Surprise and confusion

"Well, Lady Marlton, I see you are more resourceful than I gave you credit for." Randy tried to keep his cool, but the very last thing he had expected to see waiting for him in his lair was the proud Lady Charlotte sitting on his stool sipping from a china tea cup. The black iron ring was still tightly fastened around her slender ankle, but the ring at the other end of the short chain lay on the floor at her feet. Randy wasn't sure what surprised him more, Miss Marlton's puzzling escape, or the fact that she was waiting patiently for his return. One more surprise followed the others, as she politely saluted him with the cup, her voice as pleasant and crisp as he remembered.

"I seems we have both been underestimated, Mr. Fuller." She had discovered his identity. He shouldn't be terribly surprised, he had after-all been almost this close to her when he had crashed her party and demanded satisfaction from her father. "Would you care for some tea?" Randy had no other choice but to nod his head numbly. He watched in stunned silence as she poured a second cup of tea from the pot on the hearth and gracefully rose to her feet to hand it to him.

"I'm sorry about Mary." Her voice was gentle, but the words opened the scab that refused to heal. Randy was used to being in control, but at the moment he felt as helpless as his first day on the New Bedford when confronted with the bewildering scores of lines and the belaying points that went with each one. Not knowing what else to say he asked the question that was dominating his mind.

"Why are you here?" Other effete young women of her standing might have been afraid to venture into the old forest after nightfall, but he had seen enough of Miss Charlotte to know that she was not one of those insipid debutants. She should, by all rights, be well on her way back home to report his identity and location to her father. Instead he found her waiting calmly by his fire sipping tea like it was an afternoon in Buckingham Palace.

"You brought me here, Mr. Fuller." Was she really teasing him? Randy stared at his former captive in dumb silence as she raised a playful eyebrow and asked: "Don't you remember?" Miss Marlton had somehow freed herself from the great bed, she had deduced Black Brand's true identity and knew the location of his hidden lair; she could have easily made his life miserable and yet here she was.

"Yes Miss Charlotte," Randy was able to stammer, "I assure you, I have not forgotten." He was certain that he would remember what happened between himself and the Lady Marlton for the rest of his life, "but why are you still here?" That was the question. Already today he had had to revise his opinion of the young Lady Marlton, but this was a mystery of a whole new order of magnitude.

Charlotte took another careful sip of the plain tea; it was odd to drink it without any milk but she needed the time to formulate an answer. Why was she still here? It was a question she had been avoiding since she had decided to stay and confront Mr. Fuller and she still one didn't know the answer. Was she hoping to talk to Mr. Fuller, perhaps persuade him to drop his campaign against her family? Was it her guilt at her family's role in Mary's ****?

She glanced again at Mr. Fuller's handsome figure and confident manner, or had she been hoping for a repeat of the passion they had shared. Charlotte was careful not to look in the direction of the great bed where she had been claimed by this dangerous outlaw. Could it be that her inexperienced young body longed for his much like an opium addict needed his daily pipe? Had her decision to remain in Mr. Fuller's lair been based in part on her desire to once again have him take her on that great bed?