Jason has asked for her hand

Lord Marlton was in a good mood, Charlotte was relieved to see, dressed in a ruffled shirt and brocade waistcoat (but no jacket) saluting her with the morning Times upon her arrival to the morning salon. He set aside the paper and climbed stiffly to his feet when she entered the parlor, smiled broadly and waved her over to the windows where a breakfast buffet had been set up. To her surprise, both her aunts were awake and dressed - usually the pair broke their fast in their chambers and didn't come downstairs to the shared rooms until late in the morning. The pair picked at their plates as they sat by their brother's side, they were sipping their morning tea casually, but there was an air of suppressed excitement in the room.

The view from the South-east window looked out over the village at the bottom of the hill, and Charlotte found her gaze lingering on the townhouse appropriated by Colonel Touring. For a just a few blissful seconds she ignored the mysterious excitement in the room and wondered what Lt. Easton and Mr. Fuller were doing, were they still there or was Mr. Fuller already on his way to South Marlton for his second day in stocks.

"Charlotte, my dear, how lovely you look this morning." Behind her father Charlotte saw her aunts exchange snide smirks; she knew just what they were thinking - her skin was freckled and tanned by the sun, her shoulders far too broad and nothing short of an act of God himself could take away the extra inches that made her tower over the other women in the room. Her aunts had made her shortcomings in that department very clear, but today Charlotte knew that at least one man (and very likely two of them) found her desirable; with that knowledge, the opinions of two old spinsters no longer seemed as important. Charlotte giggled inside as she tried to imagine either of the sour-faced gentlewomen as a young maidens flirting coyly with eager suitors.

It was challenging, but not impossible to picture the staid pair as debutantes bantering with eager-eyed gentlemen. However when she tried to extend the mental picture to either of them unlacing a man's leggings and slipping their small palms into the man's open waistband, her imagination failed her. Picturing either of those matrons holding a man's pulsing phalus in their hands? Or stroking it until it erupted like Vesuvius of old? Impossible!

As she crossed the sun-filled room to join the others at the table she wondered if the knowing smile on her face today was different from her smile of a week ago. Could her family tell just by looking that she was no longer the innocent girl they thought they knew?

"Ah Charlotte." Lord Marlton continued "I have wonderful news." Charlotte wondered what could have her father even more pleased than the end of Black Brand and the return of law and order to his lands but she did not have to wait for long. "Mr. Worthington has asked for your hand in marriage." Before she could find the words to respond to the long anticipated request Aunt Jane took her hand in hers and gave it a firm squeeze.

"It's wonderful news, dear Charlotte," her aunt gushed enthusiastically, "people are beginning to talk. After all, you'll be twenty-one this autumn and Elizabeth and I know only too well that once a woman reaches that age there is little interest from any proper suitors." She lowered her voice conspiratorially, "You cannot imagine the sorts of unsavoury speculators that will start circling like vultures over a bloated carcass." Aunt Elizabeth from the other shoulder hurried to assure her that Jason was not one of those unsuitable suitors.

"Mr. Worthington is not one of those questionable adventurers; your father has been very careful to ensure that he is worthy of your hand." Charlotte still couldn't find the words to describe the mixture of emotions that clamored for attention. She wondered how her aunts would rank among those opportunistic vultures who try to take advantage of a young woman **** for matrimony the outlaw and felon, Mr. Fuller.

"Wonderful, wonderful," Marlton slapped the folded paper against his palm in satisfaction. "I will send word to Lord Worthington, that his son should plan on yet another visit to Lady Charlotte to formalize the matter in person." The knowledge that Jason would be proposing to her within the week twisted Charlotte's intestines into a knot, until she met Mr. Fuller she might well have been as pleased with the union as her family was, but now ... Aunt Elizabeth added her best wishes to her sister's felicitations but Charlotte barely heard the words. What did that brazen outlaw have to do with her marriage plans? It wasn't like she could marry a convicted felon like him!

Charlotte could feel her world collapsing around her, she could refuse this offer - it was not too late if she put her foot down now. The provision in her mother's will supported her right not to marry against her will, but the fight with her father would be ugly and the older she got the less support there would be from the judiciary. Charlotte knew too well that the Honourable Lords of the courts were men very much like her father, it is one thing to defend a tender young maiden of sixteen from an unwanted marriage, but to let a woman in her twenties defy her elders with no valid justification could set dangerous precedents.

Instead of speaking, Charlotte concentrated on filling her breakfast plate from the buffet; she scooped a spoonful of eggs and ladled on a coating of creamy hollandaise sauce carefully. A steaming croissant and a slice of ham filled the plate and she set it carefully on the table across from her father, a footman appeared silently to push in Charlotte's chair and melted away as she fussed with her napkin. The silence in the room was becoming thicker and Charlotte knew her family was waiting to hear what she thought of the proposed union, would she protest or agree? She knew she had to say something, but the problem was she didn't know how to respond to the long expected.

It would be so easy to bow to the pressure and do what was expected, and yet ...