His eyes closed, and his lips tightened. “But why?”
Caroline crossed to him. “Morgan, she doesn’t want to talk with anybody about what’s happened. She just needs a little time to settle.”
He opened his eyes and shook his head in denial at her words. “No, I’m her brother. I can take care of her. She needs to come home with me.” He strode toward the door.
“Morgan,” she called out. “Where are you going? She’s not here.” It wasn’t a lie. Grace was not in the house. What was he thinking? To tear through her brother’s home and snatch Grace back?
He whirled around. “Where is she? You can’t keep her from me.”
“Grace is somewhere safe, I promise.” Caroline quickly walked over and shut the door. Goodness, this was certainly another side to Cage Morgan. His normal affable charm burned away by his worry for Grace. She recognized the protective brother thing, and her heart melted a bit. Grace was wrong to shut him out. Morgan would never abandon her, no matter what poor choices she had made.
“Please be reasonable. Where were you planning to take her? Back to your bachelor apartments?” She gripped his arm andpulled him back to the settee. “Sit.” She gave his shoulder a little shove.
Morgan ran a hand down over his face. “I don’t know. I’m still figuring it out.” All of a sudden, his shoulders slumped. Dark smudges under his eyes gave his expression a hollow edge.
Caroline sat across from him. “What about your estate? Could she go there?”
He shook his head. “No, she would never want to go back there.”
Caroline raised her eyebrows at his vehemence.
Morgan met her gaze. “Our father was a terrible person, abusive, a tyrant. After her mother died, I stole her away and placed her with a family I’d found. Put her as far away from Wrotham as I could find. I visited her when I was able. I thought she was safe there.” He stood abruptly and paced over to the window. “The Smethwicks sent word eighteen months ago she had run away with a man named Mr. Phineas Harlow. I have been looking for her ever since.”
“She was told you were dead.”
He turned. “Grace talked to you?”
Caroline nodded. “She didn’t say much, just that she had believed the wrong people. Felt as though she had made all the wrong choices.”
He turned back to look out the window. Caroline sat back and observed the taut line of his shoulders. Perhaps there was a way she could help him with Grace, a way they could help each other. She turned the idea over in her head. It could work.
“Morgan, I can help you with your sister. She could stay here, and I can encourage her to talk to you.”
He strode back over to where she sat. “You could? But how would that work? What would your family say?”
“I think they would be all right with the sister of my fiancé staying with us.”
“Your what?” His mouth dropped open.
“Hear me out. At the end of June, I will turn twenty-four, and the portion that was set aside for me in my father’s will becomes mine. Once I have the money, I won’t have to marry at all. What I propose is a faux engagement. My family will be happy I’m finally settling down and stop pestering me with potential husbands. After my birthday, we will simply call it off.”
“Isn’t a broken engagement going to tarnish your reputation, duchess?”
“I don’t give two hoots what people think, haven’t you figured that out already? Listen, this will give you and Grace time to reconcile. And for you to find a proper house for the two of you. Everybody wins.” She shot him a wide grin. It really was a fabulous plan.
Chapter 23
Cage watched a smile bloom across Caroline’s face. She looked so pleased with herself, as though she had just solved all his problems. “Why would I agree to this? Grace is my sister, and I can take care of her. I always have.”
That was a lie.Hadn’t he run when his stepmother insisted? Hadn’t he left them behind with that monster? Cage shut down the guilt that clawed and threatened to send him spiraling into the past. “Tell me where she is, and we’ll be out of your hair.”
Caroline’s brow furrowed. She stared at him for a long moment. “Don’t you see, no one has to know about Grace’s recent circumstances. With my family’s backing, she could be introduced into society. We could say she has been secluded at your estate but now is old enough to come out. She could make an advantageous—”
“Duchess, stop.” He held up a hand. “Not everyone wants to be presented into society. Grace has been through far more than you could ever fathom. She is not some project for you to use to fill your days. We don’t need your help.”
“That’s not what I am doing,” she said hotly.
What had he been thinking, getting involved in Caroline’s life? He should have told her brother her plan to infiltrate the bacchanal and had him lock her in her room. But then he wouldn’t have found Grace. Caroline’s scheme had put him at that party, and for that, Cage owed her a debt.
