He dipped his lips, laying a tender kiss on hers. “I have yet to speak to your father, and I daresay he might reject my suit, but I want to marry you, Caro.”
“I want to marry you as well,” she breathed.
“Shall we scheme to be discovered in this position? He would be forced to announce our union this very evening.”
“I would not allow Kitty to do so, and I will not allow you to either.”
“Allow Kitty?” He chuckled. “So the two of youdidarrange that whole farce.”
She continued, ignoring his remark. “I have a better idea, Tristan. You would like to convince my father to approve of our union? We only have to employ the services of one person.”
“Who is that?” he asked.
She grinned. “Your mother.”
The ball had continued asthough nothing had happened, not one soul aware of the marriages being decided in the parlor. Tristan entered the ballroom while Caroline found the retiring room to sit for a spell before she would follow him in. As much as he had made a jest of causing a scandal to expedite their engagement, he valued Caroline too much to ruin her name.
Mother and Father were standing near the back of the room in conversation with Mrs. Whitby. They stood together as though the last half-hour had not passed at all, as though their children had not been missing for the whole of it.
When he approached, Mother turned a suspicious gaze on him. “We did not see you dancing with Miss Whitby.”
“There was an emergency—a torn gown.” He spoke flippantly, as though it was of little consequence, though he could still feel the lingering heat of Caroline in his arms. “Mr. Fielding oversaw the matter, and everything is right again.”
“Where is Caroline?” Mrs. Whitby asked.
“The retiring room, I believe.”
“I will go to her.” She pressed Mrs. Shepherd’s arm. “I shall speak to you again later. You ought to come for tea tomorrow.”
“I would like that.”
Tristan looked at his nails. When he glanced up again, he found his parents watching him shrewdly. “Shall we leave soon?”
“If you’d like,” Father said.
“I wondered if you would prefer to wait for Miss Whitby to return from the retiring room.”
He maintained a bland expression. If he said too much now, Mother was liable to make a scene. They needed to be more intentional than that. “Yes, well, I have passed theduration of a set in her company, so I feel my time here is complete.”
Mother drew in a small, eager gasp.
Wonderful. She was precisely where he wanted her.
Father took her arm, and they walked the perimeter of the room toward the exit, Tristan trailing them. It took a matter of ten minutes to have the carriage brought round, and only a few minutes more until they had filed inside.
“You are carrying atendrefor Caroline Whitby, are you not?” Mother asked the moment they had tapped the roof of the carriage and were off.
Tristan considered that. “Not precisely, no.”
Mother frowned.
He rubbed his chin in thought. “My feelings for her are much more evolved than that. I would more accurately state that I love her.”
Mother gasped. “Tristan! How could you tease me in that way?”
“It could amount to nothing, Mother.”
“Caroline is the woman you spoke of, the one who is more likely going to marry a richer gentleman? I do not believe it. She has never been a prideful, greedy girl.”
