by Ava Stone
“Perhaps,” Caroline conceded, as she still wasn’t entirely certain why the earl thought he needed her assistance. But since he’d asked, she hated to turn him away. He had, after all, come to her aid on more than one occasion in the last sennight or so. “There is some kindness in him though, Juliet. He found Emma’s cat that had gone missing, didn’t even complain about the scratches Fluff scarred him with, and the other day he even rescued me from Lord Haversham.”
And then Juliet turned her head and pinned Caroline with a most serious expression. “After watching the two of you today, I find it hard to believe you needed to be rescued from the man.”
Yes, well…a lot had changed since the other day. Hadn’t it? Or perhaps it had not. Or perhaps they were just going back to the friendship they’d had years ago before Marc ruined everything that fateful night at Vauxhall. “We’re friends…now. That’s all.”
Juliet’s brown eyes narrowed slightly as though she was thinking something and unsure whether or not to say it. Finally, she breathed out a breath. “You’re playing matchmaker for Peasemore, but what about you, Caroline? Don’t you deserve a worthy match yourself?”
The image of a very naked Marc flashed in Caroline’s mind and her cheeks stung a bit. “I think I’m past those years.”
“Ha!” Juliet shook her head. “You are young and vibrant. And any intelligent fellow would fall on his own sword to have even the tiniest chance with you.”
“I do believe you may be partial.”
“I am that.” Her sister-in-law squeezed Caroline’s hand. “But I am also too honest to do anything up brown. Isn’t there someone you think you might fancy?”
She was afraid she did more than fancy Marc, but she wasn’t ready to admit that. She might never be ready to admit that. “I’m not sure. Though, in all honesty, I have been having thoughts about someone, but…”
“I think it’s safe to assume you’re both having thoughts about each other,” Juliet said. “And while I never imagined I’d say this, as I have never cared for the man, I’ve also never seen you quite like you are with him.”
“I didn’t say who—”
“You didn’t have to. There’s an undeniable spark between you.”
Heavens, was it that obvious to everyone? Or just to Juliet who knew her so well?
”You are a widow, Caroline. There are certain freedoms that come with the station. What harm could there truly be in a little indulgence?”
“Juliet!” Caroline breathed out and snapped open the fan on her wrist to cool her cheeks.
“I’m being practical,” her sister-in-law replied. “Perhaps there’s something more between the two of you or perhaps there isn’t. But don’t you owe it to yourself to find out?”
“But David…” Caroline said weakly. She had always been faithful to him.
“Is gone,” Juliet added, not unkindly. “And he loved you, and he would want you to be happy. You know he would.”
“David hated Marc.” In fact, it was that very hate that had inspired her mild-mannered husband to take that fateful journey from London to Derbyshire in order to keep Marc from doing so instead. It was like he was trying to prove something to himself or perhaps Caroline or maybe even to Marc that he was worthy of her by making that trip. David might want her to be happy, but he’d never want her to be with Marc.
“Well, he didn’t want to hand you over to the blackguard while he was living,” Juliet conceded with a nod. “But he’s not here anymore. And knowing David as I did, I am certain that his main concern would be that you’re happy and well cared for.”
Well, Juliet knew David; but she didn’t know him as well as Caroline did. He would never approve of Marc. Never in a million years. “I can’t even believe you’re trying to talk me into this.”
“Not talking you into it.” Juliet shook her head. “Just giving you permission to do what you’re thinking about doing anyway. You are allowed a bit of happiness. I daresay you deserve every bit of it in the world.” Then she shrugged. “Besides, with his reputed prowess in the bedchamber, it might be quite the experience. You shouldn’t miss such a thing.”
Caroline could hardly believe her once innocent sister-in-law was even suggesting she engage in a torrid affair. “Is this what comes when one marries a rake?”
“Oh, I don’t think you have to marry him.” And the wicked little smile on Juliet’s lips made Caroline’s cheeks sting once more. “But one word of caution…”
“I can’t even imagine what you’re going to say next.” And she was almost afraid to find out.
