The rage that surged through him at the mere thought of it was so potent that he heard himself gasp, and for a moment, he couldn’t quite see clearly. A fog descended over his vision, and for the first time, he let go of her arm. He didn’t trust himself to manage that anger. He couldn’t have his hands on her while he was out of control like this.
She stepped back from him, but she didn’t flee. She watched him carefully as though waiting to see what would happen next.
He exhaled, forcing himself to calm down. It would do no good to get himself worked up into a lather. “Tell me this is the first time you’ve done this since we married,” he said, holding out little hope.
But to his surprise, she nodded fervently. “It is, I promise you,” she said. “I don’t make a habit of this, whatever you may think. I didn’t think I would ever do it again. The night we met was the very first time, and today is the second.”
“And nothing untoward has ever happened?”
“Do you think I would involve myself in scandal?” She looked affronted.
“Of course you wouldn’t. I know the quality of your character, even if you do make terrible decisions at times. But…” he hesitated. “Scandal often finds ladies who are not seeking it out.”
“Well, that hasn’t been the case,” she said. “You are the only person who has ever recognized me for what I am.”
A knot loosened in his chest. “Even so, you must never do this again,” he said firmly. “Not ever. We will burn these garments tonight, and that will be the end of it.”
“I can’t,” she told him.
“I beg your pardon?” He steeled again. “What do you mean, youcan’t?”
“I can’t burn them. I’m sorry, Levi. I need them.”
She was pale, but she maintained eye contact with him. He frowned. “Surely you can’t mean to do this sort of thing again. Surely we’re in agreement that this ought to be the last time, Caroline.”
“It ought to be, but…”
“I don’t believe this! You’re telling me that you mean to do this again?” He raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what I am meant to make of this. I catch you following me around, into dangerous situations…”
“I wasn’t following you around! I didn’t know you were going to be there,” she said. “Do you think I wanted to be caught?”
“I shudder to ask you what you were doing in that place if itwasn’tbecause you were following me!”
“It’s because of Prudence!” she burst out.
Her expression had cracked, and suddenly he saw how truly distraught she was. “What do you mean? What’s because of Prudence?” He took her arm again, carefully this time, aware of the tension in her body. “What about her?”
To his surprise, her eyes filled with tears.
Levi felt rocked with regret. He had been hard on her, and he knew it, but he hadn’t realized she was this upset. He put a hand on her shoulder and steered her over to a bench, where the two of them sat down. “Tell me what’s going on,” he urged her.
She took a deep breath and released it slowly. “We thought that Prudence had run away to my aunt’s house,” she said.
“You mean, to escape the fate of being my wife.”
She looked so stricken that he instantly regretted the pointed comment. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Go on. Tell me what you mean.”
“My aunt wrote to my parents. Prudence isn’t with her. She never was. All this time—ever since you and I got married—she’s just been out there somewhere, and I’ve no idea where she is.”
“Ah.” Levi suddenly understood. “You dressed as you did and came out today because you were searching for your sister.”
“Yes.Sheis the one who liked to put on these clothes and sneak out to gentlemen’s clubs! I always thought it foolhardy of her, but when she first went missing, I thought perhaps she had done something of the sort.”
“That’s what you were doing in the club the day you and I met,” he recalled. “You were searching for Prudence.”
“At that point she had only been gone a few hours. But I quickly concluded—and so did my parents—that she must have left home with a more permanent destination in mind. She and I had always talked of going to stay with Aunt Beatrice if we found ourselves engaged to a dreadful man.” Her face flushed. “Not that—I don’t mean to say that you—I just thought, since it seemed clear that she was running from her wedding…”
“You needn’t explain,” Levi assured her. “You thought she was following through on that old plan.”
