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“We’re not talking about the lake, are we?” Her sister set her teacup down and frowned. She leaned forward, giving Arabella a probing look. “Spill.”
Dodging the interrogation was futile. Arabella well knew how stubborn Caroline could be when she wanted something. “Fine,” she grumbled, her face reddening. “I kissed someone.”
Caroline gasped. “Milton kissed you?”
Arabella blinked. “How did you know it was Milton?”
Of all the reactions she’d expected her sister to have, it certainly wasn’t the frantic clapping and squealing currently happening. “I knew he liked you!” Caroline settled herself and grasped Arabella’s hands, though she looked on the verge of another excited fit. “Tell me everything.”
“You…” Arabella struggled for words, too shocked by this warm reception to her news. “You aren’t upset with me?”
“Upset? Why on earth would you think that?”
“Our mother was pushing you two together, and you didn’t seem to mind.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “Of course I’m going to be excited about spending time with a duke. That doesn’t mean I want to marry the man.”
Relief coursed through her at the revelation. If Caroline had indeed been interested in Milton, Arabella wasn’t sure she would have been able to bear it. The guilt alone would have eaten her alive. “I’m glad.”
“To be honest, I could tell you were mad for each other from the moment you met.”
Arabella blinked and then laughed at the ludicrous assertion. “We are not mad for each other.”
“Then what are you?”
Arabella paused. “I’m not certain.”
“What do you mean ‘not certain’?” She pointed an accusatory finger at her. “I’ve been plotting since the beginning of this blasted house party to shove you two together. Surely that must count for something.”
Arabella stared at her sister as if she’d grown a second head. “I don’t understand.”
“Fist off, I’ve done nothing but gush about you to him whenever we conversed. It’s just about all I talked about, and he seemed enthralled whenever the topic came up.”
“He did?” That warm, fuzzy feeling built anew.
Caroline continued without acknowledging the reply. “I tried steering him to you at luncheon before you fled.” She softened her gaze. “For perfectly understandable reason, of course. And then, I went to all the trouble of feigning an ankle injury to get out of bowling in the hopes that His Grace could gravitate to you instead without our mother breathing down his neck, but then Lord Lockhart went and ruined things.” She threw her hands up. “Matchmaking is exhausting. I can’t imagine how mother keeps up with it.”
“Does she know about this little plan of yours?”
“Are you insane?” Caroline scoffed. “I’m already the Duchess of Milton in her eyes, and nothing will convince the woman otherwise, even if holding the title is just about the last thing I want. No offense to your Milton, but I don’t think we have a single thing in common. When he isn’t asking me questions about you, he’s going on about horses. I barely know how to ride one adequately, let alone enthuse about them.” Horsemanship was one of the few things Caroline never learned well, no matter how many instructors were employed for the task.
“He is not ‘my’ Milton,” Arabella said.
“What is he if not yours? You’ve kissed the man twice now, might I remind you.” When Arabella didn’t reply, Caroline fell back on the cushions with a groan. “If you’d just acknowledge that you’re perfect for one another, then we would all be in a far better place.”
Arabella clutched her hands. “I don’t know about that.”
“Bella.” Caroline sat up on her elbows, a soft, serious edge bleeding into her voice. “He is not Lindsay.”
“No, he is not,” she admitted. “Even with the bet.”
“Bet?” Caroline straightened with a frown. “What bet?”
Arabella described the details of the wager she’d overheard. “I suspected he was only paying me mind in order to convince me to help him get that horse. But now, I am not so sure.”
Caroline looked thoughtful. “He seemed far too interested in you for that to be the only factor. A man doesn’t look at a woman like that over something so trivial.”
“And you would know how?” Arabella said with amusement.
