George was elbows-deep in ribbon when Tom wandered into his bedchamber.
“The birds aren’t going to shoot themselves,” Tom scolded. “I thought we had come to the country for a bit of sport.”
George didn’t look up from the bow he was attempting to tie. “There are times, Tom, when I wonder if perhaps you have recently been dealt a blow to the head.”
“What are you going on about this time?”
“Why would you think I had come to your family home, where the lady to whom I have recently become affianced lives, in order to shoot birds?” George gave his friend a laughingly annoyed look. “This journey was always about Caroline.”
Tom’s eyes pulled wide even as his brows arched in surprise. “Boiled beans, man! You’re not undertaking a courtship, are you?” Tom had always been something of a simpleton in matters not related to sport.
“I am not certain which aspect of ‘betrothed’ you haven’t quite come to terms with.” George set himself back to the task of adorning the present he had for Caroline. “We’re to be married, and I would much prefer that she be pleased with the prospect.”
“Boiled—”
“If you say ‘boiled beans’ one more time, I’ll boilyourbeans.”
Tom chuckled. “What does that mean?”
“I have no idea.” George examined his rather pathetic bow. He could only hope Caroline would look past it.
“The arrangements are already made, though.” Tom sat on the chest at the foot of George’s bed. “Seems to me that ought to relieve a fellow from the necessity of making up sweet to a lady. A match of convenience ought to be. . . convenient.”
“You needn’t say it as though I’ve volunteered to spend an afternoon in close company with a rabid dog.” George leaned back casually in his chair, grateful for a momentary reprieve from his heavy thoughts and his worries.
Tom’s nose scrunched as though he smelled something particularly putrid. “You won’t be making cow eyes at her or anything equally disturbing, will you?”
“What would you define as ‘equally disturbing?’”
“As it turns out, this conversation.” Tom fingered the discarded lengths of ribbon with a look of disdain. “Is gift-giving part of your courtship strategy?” Tom indicated the folded bit of fabric and its poorly tied bow on the end table.
“This is merely something I thought she would like.” He pushed it a little away from him. The light blue shawl had seemed like the perfect engagement gift, but now he wished he’d chosen something a bit more impressive. Such a feeble offering was unlikely to increase her enthusiasm. “Do you think the gardener would let me pick some flowers?”
“I can’t imagine why not.”
That was good enough for him. “I’ll see you at dinner tonight,” he said on his way out the door.
He ought to have realized Caroline wouldn’t have assumed he’d made his offer from a place of warmest, sincerest regards. Mr. Downy, after all, had made the direness of her situation and the coldness of the arrangement apparent to her. How could she not assume he shared her father’s view of things?
The far more pressing question, however, was how did he go about proving that assumption wrong?
Chapter Four
Caroline tucked herself away near the empty fireplace in the library that evening, unable to force herself to join the family for dinner. Should anyone walk in, they would see nothing more worrisome than a very calm and sensible young lady reading a book. They would never guess her heart and mind were in turmoil.
A quick knock echoed off the library door. Caroline dropped her gaze to the open book in her lap. “Come in,” she said calmly.
“I commandeered your dinner tray.”
Her gaze snapped upward at the realization that George, of all people, had stepped inside. Her tongue tied in knots, though whether by embarrassment or emotion or simple confusion, she couldn’t rightly say. Gone were the days of feeling utterly at ease in his company.
George set the tray on the end table beside her chair.
“Thank you,” she whispered, not looking at it or him. She settled her gaze on her book once more.
“Would you be terribly put out if I stayed for a moment or two?”
Yes. No.She wasn’t at all certain what she wanted where he was concerned. But tossing him out on his ear seemed inexcusably immature. “Of course you may stay.”
