“When?” Caroline demanded.
“The day of the ball.”
She had not even been aware that a servant had been gone long enough to deliver a message and return.
“Did you also inform her that your son would be accompanying us?”
Her cheeks grew darker, but she did not answer.
Except…Oh, this was confusing. “Why would you say that he would go to Stellenbosch when you insisted that the two of you visit Cape Agulhas?”
“Oh, I knew the captain of the ship would not consent to sailing there,” Lady Wyndham dismissed with a wave of her hand. “I had already asked. He promised not to tell my son, though.”
When had she done that? Lady Wyndham rarely left the house.
Caroline frowned. Except there were times when she was not about but Caroline had always assumed she was resting. Now she questioned how often Lady Wyndham did leave and wondered where she went.
“As I knew that my son would never agree to travel there by wagon or horse and be gone for a fortnight, I provided an option that was more reasonable after he had denied my first two requests, I assumed that he would be more inclined to accept the third.”
“Why were you so certain that I would go as well? I could have insisted on remaining here since a chaperone was not truly needed for a lord and his two servants, as you know?”
“I really did not insist, if you recall. I knew that you would never allow Sterling to go on his own because of what he might learn.”
And the reason why she had tried to remain back at Wyndview Farm and keep Wyndham here too. There were those in Stellenbosch who had met her father and mother, when she had been alive, and were aware of the difficulties of late. “You wrote and asked them to keep our secrets?”
“That is true, but I could not allow you to know they had warning, or Sterling for that matter.”
“Why?” she asked with exacerbation.
“Because then he would have never gone.”
“You could have told me.”
“Then you would not have gone.”
“Why did either one of us have to leave?” she nearly yelled.
Lady Wyndham had been acting strangely and treated Caroline differently ever since her son had arrived and she could not figure out why. She would ask Lady Wyndham, but she was fairly certain that she would not provide a completely honest answer.
“You need to leave the estate more often and my son needed to be reminded of his heritage and what Wyndview Farm represents to our family. It is not simply another business owned by Wynd Trade. My ancestors are from here and this land came to the family through the Dutch who lived here long before the English. This land came to us through marriage and it is in his blood.”
Caroline understood such motivation. She was not happy but understood. However, she had one more question.
“If you had explained your purpose then why wasn’t Lord Wyndham provided with a separate accommodation?”
“I have no idea to what you refer,” she murmured and smoothed her skirts again.
Yes, she did!
Caroline pulled back in horror, embarrassment, and humiliation. Had she wanted her…well, as a widow she could not be ruined. Did she believe that if her son enjoyed some bed sport that he might be more agreeable? Had she made certain that Caroline accompanied him, shared a cottage so that Wyndham might…
She had no idea that Lady Wyndham would think that she would easily succumb to lust and seduction. Was it because her father was only an estate manager and since they were nearly beneath notice that it was acceptable without repercussions?
“Calm yourself, Caroline!” Lady Wyndham ordered.
“It is not so easy to do, Lady Wyndham.”
“I know what you have just assumed and conjured all kinds of ideas in your mind as to why I would put you in such a position. That was not my intention.”
