“You’ll …?” He urged her on. “Come, finish the sentence, Callie,” he pleaded in a whisper. “Or you’ll have me imagining all sorts of endings to that sentence, endings that I should probably not be thinking of.”
She held his gaze as she took another sip of her wine. There was heat in that gaze.
“Or maybe leave it to my imagination of what you’d do after all,” he said and winked. She giggled into her wine glass, scarcely managing to avoid spitting it out again. He laughed deeply with her and offered up another napkin.
As he topped up her wine glass, Marcus had the strong feeling that he didn’t want this dinner to end.
***
Marcus closed up the poetry book he was reading. He should be in bed by this time. He knew that. Nearby, the clock on the mantelpiece in the library struck one in the morning.
He reached out for the candle beside him on the table and lit a second candle, as the first one was burning so far down it would soon be out. In the fresh light of the candle, he looked down at what he was wearing and the poetry book resting on his lap. He only wore his trousers and his shirt, having long ago discarded his waistcoat and cravat when he had come to retire to the library after dinner. He had taken off the clothes himself, without the need of a valet, as he longed to be alone and comfortable.
He and Caroline had eaten late into the night, stretching out the dinner for as long as possible. In the end, it was Caroline’s maid, Alaina, who fidgeted so much in her chair and cleared her throat that it drew their attention to how long they had stayed there talking. Caroline had retired to bed, but Marcus could not settle, so he had come to the library instead.
“Try. Try, Marcus,” he urged himself and picked up the poetry book once again, doing his best to concentrate on Shakespeare’s sonnets. He barely got one line into the next poem before his mind was off again.
He was thinking of Caroline being in this room with him. In his mind’s eye, he saw her sitting there in front of the fire. She had come to seduce him, her nightgown shifting from her shoulders, revealing the glimmer of her bare shoulder. He ached at the sight of that skin, longing to see more of her. She inched closer to him, moving to the footstool in front of him. As she sat down, she lifted the hem of her nightgown a little further, revealing her ankles, her slender calves, and her knees. Her black hair tumbled loosely around her shoulders, making him lean out of his chair towards her.
The book clattered to the floor, and Marcus’ eyes shot open. One minute, he’d been attempting to read the book, and the next, he was fast asleep, his fantasy becoming a full-on intoxicating dream of Caroline.
He chuckled aloud as he picked the book up off the floor.
Maybe everything is falling into place for a change.
He had never been a man who believed things happened for a reason, but he was beginning to wonder if he had been wrong all these years. What if there was indeed a reason for his father’s debts, and what if that reason was to bring him and Caroline together?
Callie. That is what I will call her.
He smiled at the thought, feeling that this nickname suited her far more.
Knowing he had little chance of falling asleep again after a dream like that, he turned to another of Shakespeare’s sonnets, one that was much on his mind today. His eyes shot down to his favourite words in the poem.
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so,
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme.
Nothing could so better surmise the passion that was overwhelming him now just at the thought of Callie.
Yet as he looked at the rest of the poem, the rest didn’t fit. It talked of shame and regret at desiring another, yet that was not what Marcus felt. He stood and crossed the room towards a writing bureau pressed into the corner; then, he took out fresh paper and a quill. Opening a silver-topped inkwell, he dipped the quill into the ink and began to write.
He had once written poems when he was very young, but it had been a long time since he had bothered with such folly and indulgence. Strangely, at this moment, after meeting Callie, it felt the natural thing to do.
***
“You must go to bed, Caro,” Alaina said as she watched Caroline pace up and down her bedchamber. They’d been up for hours talking, with Caroline telling Alaina every way in which she had made a mistake at dinner, down to using the wrong cutlery and resting her elbows on the table. “You will have to be up early as a maid now. You need your sleep.”
“Oh, I know.” Caroline stopped pacing and turned to face Alaina. The worried lines on her face were all the more noticeable in the firelight. “It’s just I’m concerned now. What if he realizes you are not who you say you are?”
“I don’t know.” Alaina shrugged. “He seemed to quite like me.”
“You need to protect yourself more. Remember why he likes you.” Caroline snorted and walked away. Alaina felt she had been kicked in the gut by the words. She sank back on the bed, pulling up the covers around her.
“I know,” she murmured. “He is only fond of the dowry you have.” Alaina tried to keep all signs of resentment and jealousy out of her voice. She couldn’t help feeling envious at that moment. Caroline had the chance to marry a man like the Duke of Peddleton, a charming and mischievous man who had given Alaina the most pleasant dinner of her life. Yet Caroline wanted to throw that chance away.
“Very well, I’ll go to bed.” Caroline huffed and moved towards the door. “Oh, and Callie?” She used that new nickname, making Alaina sit up on the bed in surprise.
“Clever thinking with the name. It’s so similar to Ally; you’re far more likely to respond to it, aren’t you?”
