CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND NINE – ELIZA’S AGENDA

"He was kind and genuine with me too!" Eliza snapped. "Until he wasn't. Until I started planning the wedding, talking about children. Suddenly, I was 'moving too fast.' I was 'suffocating' him. Classic, isn't it? Make the woman feel secure, then blame her when she wants to solidify the commitment." "But he said you became paranoid," Charlotte countered, her voice wavering. "That you accused him of flirting with everyone, even his cousins." Eliza slammed her hand on the table, making the cups rattle. "Paranoid? I caught him, Charlotte! At Lady Winslow's ball, I saw him with his hands all over his cousin Penelope in the garden. When I confronted him, he laughed it off. Said I was imagining things, that it was just an innocent dance." Charlotte felt sick. She remembered a similar scene from her New York days - catching Alexander in a compromising position, his smooth excuses, her own desperation to believe him. "No," she whispered. "Richard wouldn't... he's not Alexander." "Alexander?