Caught between the enticing sway of her upturned backside and the adorable furrow of excited concentration between her blonde brows, Fitz felt almost light-headed with lust.Except more than lust, something else, that thing Caroline brought out in him that felt like lust and liking and protectiveness and possessiveness and fondness and missing her even when she was only an arm’s length away.
Father came up behind them and Fitz stiffened, sure he knew what the governor would have to say about a lady wallowing in the dirt—but just then, Caroline looked over her shoulder at Fitz, her entire beautiful face lit from within.And when she whispered excitedly, “Fitz, come see!They’re wonderful,” he was on his knees for her, beside her, without even needing a moment to think it through.
Who could care what Father thought when this woman was grasping his sleeve and tugging him forward to lie against her, side by side, to stare into the bushes at…at…good God.Not only were there several pretty little whitish eggs dotted with brown spots like cinnamon sprinkled over clotted cream—there was actually a baby bird.Scrawny-necked and with eyes and beak that looked too big for its fuzzy brown body, it wobbled against one of the other eggs and promptly fell over, disappearing from view for a moment before popping up again, blinking comically.
Unaccountably, emotion caught at the back of Fitz’s throat.Something that was soft and sharp at the same time, painful to swallow against.The conversation he’d had with Lady Quick swirled in his head, disjointed thoughts that crystallized suddenly into the realization that this wasn’t only a glimpse into a bird’s nest and the start of a new life, shaky and fragile and real—it was a glimpse into the core of Caroline’s passion, her drive, the pure sense of purpose that shone from her like a beacon and drew him in to crash upon her shores.
Oh no, Fitz despaired.He’d turned poetical.Disaster loomed.
Quite literally: a shadow fell over them at that exact moment.His father, the stern, perpetually disappointed presence at his back.Fitz stiffened, compelled to rise by the sheer waves of disapproval radiating from Lord Alfred, but before he could move, Caroline shifted to catch his gaze.
Dreamy-eyed and mussed, bonnet askew and a smudge of soil across her cheekbone, she had never looked more perfect to Fitz.She reached up and put her palm to his cheek, the thin kid of her glove smooth against his skin, and he knew with sudden panic that her mother had not been exaggerating—when Caroline was in the grip of her work, she lost sight of everything else.
Like, for instance, the presence of her mother and his father, standing not two feet away and staring right at them.
“Thank you for finding the nest,” she breathed, flushed and sincere.“I’m so glad you’re here with me.”
Fitz sucked in a breath.Caroline had forgotten everything except the birds she loved so much…and him.He was part of it now; she’d invited him into her world, to share it with her.
And now that he was here…Fitz knew with a searing certainty that he could not bear to be anywhere else.
* * *
A harrumphing cough startled both Caroline and the young woodlark; she couldn’t have said which of them peeped in dismay, it could have been either.Tearing her gaze from Fitz’s felt like a physical wrench, but she managed it so that she could put the full force of her annoyance behind the “Shush!”she aimed at Lord Alfred.
But he wasn’t even looking at her.His attention was all for his son.
“Get up from there at once, boy!What on earth are you playing at?It’s unseemly!”
“Leave them alone, Alfred,” Lady Quick hissed.“They’re not doing any harm.”
“I exempt your daughter from my statement, my lady.I believe her to be entirely sincere in her appreciation of the local fauna.My son, on the other hand, and it pains me to say this as his father, but my son is unlikely to be appreciating anything more than an opportunity to behave inappropriately with Miss Quick.”
It wasn’t even true, or at least not the whole truth, yet still Caroline could see the words hit Fitz like a careless blow.
“You understand nothing about him,” Caroline said.She scrambled up and stepped over Fitz’s long legs to stand between him and his father.
Lord Alfred shook his head wearily.“I understand him all too well, my dear.Well enough to at last see through the scheme he’s been working on for this entire misbegotten house party!”
Caroline’s blood chilled.She darted a look at her mother, who appeared somewhere between bewildered and enraged.Good grief, what a disastrous moment for their parent trap to be exposed.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” Caroline stammered.
“I’m sure you don’t,” Lord Alfred said, confusingly, before glowering down at his prone son.“Get up from there.You embarrass us both.”
Fitz got his legs under him and stood in a rush of controlled power that reminded Caroline of the muscular athlete’s body she’d seen and touched and pressed against the night before.The instant he was up, Caroline grabbed his hand and held on tightly, taking strength from the press of his warm, strong fingers.
“Father, whatever you think is going on here, perhaps we might discuss it in private.”
Proud though she was of the steady calm Fitz employed, Caroline found herself tightening her grip on his hand.She did not wish to be parted from him just now.
“You would prefer that, wouldn’t you?”The lines on Lord Alfred’s face deepened as he frowned.“But little though I like to drag our family name through the muck, I feel we owe you ladies the truth.Lady Quick, I am sorry to say that we were both brought here under false pretenses?—”
Caroline’s pulse raced, perspiration prickling at her temples.“Mama, please, I can explain?—”
“There is nothing to explain,” Fitz attempted, but Lord Alfred wasn’t having it.
“By gad, there is!You’ve brought us all to this dreadful house, full of contemptible cads and disgracefully loose morals, to seduce Miss Quick into marrying you to secure your inheritance!And I will not have it.”
