She continued to loop the fabric together under his chin, her eyebrows knitted in concentration.
“Not long,” she quipped. After a beat, she asked, “What’s in the letter?”
His stomach turned. With as even a tone that he could muster, he asked, “Were you in the yard?”
“Cassandra’s window.” The corner of her lips tilted up in a mischievous grin. “Box seats.”
Seth was immensely fond of Caroline. Clever and conspiratorial, she made it her mission to know every detail of the personal lives of the household staff and her older siblings.“Try to ignore her,”Cooper had said after their initial reintroduction.“Don’t indulge her in gossip, and if you don’t want her to pilfer through your bedchamber, lock your door.”
Seth could hardly imagine at the time the difficulty of evading her. He seldom shared meals with the sisters, and their paths only occasionally crossed. Seth and Cooper worked around the clock, often taking their meals in the barn that the two had refitted into their workshop. Still, Seth felt the occasional sensation of being watched as he went about his work. Other times he would return to his bedchamber and nothing would be missing, but his sketchbook would be minutely askew, his charcoal pencils organized and laid neatly on his desk.
One morning, Cooper was called away on business concerning his estate and Seth had wandered into the breakfast room as Caroline finished her meal, her toast slathered in strawberry preserves. He wished her a good morning, helped himself to the sidebar, and took care to sit a respectable distance from her. The moment he bit into his own toast, she burst forth with a salacious tale of an amorous stablehand, a married barmaid, and a drunken, snake-wielding Scotsman. He hadn’t believed a word and told her as much.
When he visited the stables that morning, he made no outward reaction to the bruising on James’ left cheek. If he hadn’t known what to look for, Seth might have completely missed the inflamed puncture wounds on the man’s arms when he handed Seth his saddle. Over tea that evening, Seth informed Cooper that the young man in his employ would need medical attention, as adder bites festered. Caroline couldn’t have been more delighted, and an unlikely friendship formed between them.
“If you watched the entire performance, you would know that I haven’t read it,” Seth challenged.
Caroline gave his cravat an unnecessarily sharp tug.
“I could only see the first half,” she mumbled. “Too many leaves.”
Seth breathed a sigh, lungs relaxing as his heart rate slowed to a normal tempo. He trusted Cassandra to keep what had happened between them, if she had even been aware of it at all. But if sharp-sighted scandal-seeking Caroline had seen his misstep, she would have known his intentions, and she would tell Cooper. Seth would promptly and deservedly be out of a job and out on his own again in an even worse situation than he had started.
“Are you going to read it?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“I detest secrets.” Caroline huffed.
“A fact I am keenly aware of. It’s my spoil, I’ll keep it.”
“I’ll only end up stealing it from you later. Are you aware of that, Mr. Reeves?”
“You can try,” Seth said. “I have hiding spots even you can’t find.”
“This is the thanks I get for helping you?”
“Saving your family from financial ruin isn’t thanks enough?” Seth gasped in mock indignation.
“You haven’t saved us yet,” Caroline said pointedly.
“Notyet.” He grinned. “Give it time.”
Ignoring him, Caroline fluffed his cravat and rolled backward on the balls of her feet to survey her handiwork. A pleased smile flickered over her freckled cheeks.
“Not bad for my first try!” She gave him a lopsided grin and then scrunched her nose. “But… take care to avoid quick movements all the same.”
“I will do my best. I’m ever in your debt, my lady.” Seth stood and bowed to her. His cravat loosened slightly.
“Good luck in there.” She gestured to the receiving room door. “From the sounds of it, you’ll need it.”
Soundlessly, she walked away from him, vanishing into the shadows of the house.
In front of the door, Seth took a solidifying breath. He rapped a knuckle against the door to signal his presence before he stepped inside, closing the door with a gentle click.
Seth felt as if he had walked into a doll’s house.
The room’s furniture had been pushed off to the side, squeezing the occupants of the room into one small corner. Matthew Cooper, Viscount Lincolnshire and Nathaniel Hollingsworth, Earl Bolderwood, sat in the only two chairs in the room, while three men squished together on the undersized sofa. On the table between them, a ceramic teapot sat as a centerpiece amongst a plethora of cakes, shortbread biscuits, and sandwiches. Porcelain teacups painted in pink flowers balanced precariously on their saucers on the edges of the table.
