Her father’s hand slammed upon the tablecloth, making her jump. Her mother flinched slightly as well. But the next harsh words came from her end of the table.
“I believe I told you not to. Do you have no recollection of my refusal to allow him to be introduced?”
“Yes,” Caroline said again. “But —”
“But you thought you knew better,” her father ground out.
“We merely danced.”
“There is no ‘merely’ with a Diamond,” Lord Chimes said. “They want and they take.”
Her mother glanced at him, her eyes widening. Caroline wondered if his words hurt her.Did her father wish the earl hadn’t taken the woman who might have become his Lady Chimes?
“That is nothing to do with me,” Caroline insisted, using all the strength of her twenty years to stand up for herself. “I enjoyed dancing with Lord Diamond and intended to tell you tonight that we had done so. Also, I would like to see him again.”
Her father nearly slammed the table again. Stopping himself by fisting his hand, he ran the other over his forehead and gestured for wine from the silent footman who watched the entire scene from his place by the wall.
“Handle your daughter,” Lord Chimes said to Caroline’s mother without looking at either one of them.
“Handle me!” Caroline exclaimed. This was so unlike her normally loving and generous parents, she could almost believe she had walked into the wrong dining room. True, her father was strict with his sons, and her mother had a strong personality, but neither had ever directed any dissatisfaction toward her.
“I ask you to recall I have two decades behind me. I have met a man who interests me enough that I wish to know him better. I am not doing anything outrageous, like trying to run away with a street-sweeper. He is an earl’s only son, and I have heard nothing bad about him. Indeed, I had heard nothing about him at all before the Fenwicks’ ball. Moreover, he will be an earl someday.”
No point in saying Diamond had alluring eyes, a wicked grin, and solid muscles she had felt for herself.
“There are other eligible men who are not street-sweepers, as you said so dramatically,” her mother pointed out. “Last week, you didn’t know of his existence. Next week, you can just as easily forget about him, too.”
“I don’t wish to forget about him. I want to —” she broke off, seeing her father start to seethe, his jaw clenching as he gritted his teeth.
“Sometimes, you don’t get what you want,” he said after a moment.
Again, seeing her mother’s wounded expression, Caroline thought his choice of words was terribly poor. He might be speaking of the current Lady Diamond, for all she knew.
“And this is one of those times,” her father continued. “You willnotdance with him again. If you see him at a ball or a party, you willnotspeak to him, nor allow him to speak with you. Your mother will accompany you at all times to ensure that is the case.”
“ButI—”
“That is the end of it,” Lord Chimes said. “Did I forget anything?” he asked his wife.
“No,” Lady Chimes said softly. “I think you said it all.”
Chapter Five
Geoffrey was determined to see Lady Caroline again. And not only to see her but to speak with her.
“It’s not a case of wanting what I cannot have,” he told his close friend, Jasper Trent, who thought himself clever with women. They sat at a table in White’s dining room having finished a good meal. “I wanted herbeforeI knew I couldn’t have her.”
“Then it’sRomeo and Julietall over again,” Jasper said, sipping brandy. “You and the Chimes are the Capulets and the Montagues. Given that fact, we don’t want to end with so much poisoning and death now, do we?”
Geoffrey rolled his eyes. “We shall not.”
“What about her brothers?”
“What about them?”
“What if they come after you?” Jasper asked.
Geoffrey smiled wryly. “They’ll have to stand in line behind their father and mother and my own father and mother first.”
