“The tune. What is it?” she asked softly.
“It’s calledFair Secrets.An unhappy tale about secrets.” He stepped away from the horse, putting away the brush. He clearly didn’t know what effect this had on Caroline, for he showed no sign of noticing when she flinched. “He’s a wild horse. He needs to hear something soothing.”
She nodded, feeling like that humming had brought a calmness to her soul as well as the horse’s.
David discarded the brush and then walked towards her, his hands loosely tucked in his trousers. He stopped in front of her, that same glint in his eye as had been that night when they had kissed in the walled garden.
“After our conversation earlier, I thought you might be avoiding me since the picnic.”
“No, it’s just …” She didn’t have an answer. She couldn’t explain why she both longed to be near him and feared the power he had over her.
She thought of what Alaina had just told her. That she and Marcus had clearly shared a night together. A sudden need and desire rose within Caroline. She studied David, knowing at once how much such curiosity had dwelled on her mind of late. At the picnic, she had been scarcely able to think of anything else with David sitting next to her, flirting with her. Scandalous thoughts of asking him to show her what more they could do together entered her mind.
What am I thinking of!?
She turned, ready to leave again.
“You keep doing this,” he remarked, his words making her halt with her back turned. “You come to me, then you run away.” Suddenly, his voice was near, much nearer than she had been prepared for. His lips practically caressed her ear as he leaned down from behind her, whispering, “Why do you run away from me?”
“It’s what I must do.”
“You’re afraid of what we did?” He brushed his fingers down her arm. It was such a pleasant touch, soft and soothing that she felt her insides melt as if they were now just a puddle of liquid. “That kiss … ah, I have never had another like it.”
“We cannot do it again,” she said, her voice abruptly squeaky. She turned to face him, though she turned to pull back from him, resulting in their faces being so close that heat filled her cheeks. “We cannot.”
“Yet you wish to, don’t you? Why else would you come to see me? I don’t understand something here.” His fingers continued their path down her arm, and then they tangled with her fingers. He lifted her hand between them, turning it over. She thought he would kiss her hand, as men of the ton kissed ladies’ hands, but far from it. He lifted her hand higher, bringing her forearm up to his lips. He kissed a sensitive spot on the underside of her arm, and she trembled at the power of his firm lips. “What is so wrong with what is between us, Alaina?”
Caroline’s stomach clenched tight to hear Alaina’s name.
“Who knows what could happen if we did kiss again?” she whispered.
“Happiness?” he asked with a small smile. “That doesn’t seem like a bad thing to me, does it you?” He moved towards her, clearly ready to kiss her again, but she pulled back. She wanted it, longed for it badly, but also feared how far she would capitulate if she lowered her guard for something even as simple as a kiss. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, pulling back again, though their fingers were still tangled together. “Maybe this is just on my part –”
“It isn’t. There’s just so much more to this than you know.”
His eyebrows show up.
Fearing she had revealed far too much, she pulled her hand free. He let her go, his fingers tantalizing as they released one another. She turned and fled the stable as quickly as she could. As she made her way across the courtyard, she sniffed, feeling a sudden tingling in her eyes as tears threatened to fall.
“What have I done to Alaina and me?” she whispered in anger at herself. Striding into the house, she balled her hands into fists, so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn’t look where she was going, and nearly walked straight into two of the footmen. She narrowly managed to avoid a collision and hid in the laundry room in time to hide the tears. Crouching down in the corner of the room, hidden by barrels full of bedsheets, she hid her face in her hands and cried.
Chapter 19
“People are arriving. Alaina, I can see them out the window. The duke is looking around, wondering where you are.” She moved back away from the window. “It’s time for the ball. So, are you ready?” Caroline called Alaina.
“I think so.” They both walked towards one another, practically mirror images.
Alaina looked down at Caroline’s clothes in amazement. They had done well, making their gold gowns exactly the same and matching the masks perfectly. Even their hair had been styled the same, with the exact same gold pins placed in the same curls of hair.
“Goodness,” Caroline murmured as they turned to stare in the bedchamber mirror together.
“I would have said something stronger than that.” Alaina shook her head in bewilderment.
Caroline giggled. The sudden tension in the air broke, and they smiled at their reflections.
“This might just work, you know,” Caroline whispered with a breathy laugh. “It really could work.”
“Maybe.” Alaina knew both herself and Caroline so well that she could see every way in which they did not look alike. Their eyes were different, and even their body shapes weren’t the same, though the gowns did a good job of masking most of the differences, for heavy ruffles hid the usual empire lines of the fashionable gowns of the season. Even the long white gloves they both wore hid the difference in the width of their wrists. “We’ll have to be so careful,” Alaina said in a rush.
