She decides to sleep on them

Charlotte tried not to think about what Lieutenant Easton might be thinking as she rode back to Marlton Manor.

Ever since that private encounter in the gardens when she secured Easton's promise to let her meet with Fuller in exchange for his identity, she felt uncertain about how she should interact with the young officer. On one hand, the private bargain made in the nighttime garden walk was just that, a private arrangement between two consenting adults and by allowing Charlotte to treat Mr. Fuller alone in his cell that arrangement had been completed. However, that was a gross oversimplification and she knew, as surely Lt. Easton knew, that they were bound together by the nature of that deal. If either her aunts or father learned of what had transpired on that secluded garden bench she would be a virtual prisoner in her house until a convenient marriage could be arranged for her, just as if Colonel Touring discovered Easton's role the young officer's future might by equally compromised.

Of course, it wasn't just the the fear of discovery that Charlotte shared with the somber young Lieutenant Easton. Together they had done the right thing, if she hadn't stepped in Black Brand could have continued his lawless ways and eventually his luck would have run out; without Easton's willingness to arrest Fuller without bloodshed and their efforts to keep Lord Marlton from hanging him, Mary's brother would be dead too and Mrs. Fuller would have to live out the rest of her life knowing that both her children were taken from her.

Charlotte tossed Copper's reigns to a groom and hurried to her room to change for dinner, arriving late or improperly dressed for dinner would only invite questions that Charlotte would rather not have to answer. Luckily Charlotte had plenty of time to change into a pale blue dinner gown and have Sarah redo her hair well before the dinner bell rang. Lord Marlton was in a cheerful mood and if he noticed that his daughter lacked some of his glee he made no mention of it. Nor did anyone ask how she spent her afternoon.

The rest of the evening passed by in quiet peacefulness, Marlton and the his man Talbot disappeared into the smoking room and Charlotte sat with her aunts for less than an hour writing correspondence before the women of the house each retired to their rooms. Once in the privacy of her room, Charlotte changed into her modest nightgown and let Sarah brush her hair and place it into a net before sending her away.

She doused all the lamps in the room keeping only a single candle by her bed as she lay under the soft Egyptian cotton sheets. She had hoped for sleep to take her quickly, but her mind raced as she lay under the sheets reviewing the day's events in her head. Whatever had possessed her to kiss Mr. Fuller like that, and what was the best approach to resolving the awkwardness that she had created with Lieutenant Easton?