“Caro!” Alaina gasped. She jerked her head up.
“Oh, sorry,” Caroline whispered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think, I was just …” She laid a hand on the mask.
Alaina felt she could see into Caroline’s thoughts without having to hear them. Just as Alaina was fearing what Marcus would think of her, Caroline’s thoughts were caught up with David.
“Caro.” Alaina shifted fully on the bed to face her friend. “Marcus and I may be divided, but you and David are not.”
“What do you mean?” Caroline stopped fussing with the masks. She held one tightly in her grasp as if it was the very thing keeping her alive and breathing.
“I mean that your dowry is so healthy; there is surely enough to set you and David up with a life together. With Marcus’ help, David could advance his business, using his contacts. You two could be happy together.”
Caroline was already shaking her head.
“Imagine my father’s fury.” Her voice was dark and husky. “He would be outraged. I can well imagine he would remove the dowry if I told him I wished to marry a man without a title.” She cast her eyes to the heavens, pleading as if for patience from God himself. “What would he say?”
Alaina reached out and took her friend’s hand, holding onto it tightly as she prised it away from the mask.
“You are hoping for one last night with David, too?” Alaina whispered. “Caroline, have you and he …?” she began leadingly but didn’t finish.
“What? No! Of course not. We just kissed. Once.” The words escaped Caroline in a rush, the short, stuttered sentences echoing in the chamber. “It’s his company that feels so intoxicating as if I have drunk three glasses of champagne.” She snorted at the ridiculousness of her own words.
Alaina did not join in. She was thinking about what she and Marcus had shared in this very bed. She was remembering the way they had made love, twice, with such all-encompassing passion that she had nearly shouted his name in pleasure.
What would Caroline say to that if she knew?
“Allie,” Caroline said, her voice suddenly sharp. “You and the duke, I mean, you two have not –”
“No, no,” Alaina said defensively, though her cheeks felt like they were suddenly on fire. She looked away, catching sight of such bright red cheeks that she thought the lie would be obvious at once. Caroline froze, her lips falling open.
“What did you two do!?” Caroline hissed.
“Nothing, nothing,” Alaina murmured defensively. She inched back on the bed, but Caroline was leaning towards her now.
“Allie!” she hissed.
“Don’t say anything. Please, Caro.”
“How can I not!?” Then Caroline’s eyebrows suddenly raised. “What was it like?”
“Caro!” Alaina stood off the bed, laughing at Caroline’s reaction. “That’s what you ask me? I thought for sure there would be outrage. Perhaps even fury, and yet you ask me what it was like?”
Caroline started to laugh. She raised her hands and covered her face, attempting to keep in the laughter, but soon, it was impossible. Both she and Alaina were laughing together, and only when Alaina got control of her mirth did she see that Caroline was peering out of the window, down at the yard.
***
Caroline kept turning around in the door that led to the stable. Every few seconds, she would turn back, intent on returning to her duties, and then she would veer back out again.
I have to see him.
Then she covered her face with her hands, despairing at her own inability to make a decision.
In the end, she gave into the draw that was deep down in her gut. She wasn’t sure what made her do it, but she ended up marching across the courtyard, heading swiftly towards the stable. As she entered, the young grooms left, all heading back towards the house ready for lunch. She smiled at them all, waiting for them to go before she looked for David.
She found him at the back of the stable. He was grooming a horse, brushing down the stallion’s shining coat as he hummed a pleasant tune. The voice was so deep, so startlingly powerful in its quiet calmness that Caroline just stood in the shadows of the stable for a minute, watching him. He finished his tune, much to the joy of the stallion, who snorted afterwards as if thanking David for the tune.
David leaned across the back of the horse with his eyes fixed on Caroline in the shadows. He was at least fully clothed today when she had come to find him, yet her eyes traced the loose shirt across his torso, the hint of strong shoulders, and the open neckline where she could see a hint of tanned skin. The sight of it made her bite her lip.
“I’ve been wondering when you’d come by,” he whispered, his voice as deep as it had been when he was humming.
