Free A Gentleman's Promise by Tamara Gill Page B

the thought of you and Rose together made me insanely jealous. I can’t stand it. But I can’t help it , don’t you see ? You may not marry her , but you will marry someone, and what we’re doing is only going to make it harder for me to let you go.”
    “Then don’t let me go. I have a younger brother, Charlotte. He can produce the heirs for my family.”
    She shook her head. “If only it were that easy.” Charlotte walked up to him and kissed his cheek, taking the opportunity to breathe in his delicious scent of sandalwood and something else, something exotic , one last time. “I know you want what’s best for me , but my marriag e mistake is the burden I must bear. Please leave me alone and go on with your life. I really do wish you well.”
    He stepped away from her and immediately she felt the loss of his heat. A lifetime loomed ahead of her, cold and bereft of any love, children, and solace .
    “I will do as you wish but only because you’ve asked this of me. But let this be known , Charlotte. I neither agree nor want to. This decision of yours is yet another mistake made by you.”
    She gasped. “How can you say that to me?”
    “Because it is true.” He strode back to the door and paused before opening it. “I love you,” he said , before taking his leave.
    Charlotte slumped against the balustrade and tried to push down the severing pain tearing through her c hest. “I love you too,” she whispered , to nothing but the warm night air.
     
    Mason stormed through the guests at the masquerade and didn’t bother hiding his thunderous gaze. He entered the card room and found George sitting alone while he watched others around him play cards. Mason slumped into a vacant chair and summoned a footman for a brandy .
    “Problem?” George drawled, smirking.
    Mason cursed. “One of my own making. Damn it.” He took the glass offered to him and drank it down without pause. “Charlotte’s … I think I’ve ruined everything .”
    “Really? What did you do?”
    “Why is it,” Mason said, summoning the footman for another drink, “that women jump to conclusions that are inaccurate and then, will refuse to hear what you have to say.”
    George laughed. “You’re asking the wrong man . I have no idea.”
    Mason took a calming breath and sat back in his chair. The brandy helped to cool his ire but Charlotte’s words stung. That he’d fallen in love with her didn’t help. With any other lady he’d have walked away without a backward glance a t such an accusation from a married woman. But with Charlotte he couldn’t. He cared for her. Her opinion mattered to him. That she thought him a cad who used debutantes and moved on to married women at will hurt. He shook his head.
    “Miss Lancer’s in town,” Mason said not looking at George. The last thing he needed to see was his best friends knowing smile.
    “I see.”
    “I’m not sure of Miss Lancer ’ s exact words to Charlotte but I was accused of using Miss Lancer for my own amusement in Bath. She even asked me if I’d kissed the girl.”
    “Had you,” George asked, taking a sip of his drink. “I always wondered.”
    Mason ground his teeth. “I wouldn’t call it a kiss. We were at a ball and she was upset over something trivial. I strolled with her about the pump room before I kissed her hand on departing. The way Charlotte was speaking, anyone would have thought ‘d that I lifted Miss Lancer’s skirts and t a k en her there and then.”
    George frowned. “You did seem to take to the girl more than any other in Bath. Even you knew her attachment to you was growing.”
    Mason ran a hand through his hair. “I know , damn it. And I should have been more circumspect in my interaction s with her . I made a mistake.”
    “And one I doubt Lady Remmick would be willing to forgive. You need to apologize and speak to Miss Lancer. Tell her that you’re sorry but your affections lay elsewhere. And then speak to Lady Remmick and grovel at her silk