“I thought I might not see you again today,” he said, helping himself to stew.
“I have no time to sequester myself in my room,” she bit out. “My sister is missing. Were it not for your interference, I would still be in town trying to find her.”
“My interference.” He shook his head. “You would be the victim of some rake’s scheming had I not taken a hand in things, Caroline.”
“I had things under control.”
“I won’t discuss this further. Tell me about your sister instead. Have you any idea where she might have gone, if she isn’t with your aunt?”
Caroline was irked with him for changing the subject—it was dismissive and controlling of him to have done so. Under other circumstances, she would have pointed that out and insisted upon a return to the topic at hand. But he was right—theydidneed to focus their conversation on Prudence. Finding her was more important than any debate between the two of them.
“I don’t know,” she confessed. “I wish I did, but I haven’t been able to think of anything. I don’t know where she might be. That she isn’t with Aunt Beatrice is…alarming. I was confident that she would be there.”
“And tell me, what made you think that your scouring of gentlemen’s clubs would be a helpful way to locate your missing sister? Do you really believe that you were likely to find her there?”
“If not her, then someone who had seen her recently,” Caroline said. “I still think that was probably the best chance. But you made me leave before I could get any information.”
“She really frequented places like that?”
“This is the kind of thing I would think you would take the time to find out about a person before proposing marriage to her,” Caroline said tartly. “You really knew nothing about my sister at all, did you?”
“Don’t throw stones. I daresay most people didn’t know that about her. Your parents?” He raised his eyebrows.
Caroline couldn’t deny it, of course. She had been the only one Prudence had ever told. “All the more reason why I should be the one to go in search of her,” she said firmly. “She trusts me more than she does anyone else, and she always has. She certainly won’t reveal herself if she catches wind thatyouare poking around. You’re the reason she ran in the first place. If she thinks you’re looking for her, she’ll go even further into hiding. It has to be me. I might be the only person she’ll willingly reveal herself to.”
Levi hesitated for a long moment, and Caroline fretted. Even now, he might say no. He might tell her that she was being unwise, or even that she was being overly demanding. He was perfectly capable of finding Prudence whether she wished to be found or not, he’d say. He would simply have too much pride to admit that she was needed.
“All right,” he said.
Caroline frowned. “All right? All right what?”
“You’re asking for my permission to help in the search.”
“I’m notasking—” She cut herself off. She would do herself no favors by antagonizing him. “Yes, that’s what I’m asking.”
“What you’re saying is true. You are likely the only one your sister wouldn’t run from, and that must be taken into account. I don’t know what this will look like. I don’t know what I’m comfortable allowing. But Iwillensure that you have a role to play in the search, I can offer that much.”
It was, she knew, more than she had had any right to expect. Even as Caroline felt with all her heart that the search for Prudence was both her responsibility and her right to carry out, she also knew that Levi had every right to restrain her from involvement in it. He would not have been overstepping had he forced her to stay out of the search, no matter how unpleasant she would have found such a restriction. “Thank you,” she said. “That does mean something to me, Levi, truly. I am grateful for your respect.”
“You must promise me that you won’t sneak out of the house again, as you did today.”
She hesitated.
“Caroline,” he said warningly. “I mean this.”
She nodded. “I understand,” she told him. “And I promise. It won’t happen again. Not the way it did today.”
“Not any way. If you want to go looking for her, if you get an idea of where she might be, you’re to tell me about it. It’s as simple as that. I’ll help you look for her. But if you make me feel as though I have to worry every moment about your well-being, if I become concerned that every time I don’t have my eyes on you it might mean you’re sneaking into some establishment of ill repute…well, then Iwillhave to confine you to your room. I hope it isn’t your intention to make me do that, because I would prefer not to, but I won’t gamble with your safety, Caroline.”
Caroline let out a slow breath, pondering. She couldn’t deny that he had already gone a long way toward cooperating with her. He had made compromises, and he’d been under no obligation to do so. The least she could do was to meet him halfway.
“All right,” she agreed. “I won’t sneak out again.”
She wouldn’t rid herself of the clothes that allowed her to pass as a man when needed. She would leave herself that option, just in case. But Levi had asked her to give him her word, and she would do that much. And to the best of her ability, she would even try to keep it.
CHAPTER 13
It wasn’t until the following morning that Caroline fully registered everything that had happened the day before.
