CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED – THE CHARITY AUCTION

Richard was already moving toward her, his expression etched into one of troubled bemusement as their eyes met and held across the space between them. Charlotte swallowed hard against the peculiar tightness in her throat, tamping down the chaos of unwelcome emotion that seemed to swirl just beneath her breastbone. After a protracted moment, the corners of Richard's mouth twitched in that familiar, lopsided grin that never failed to leave her insides fluttering like a flock of trapped moths. He shook his head in a gesture of what might have been reproach or wonderment – she could never quite tell with him sometimes. Before Charlotte could muster a response, however, her stomach chose that inopportune moment to issue a gurgling growl of monumental proportions, cleaving through the loaded silence with all the subtlety of an ill-timed belch. An instant flood of heat suffused her cheeks, and she bit her lip to stifle the instinctive trill of laughter that threatened to bubble up out of h