Caroline’s gaze drew up as well, and something like understanding glittered in her gaze as her plump lips formed into a small smile.
“You are not so awfulallthe time,” she replied.
Damien smirked, relieved, and held up his hand to place his thumb and pointer finger just a hairsbreadth apart from one another as if measuring a small distance.
“You mean I am not so awfulthisamount of time?” he asked, and to his surprise and pleasure, Caroline laughed.
It was loud and beautiful and natural, and at once held him spellbound.
Caroline, as well, seemed to be taken by surprise by the sound, for she quickly clapped her hand over her mouth to suppress it. She continued to giggle into her palm for another few seconds, however, and Damien’s smirk shifted to a full, genuine grin.
“I did not know you could do that,” Caroline said, dropping her hand from her mouth.
Damien’s brow arched. “Do what?”
“Smile like that,” she replied, and the moment the words left her lips, the color drained from her face. Her eyes widened almostimperceptibly, as if she had only just heard what she had said, and what it implied. That she had been watching him closely enough and long enough to know what his face did and did not do.
“I mean,” she began, straightening abruptly, “George is asking for me. That is... not at this moment, he is asleep, but earlier he... I should go and check on him.”
She did not wait for his response. She turned on her heel with a quickness that was almost but not quite running, and disappeared down the hall, leaving Damien standing alone by the door with his grin still very much intact.
Chapter 13
“Oh, Delia, why did you not wake me earlier?” Caroline asked, hurriedly pulling her dress over her shift and corset.
“Forgive me, Your Grace, I did try,” Delia answered, hurrying into the room after Caroline rang for her. “You did not wake, so I assumed that you needed the rest.”
Caroline blushed and said no more. She had spent the better part of the night replaying her moment with Damien in her head. She had told him she did not know he could smile like that. What was that supposed to mean?
For him to make a joke, though? One that she actually laughed at? She had never expected such a thing. Nor did she expect his response, which was an even more handsome smile accompanied by a look so warm that it made her blush and made her body stir to life—just as it had when he had kissed her in the center of the village.
He had not scolded her for laughing at him. Instead, he looked at her with such an intense look that Caroline could not evenremember whatever excuse she had fumbled her way through to leave his presence; she could not now remember a single word of it.
Caroline let out a groan of embarrassment as the moment replayed in her head all over again.
“Pardon, Your Grace, did I pinch you?” Delia asked.
Realizing she had made the sound aloud, Caroline’s cheeks heated even more.
“No, it is all right. Just please hurry,” she said with haste. “I have missed breakfast with Georgie and must apologize.”
Delia finished the ties of Caroline’s muted gray dress quickly, then, with haste, worked her long, dark curls into a respectful updo. Caroline hurried to George’s room, her lips parted and ready to offer her apology the moment she opened the door, but when she stepped inside and found it empty, her heart began to pound for an entirely different reason.
“Georgie?” she called, looking behind the door. There was no answer.
She went to his closet, wondering if he had taken to hiding, then looked under his bed when she did not find him there.
“Georgie!” she called, louder this time.
“Is all well, Your Grace?”
Caroline turned and found one of the maids standing in the open doorway.
“Georgie,” she repeated, feeling her panic rise. “Have you seen him?”
“Oh, yes, I believe I saw him going that way,” the maid replied readily, stepping to the side and pointing down the hall.
A breath of relief whooshed through Caroline’s lungs as the maid explained that Mrs. McClain advised one of the other maids, Clara, to take Georgie out to play in the gardens after his breakfast. She quickly thanked the maid for her help and hurried down the stairs, through the grand hall, to the back hallway, and finally to the back patio that overlooked the impressive stretch of gardens that lay within the high walls that lined the estate’s property.