“Just don’t lose your heart to him. The last thing in the world I’d ever want to see is you heartbroken.” She smiled softy before squeezing Caroline’s hand once more. Then she kissed her cheek and whispered, “I do adore you like you’re one of my own sisters, you know? And I’d hate to have to kill the man and then face the gallows. So be careful, if for no other reason than to keep me off the executioner’s block.”
As soon as Marc strode into the Clayworth ballroom, his gaze fell immediately upon Caroline. A breath escaped him at the sight of her wearing a scarlet dress with little roses to match laced through her golden tresses that were piled high on her head. Breathtaking. She was always breathtaking.
He started in her direction but was stopped when Luke Beckford appeared out of nowhere to block him from taking another step forward.
“Good God. Don’t make a direct path for her.” Luke shook his head as an easygoing smile spread across his face. “Walk the perimeter of the room at least once and try to look somewhat bored while you’re doing it.”
His old friend probably had a point. They were already in the gossip rags. But whenever Caroline was nearby, he couldn’t help but be drawn to her. “I look too eager, do I?”
Luke shrugged his answer. “Juliet said I needed to make new friends this evening.” His grin grew even wider as he reached his hand out for Marc’s. “But you’re the only fellow whose company I might actually enjoy.”
Marc glanced down at his old friend’s outstretched hand. “Hiding any daggers up your sleeve? I understand it’s possible various pieces of me might be littered across the countryside if I’m not careful, or something like that.”
“Is that what she said to you?” A warm laugh escaped Luke as he grasped Marc’s hand for a firm shake. “I’m certain she was more terrifying than I would have been if I’d seen you first.” And then he added, “I’ll walk the perimeter with you. It’s better if everyone sees us getting along well, don’t you agree?”
“Is there any reason we wouldn’t?” Marc returned. After all, he and Beckford had been friends over a dozen years, even if they had seen very little of each other in the last few. But that was what seemed to happen with most of his friends after they finally settled down and mellowed more than some.
“No reason at all,” Luke assured him. “Especially as I have all the confidence in the world that my sister will be safe with you.”
Caroline was safe with him, but Marc wasn’t so certain he was safe with her. She had the power to level him unlike anyone else. In fact, that was why he should keep his distance from the lady. If an association with him ever put her in harm’s way… Marc blew out a breath, refusing to finish that thought. After all, Caroline might very well be in harm’s way now, but he wasn’t the one who’d placed her there, and he didn’t trust anyone else to protect her like he would. “I’m certain your lovely wife told you Caroline has nothing to fear from me.”
“Something like that,” Luke replied enigmatically as he started in the opposite direction of Caroline and Lady Juliet. “Now do tell me, how did you ruin the Bramley earldom? I’ve heard quite a few whisperings since I arrived yesterday. And I’m quite sure none of them are the truth.”
Marc bit back a smile as he shook his head. “You don’t think I’m the black-hearted villain everyone else thinks I am?”
Luke chuckled. “I know you’re a black-hearted villain. But crushing someone like B
ramley hardly sounds like something you’d waste your time on.”
And he was right about that, of course. Bramley was hardly the sort of fellow anyone would waste their time on, not even Lady Bramley, it turned out. Spineless. Insipid. Without note, really. “Poor dolt discovered his wife was less than virtuous and threw himself in the Thames,” Marc told him. “But since he’d lost a tidy sum to me a few nights before at Hazard…” He sighed. “Well, the countess was more than happy to let that tale be the one spun through Town.”
“Huh. That is surprising.”
Marc cast his friend a sidelong glance. “It is?”
“Christina Bramley, the one with the mustache, the limp, and the vacant look in her eyes?” Luke smirked. “She found someone other than Bramley to spread her legs? Must’ve been rather dark. Was a vat of whisky involved? Brandy perhaps? Blackmail! Was it blackmail?”
