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“There,” she said victoriously as they began to stroll down the grove. “Now tell me everything. Was it all you’dhopedfor?”
All she’d hoped for? Being bedded by Marc? Not in the least, not that the situation was Marc’s fault, or Caroline’s for thatmatter.
She sighed and then told Juliet everything, as she’d trust her sister-in-law with her life. If there was anyone in the world who was more trustworthy than Juliet, Caroline didn’t know them. So, she told her sister-in-law about Rachel running off, about Marc searching for her, and about their interaction with the CoventGuard.
“Goodness,” Juliet breathed out. “Has Rachel losthermind?”
“Verypossibly.”
They continued down the Grand South Walk, and her sister-in-law shook her head, still not quite believing the entire tale. “It’s amazing Haversham found her. Amazing she wasunharmed.”
Things could have ended so tragically, and those same thoughts had been going through Caroline’s mind all day long. And she would always be grateful to Marc for the rest of her days, but…“Juliet, what if I’m making a mistake with him?” she finally breathed out that fearaloud.
Her sister-in-law squeezed her hand. “There’s no way to know the answer to that until after the fact,” she said. “But, Caro, he clearly adores you. And your entire countenance brightens whenhe’snear.”
“But what if Emma loses her heart to him just like I…” She let her words trail off because she wasn’t quite ready to say that out loud. She might never be ready. But the fact that those words had almost flown from her mouth nearly shook her to her core. Had she really lost her heart toMarc? That hardly seemed possible. She’d known him forever, and she’d hated him half of that time. “If things end badly,” she began again. “Well, you know how devastated she was whenDaviddied.”
“You sound like Georgie,” Juliet said. “Do you remember how upset she was when Luke first startedcourtingme?”
It was the only time Caroline could remember when she and her dearest friend had disagreed about anything. Georgie wanted to protect Juliet from Luke and his well-earned reputation, and Caroline had been over the moon that her brother had finally found a proper girl whom he seemed to care for. “I don’t know that it’s the samething.”
“Close enough,” Juliet replied. “And Edmund adored him instantly. He thought it quite the thing to be labeled a scoundrel after meeting Luke. Georgie wasnothappyaboutthat.”
Caroline couldn’t help but smile at the memory. “I can’t imagine anyone referring to Edmund as ascoundrel.”
Her sister-in-law shook her head. “After being under Fin’s tutelage all these years? Even Luke’s influence on my brother could never combat all the training and guidance from the very exalted Lord Carraway. No, no. He’ll be the most proper and dignified duke of the realm, I have nodoubt.”
Proper and dignified. Two words that had never been used to describe Marc. “I’m just not at all certain I know what I’m doing,Juliet,and—”
“No one ever knows.” Then her sister-in-law nodded toward a couple headed the opposite direction, someone she must know, though Caroline did not. A half-second later, Juliet refocused on her. “Life is unknown, it just is. But ifHaversham—”
A shadow fell across their path. They stopped in the middle of the walk, and Caroline glanced to her left to find Marc just a few feet away, his light blue eyes nearly searing her from where he stood, and the intensity of his stare took herbreathaway.
“Did I hear my name?” hedrawled.
“Do you always think everyone is talking about you?” Juliet countered, just the slightest bitwaspishly.
“Well, they usually are.” Marc shrugged. Then he winked at Caroline. “I am vastly entertaining,afterall.”
He was vastlysomething.
“Well, I seem to have missed that entirely,” Julietmuttered.
Marc tilted his head to the side to study her and said softly, “Now, Lady Juliet, you should invite me to join you in your box this evening, loud enough for otherstohear.”
“So others won’t think this wasplanned?”
“You are a quick study,” Marcreplied.
Juliet heaved a sigh. “I’m not sure how Luke or Caroline put up with you, but as they do…” She cleared her throat and said loud enough for anyone passing by to overhear, “My dear Lord Haversham, you are sovastlyentertaining. Please, do join us for supper thisevening.”
“I do have other plans.” Marc frowned slightly. “But since you’ve asked sonicely…”
Caroline wasn’t certain how Juliet had refrained from rolling her eyes, but she somehow managed not to. “How fortunate we are, inthatcase.”
Marc quirked Caroline a grin as he offered her his hand. “Care to take a stroll with me in the meantime,mydear?”
Down a quickly darkening walk? She knew exactly what he was thinking. After all,thiswas where he’d kissed her all those years ago. He’d been surprised to learn that she’d never had as assignation at Vauxhall, and after he’d been shot, after she was so relieved he hadn’t died, he’d pulled her right into his arms and kissed her, right in front of the Clayworths and the Dowager Marchioness of Astwick. And then…well, then, of course, she’d slapped his face and hadn’t spoken to him in forever. But she felt certain he had more than just kissing in mind tonight. And at home, in the privacy of her bedchamber, she was happy to engage in more. But not here, not in public, for heaven’s sake. “I do believe they’re about to light the lamps,mylord.”
