Julian closed his eyes and swallowed back the lump in his throat. When he opened them again, he saw Caroline’s right hand resting gently on the glove of his left hand. “Yes, I had just celebrated my ninth birthday when she finally packed up and left for the last time. I expect she thought that a suitable gift for me.”
She nodded toward his father’s grave. “An odd inscription for a final epitaph. What does Lady Margaret think of it?”
Julian paused for a moment, unsure of what to say. His father had long ago thought to marry Lady Margaret, but had unwisely allowed himself to be blinded by the beauty of Julian’s mother. An arranged marriage, and all the heartache that came with it, had quickly followed.
The ‘unwise’ part of the quote had been for the former countess, but the ‘too well’ had been reserved for the woman who had eventually healed his heart. The woman he should have made his countess.
“She is fine with it. She was the one who finally convinced me to go ahead and have it made. ‘If a son cannot honor the last wishes of his father, then what sort of son is he,’ or words to that effect,” he replied.
“Yes, it is hard enough to have a say over one’s life. But in death, we must trust to our family to honor our wishes,” said Caroline.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the apples she had bought on their visit to the market. She handed it to Julian. “You must be hungry after all that searching for me.”
He took the apple, and with a quick hard twist, broke it in half. He handed Caroline a piece.
“So why were you looking for me?” she asked.
“To apologize.” He felt terrible over what he had said to her the previous day, knowing it was why she had hidden in her bedroom and not come down for supper.
Her brow furrowed. “You have nothing to apologize for. You should not be punished for having spoken the truth. You were right, I do have an effect on men, and I am well aware of it. It just hurts to hear people you care about say it to your face. And I am trying to rectify the faults in my character, but it is not easy to change ingrained habits.”
When Midas whimpered and nudged her, Caroline bit off another piece of the apple and set it down on the floor. The dog snatched it up in his mouth and set to the juicy fruit with gusto.
“I would have bought a dozen if I had known he loved them so much,” she said.
Julian smiled at Midas, who quickly finished his piece of the apple. Then, spying Julian’s half, Midas made a great show of nuzzling against his master and whimpering softly.
“You are playing both sides now, are you? You were no help when I could not find this young lady, but now you want my food,” he said.
Midas barked softly and Julian knew he was not going to be allowed to finish his apple in peace. He bit off a piece and lay it in the palm of his hand. A hot, slobbery tongue brushed his fingertips as Midas took the apple.
“I hope I was not intruding on the family privacy by coming here. It’s a tradition within my mother’s side of the family to sit with our ancestors up on the side of Strathmore Mountain. I would spend hours in front of my grandfather’s grave when I was younger,” said Caroline.
“You are welcome to come and sit with my family. I am sure my father would appreciate the company. I have not spent enough time up here with him. I was in France when he died,” he replied.
“Will mentioned that he was with you in Paris when you got the news. That must have been hard, being so far away,” she said.
“Your brother is a good man,” he replied.
Caroline smiled at him. “He says the very same thing about you.”
She shifted on the hard, stone floor and pushed back her shoulders. Julian stood and held out his hand. She accepted his offer and he helped her to her feet. It was then that he noticed the pair of ice skates on the floor which had been hidden by her cloak.
She looked down at them. “I thought I might go for a skate on the ice pond this morning. Of course, once I got down there, I realized that I could not tie the boots properly with only one good hand. So, I went for a walk instead and ended up here.”
He reached down and picked up the skates. “I can help tie your boots and catch you if you fall.”
She snorted. “I never fall.”
Julian sighed. “How am I to rescue you if you refuse to pay the helpless female?”
A blush of heat raced to her cheeks at his words. She wanted nothing more than to be rescued by him. Julian was the only man who could save her from herself.