“You can see why casting me as the villain was a much easier sell,” Marc couldn’t help but laugh.
“Oh, indeed,” Luke agreed. “I’m even questioning my earlier position on the matter,” he teased.
They neared that jackass Peasemore and a throng of young girls, all hanging on his every word as though he was the Messiah returned to Earth. “If you want someone to worry about,” Marc muttered, “he has been an all too common visitor at Staveley House the last sennight or so.”
“There’s nothing to worry about with him,” Luke assured him as they rounded a corner. “He needs a bride. He thinks Caroline can help him get one.”
That was the most ridiculous thing Marc had ever heard. He halted in his step and glanced back briefly at Peasemore only to find the man eyeing him as well. “Bollocks,” Marc said under his breath. But it was complete and utter bollocks, there wasn’t another word for it. Then he shook his head as he started walking once more. “That man needs help keeping women away from him, not help finding one.”
Luke glanced over his shoulder at the young earl, surrounded by fawning ladies, and the light dawned in his eyes. “That doesn’t make any sense, does it?”
“I think it’s entirely more likely that he’s chasing Caroline’s skirts and using that as a ruse.”
Luke snorted. “He did just end things with Louisa Ridgemont.”
His friend had only just returned to Town. “How could you possibly know that?” Had his former paramour cried on his shoulder or something of the like?
“Juliet is up to date on all Town gossip.”
That did make more sense than Lady Ridgemont seeking out Luke’s company.
“Always making sure Felicity’s name isn’t being drug through the mud,” Luke added as though he needed to explain his wife’s reading habits. “And, actually, there was a little tidbit this morning about a certain malevolent marquess who escorted a certain widowed viscountess and her daughters to Astley’s last night.”
What a bunch of nonsense. Marc had done some truly awful things in his days, but none of that had ever landed in a gossip column. His truly wicked misdeeds had all been under the cloak of night and wrapped in his misguided allegiance to king and country. He wasn’t certain how many deaths could be laid at his feet. However there was one in particular that he could never forget, even now. But instead of reporting something worthy of merit, the London gossip columns were filled with drivel about him attending a public performance where nothing even slightly untoward had transpired? Society, as a whole, was broken.
“I didn’t escort them,” Marc said, annoyed that even that one bit of truth had escaped the writings of some talentless hack. “I was there on my own and Kelfield invited me to join their party. The whole thing was hardly worth anyone writing about.”
They rounded the next corner and Caroline was just a few feet away. Even from there, the light in her pretty hazel eyes made his heart lift a bit. Then the warmest of smiles graced her lips, and he wanted to taste that smile more than he’d, perhaps, ever wanted anything in his life. She was all goodness and kindness and light and…well, everything he was decidedly not, but what he craved like nothing else.
“I do believe Juliet has the right of it,” Luke muttered under his breath as they neared the ladies. “I never thought I would see the day.”
“The right of what?” Marc asked, though his gaze never left Caroline, not even for a second.
“That you are, very truly in love with Caroline.”
Chapter 11
Caroline was fairly certain she heard her name, even over the crowd and the musicians. She supposed she could have imagined it, but she didn’t think so. With the way Marc and Luke were looking in her direction, she would have wagered a tiny sum the two of them were saying something about her, but she was too far away to know for certain.
A slow smile spread across Marc’s face as though he had some idea of the thoughts that had been darting in and out of her mind all evening, as though he knew she’d thought about that day in his bedchambers more often than she’d ever admit, that the memory of his remarkable bare form was one she could never forget and had dreamed about ever since. Her belly flipped at the memory once again, and she was too captivated by his gaze to do anything other than stand there, smiling back at him. He truly was devastatingly handsome. He always had been—hair as dark as midnight, the broadest of shoulders, an aristocratic nose, and a strong jaw. But it was those wicked, light blue eyes of his that always seemed to stare straight into her soul, like he was the only one who ever saw the real her.
