“They would like to wed but Malik has not had the opportunity to ask permission of Kaya’s father. If granted, he would then need permission from your mother, though, I suppose that should now be you as his employer.”
If the two were happy, he had no objection. It was better than losing two servants who might go somewhere else so that they could be together.
“That was the reason my mother insisted on this trip?” he asked shaking his head. “Why did she not just come out and say so instead of her veiled excuses?”
“I am assuming that she wanted your presence so that you could grant the permission as well.”
This was all very unnecessary. All the couple had to do was ask.Instead, he was sitting in the back of a wagon, his arse likely bruised, all so a young man, his servant, could be granted permission to wed.
“Does my mother often go about playing matchmaker? She certainly attempted to do so at the ball.” And he had not liked it at all.
“Yes, but until that night, she had not attempted it with me.”
“Well, she better not think to interfere in my life.”
*
As much asCaroline always believed that she would do anything that Lady Wyndham asked, she was beginning to reconsider.
This entire journey to Stellenbosch was because Lady Wyndham had decided that…how had she put it?Something must be done about my son!It was not so Malik could gain permission to wed Kaya. Those two were a convenient excuse to get Wyndham to do what she wished.
But why must she accompany him? This was not what Caroline had envisioned when Lady Wyndham informed Caroline that she was going to help.
Caroline studied Wyndham’s profile as he looked out his side of the wagon and tried to reconcile the various versions of him. He had been arrogant, cold, and demanding when he first arrived. Then, at the ball he’d been witty, charming, and an excellent storyteller, and she came to like him very much. However, when he was with his mother, he was often irritated and the two bickered, but many mothers and sons did, so maybe that was not unusual. Today, he was jovial and, even though he wondered why they were even here, he did not seem to mind.
How many personalities did Wyndham have and which one was the true Earl of Wyndham, deep down inside?
This was all very strange.
Caroline leaned back and watched the birds soar overhead and to the horizon where wildlife could sometimes be seen.
There were dangers to being away from town and in the country, usually from cobras, puff adders, and wildlife predators, but all she noted was the beauty and peaceful tranquility and smiled at the antelope running in the distance.
“I had forgotten.” There was nearly awe in Wyndham’s tone.
“There is little wildlife in London,” she chuckled.
“None unless you visit a menagerie,” he grumbled.
Caroline shifted to look at him. “You do not approve?”
“No.” He pointed to the antelope. “They are free. All animals should be free, not chained or caged.”
She understood. Caroline had visited a menagerie once, and she was certain that each animal contained within was either miserable, bored, or both.
“Nobody should be chained, caged, or claimed or owned by another,” he said more quietly before he looked back out and over the horizon.
Such a statement should not have surprised her. His family did not own slaves and abhorred the very idea. Wyndham, and his father, had both argued for the end of slavery, not just the abolishment of the slave trade, which occurred in 1807.
There was honor in Wyndham and that was something she admired.
She also found him likeable, which she certainly had not expected when she had first met him or when she had been filled with lust at the sight of his naked chest.
Goodness, just the reminder of him standing in the office, his banyan open, hair tousled from having just risen from the bed…
It certainly was a warm day and Caroline used her straw bonnet to fan her face, yet it gave no relief from the desire that had been sparked in her body from a once dead flame.
Chapter Twenty-One
