ordeal, but Charlotte was stronger than that. Sure, she was being contemplative, but this was the perfect moment to say what she was thinking out loud and to his face as well. They were alone on the back terrace after all.
It was now or never. She took a quick breath, and then spoke.
“Well you’re the most interesting to look at, your face is quite appealing, but I’m sure you already know that. You treat me as an equal, rather than just some little girl. You also like to include me in games, and none of the others have ever attempted to do that before. Also...I like you.”
She whispered that last part of her sentence, and it was more of a statement. That much was true. Charlotte tried to hide her shyness by lightly sipping at her tea. She hoped that he hadn’t heard that last comment, so she tossed up a quick prayer to the heavens, but halfway through her precious supplication to the lord, Thomas spoke clearly.
“What was that?” He questioned her with amusement.
“You include me in games?” She teased him.
“No, no…that last part of which you just spoke.” He said with a serious look on his glorious and proper face.
“I don’t know what you may be referring to, Thomas.” She said with a flawless nature, she loved the way his name hummed against her lips when she spoke it aloud.
Charlotte shrugged as Thomas gave her a pointed look. She took a scrumptious honeyed crumpet straight into her petite mouth with slight indifference to his looming question.
She closed her eyes and hummed happily at the sweetness and warmth of the crumpet, “They’re still warm on the inside. You should eat up another one quickly, Thomas.”
He eyed her at first with mischievous delight, but then he did as she said.
What sane man ever turned down a food offering? There was a simple answer to that question. It was a straightforward and uncomplicated no. No man in his right mind ever turned down food.
As he ate his crumpet, his eyes never left hers. He was sly as a fox. He enjoyed his crumpet eminently, and as he reached for his teacup he looked right into Charlotte’s unique hazel eyes and said, “Me too.”
“What?” She asked him with curiosity.
“I said me too. In reference to that last part of your previous statement. I agree with you very much.”
“You like me too?”
“Aha! So you did say that you liked me.”
Charlotte stared at him with bewilderment, he had just tricked her into revealing that she liked him, and she fell for it!
“You’re a scoundrel. I cannot believe that you tricked me like that!”
Thomas laughed, “Are you terribly mad about it?”
Charlotte giggled, “To be quite honest, no. I am very impressed by your trickery. You tend to surprise me Thomas.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“We’ll just have to see about that.”
…
Christmas With The Dover’s will be out in 2020…
Tempted by Curiosity Page 31