Juliet’s scandalous suggestions still rang in Caroline’s ears, and she was so very tempted to go down that path. Why shouldn’t she? No one else would ever have to know what might happen between her and Marc, right? She was a widow. And there was a freedom in that. But…
His light gaze held hers as he navigated the crowd, and whatever thought had been about to form in her mind dissipated into nothingness. She couldn’t think about anything when he looked at her like that. She barely knew her own name.
A moment later, Marc and Luke stood before her, and Caroline couldn’t help the sigh that escaped her. At her side, Juliet shook her head.
“I thought,” her sister-in-law said to Luke, “you were on a quest to make some new friends this evening.”
Luke shrugged. “Yes, but then I found Haversham and there was no reason really.”
Juliet laughed. “Once a rake…” But then she noticed something across the room and said, “Oh, look! Felicity and Fin have arrived.”
A bit of irritation flashed in Marc’s eyes at that, but he said nothing. Luke must have noticed it too because he said, “As long as you don’t waltz with his wife, I’m sure he won’t knock you to the ground again.”
“You are far from amusing,” Marc grumbled. Then he seemed to shake the darkness from his thoughts and his attention returned to Caroline. “Not that it matters. There’s only one lady I intend to waltz with tonight.” Then he offered her his hand.
Caroline bit back a smile even as she slid her hand into his. A delicious set of tingles raced across her skin, and her core pulsed at the contact. “They’re not playing a waltz, Marc.” And they weren’t. A lively reel was taking place in the middle of the room at the moment, and they were undoubtedly too late to join it.
“No.” He agreed with a shake of his head. “Though I am certain we are quite capable of entertaining ourselves until they do.” Then he glanced back over his shoulder at Luke. “Should you feel like crashing your fist into Carraway’s face in the meantime, however, I would thoroughly enjoy watching that.”
“You know he’s my brother-in-law,” Luke returned.
“Indeed. He’ll never see it coming.”
Luke laughed at that. “Any idea the kind of strife that would cause ‘round the dinner table?”
“Familial entanglements I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid.” Then he slid Caroline’s hand to the crook of his arm and led her away from her brother and sister-in-law to stroll the perimeter of the ballroom.
“Must you cause discourse wherever you go?�
�� she asked when it was just the two of them.
“I’ve been told it’s part of my charm.” Then he grinned down at her. “You are lovely this evening, my dear, as always.”
Caroline’s belly fluttered. “And you are trouble, as always.”
“Well,” he began dryly, “when you find something you’re good at…”
And then she did laugh. “Honestly, I have no idea what to do with you, Marc.”
“No?” He frowned slightly. “Well, I could certainly provide you with a list. Though, I would suggest you start with kissing me. In a very friendly way, of course. I know where you stand on the matter.”
“What about in a not so friendly way?” Caroline asked, feeling a bit emboldened all of a sudden.
Marc’s step faltered and he looked down at her as though she was a foreign species he hadn’t encountered before. “I beg your pardon?”
Caroline bit her bottom lip as her newfound bravery began to dissolve slightly. Was she really going to act on Juliet’s suggestions? She wanted to. The pulsing in her core told her very firmly that she wanted to, but she’d never done anything like this before. How did one go about propositioning a dangerous and notorious rake? She was completely out of her element. She shook her head and with it the course of their conversation. “Were you and Luke discussing me? I thought I heard my name over the din.”
Marc resumed his pace and said matter-of-factly. “Indeed, we were.”
But then he said nothing else, so Caroline asked, “Is that all you mean to say?”
“What exactly would you like for me to say?” He towed her closer to him so Lord Ambelcotte could pass them by from the opposite direction.
Talking with him was often a chore. He knew exactly what she wanted to know, and he was just being stubborn. Again. “Well, I’d like to know what you were saying about me.”
There was a wicked twinkle in his light eyes as he said, “And I should like to pull each of those little roses from your hair until it’s completely unbound about your shoulders. And then I think I should like to unbutton the back of your very pretty dress until the whole thing pools at your feet. And then—”
