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“Not at all,” he replied instantly.
The look she gave him told him she wasn’t convinced.
Laughing softly, he gave in. “Though I should like to have made it through at least one mouthful without interruption,” he admitted. “I feel as if I’ve been through an interrogation at the Tower.”
“I’m so sorry. Caroline can be absolutely relentless, and I fear she has developed a taste for your company that might not be easily dissuaded. If you wish me to speak to her, I shall.”
“No,” he answered at once. “Despite her foibles, I know her to be your friend and I would never wish to cause strife between you. I believe she will turn to other pursuits once amid London’s distractions. If not, I shall handle the matter with as much delicacy and regard for her feelings as possible.”
“Thank you,” she said with obvious relief.
He looked to the other side of the room where Caroline sat pointedly ignoring the gentleman beside her. “I cannot help noticing her cool attitude toward Marston,” he commented. “There is a history there, unless I am gravely mistaken.”
“You are not,” she murmured, dropping her voice so low that he had to lean closer to hear her. “He once attempted to court her.”
The scent of lilies clung to the creamy flesh of her neck. “Attempted?”
“Yes,” she answered with an infinitesimal nod. “He began his pursuit here in Somerset about
a month before her debut. At first she received him with great enthusiasm, enough so that we all thought he would make an offer before the end of the Season and that she would surely accept. But he never came to scratch.”
“I cannot believe a man as honorable as Marston would trifle with any young lady.”
“I don’t believe he did,” she replied, leaning a little closer. “He was very kind and attentive toward her, and she appeared much taken with him—at first. But after she arrived in London she seemed to forget him. She set her cap for another, a titled fellow who charmed her with a handsome face and false promises. Lord Marston lingered for a while, but left off his pursuit when he did not receive any further encouragement from her. Then the devil she’d been mooning over married another by special license. It was an enormous scandal, one that left Caroline to return home having only barely escaped disgrace. When she again set her sights on Lord Marston last Season, he would have nothing to do with her.”
“Small wonder after having been cast aside in so callous a manner,” he said, immediately regretting his caustic tone.
“Yes, but there is more,” she breathed. “Caroline went without a single suitor last year and she blames Lord Marston for it, though there has never been any evidence to support her assumption. I believe there were several contributing factors. Eligible gentlemen were thin on the ground last year while there were several wealthy heiresses on the market, and then there was the matter of her reckless behavior the year prior. She’d come within a hair’s breadth of scandal, and people remembered it. But she chooses to fault Lord Marston rather than accept her own culpability.”
“If there is rancor between them, then it again begs the question: why is he here now?”
“My cousin and Rowena know nothing of her animosity toward him,” she answered, so close now that the wispy curls at her temple brushed against his ear. “Rowena thinks it failed to work out the first time because Caroline was too proud. Ever the optimist, she invited him here tonight in the hope that they might rekindle their initial liking for each other.”
“Do you think it possible that she still loves him?” He stared at her as she contemplated the question, fixing in his mind the curve of her cheek and the graceful line of her neck.
“I’m not certain, but I think it might be.”
“Her greeting tonight would say otherwise, as would her behavior at dinner.”
A wry smile tilted her mouth. “I think tonight was about attempting to take two birds with one stone, if you want to know. Not only is she out to bag you, but I think she was determined not to have to speak to him.”
“Perhaps she was trying to make him jealous.”
“I doubt it. She’s still furious with him. He came home without a bride last year even though Caroline made it clear she was available for the asking and more than willing to accept. Even if he was able to prove his innocence regarding the alleged gossip, she’ll never forgive him for that humiliation.”
The song ended and it was her turn to entertain. He sighed with relief when she called Caroline, who’d just risen and was now making her way toward him with frightening determination, to accompany her on the pianoforte. The twinkle in Eleanor’s eye told him she’d done it purposely, to spare him further exposure to any marital machinations.
While the pair was deciding which song to play, Marston came over and sat beside him. “I’ve been waiting all evening to have a word with you, my friend. You’ve been so popular with the ladies tonight that I’d begun to despair.”
“A fortunate happenstance that is unlikely to be repeated,” Sorin murmured, sipping the sherry handed to him by a passing servant.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Marston. “Seems to me you’ve captured more than one heart here tonight.”
“Oh? What makes you say so?”
A broad grin creased the other man’s sun-weathered face. “Oh, come now. I saw the way Miss Caroline looked at you during dinner—as if she would dine on you rather than the meal in front of her. And were you not just now sharing whispered confidences with Lady Eleanor? Your heads were bent close for quite nearly the whole of the song. Is she not the same Lady Eleanor for whom I carried many letters from you?”
“One and the same. But you already know that such correspondence was the result of a friendship forged between us in her childhood.”
