Tomorrow night would be the house party’s ending ball, and yet she felt no excitement when she thought about dancing with him. She doubted she would care a jot if he did not ask her. Surely, that was not a good sign?
“Even the note does not seem certain,” she mused, picking it up for a closer inspection and reading it aloud. “Onemightconsider… Lead you topossiblehappiness.”
Another of the Matchmaker’s letters had been recounted in the scandal sheets several months ago, and she remembered reading it with such admiration in her heart. It had led to a very blissful union between a widow and a widower, and the words had been more definite, not the wishy-washy vernacular that she had received.
“Am I reading too much into it? What if the Matchmaker really just meant that I should consider him, in order to simply rule him out?” she wondered aloud, peering out of the window at the sprawling lawns of the Grayling Estate. A fox slunk across the grass, while a restless dove cooed from a nearby oak tree.
There is no other option—I must show this to Dickie and hear his opinion, or I shall not sleep a wink.She slipped off the window seat and, holding the note close to her chest, she took her housecoat from the stand by the door and headed out into the silent hallways of the enormous manor.
She knew the chambers where Dickie was staying, as she had accompanied Anna to that very room, where Anna had asked to borrow some paper for a letter she meant to write.
As such, it was not hard to find. But itwasrather difficult to muster the courage to knock.
She must have waited outside that door for at least ten minutes, toing and froing as to whether it was a terrible idea or if it could at least be delayed until morning, before the sound of footfalls propelled her into action. Worse than being let downby the Matchmaker was the prospect of being caught outside a gentleman’s door, causing herself a scandal.
Panicking, she turned the handle and let herself into the room, closing it quietly behind her as the footsteps thudded past the door. Breathing hard, her heart feeling like it might explode with nerves, she prayed she had not been seen.
“Who is there?” a sleepy voice grumbled from the bed.
Caroline turned, drawing in a deep breath. “It is me, Dickie,” she said shakily, not knowing if it was proper for her to speak so informally. But she had done it now, and she could not stop, the words pouring out of her.
“I have come to show you something that I think you must see. A letter came from the Matchmaker, and… it is strange,” she explained. “I want your insight becauseIfeel as if I like you very much, but just as an acquaintance, and I get the feeling that you would agree with that sentiment. So, what am I to do? The Matchmaker is never wrong, but the letter was not very strongly in favor of our match. It would be easier to explain if you read it for yourself.”
She had taken but three steps toward the bed when the sleepy figure rose up into a sitting position, wearing not a stitch on his upper half. In the moonlight that streamed in through wide open curtains, Caroline saw everything—hard muscle, powerful arms, the deep ridges of a sculpted abdomen, so startling that she dropped the note altogether.
But that was not the most astonishing thing. Indeed, the truly shocking part that elicited a yelp from her throat was the fact that she was not looking into the face of Dickie, but of his older brother, Max.
Oh no… Not you.She had not forgotten how he had ruined the night of her debut, making her feel awful for a simple accident of spilled claret.There had been other accidents afterward, during almost every encounter they had, but those were more to do with how nervous he made her with his cold stares than anything else.Hewas as much to blame for those, and she would have told him so if it were not for the shock of seeing him in such a state of undress.
He hastily scooped the coverlets against his bare chest, his eyes wide. “Lady Caroline, are you quite insane?” he rasped in a husky voice, the clutches of sleep still loosening their hold on him. “What is the meaning of this intrusion?”
“I… I… thought you were your brother,” she squeaked, hurrying to pick up the note that had fluttered even closer to the bed.
“Stay back!” he growled, as she retrieved the piece of paper.
She waved it helplessly at him. “I did not know it was you.”
“And that makes it better?” he challenged, shaking his head. “I would have expected this of Dickie, Lady Caroline, but not of you. Did he ask you to meet with him in secret?”
Caroline gasped, horrified. “No! Goodness, no! I… had something to ask him, and it could not wait, and… now that I am thinking of it, I realize how atrocious this must look.” She gulped. “It was innocent; I swear it.”
“If it were anyone but you, I would not believe it,” he grumbled. “But I have noticed you often act before you think. You are impetuous.”
“I am not!” she protested.
He arched an eyebrow and gestured in her direction. “And this is a well-deliberated endeavor?”
“Well… no, but…” She understood his point, though she did not like it much.
Max sighed. “You are aware that you could have caused us both a scandal with this reckless behavior, yes?”
“It was not my intention. I was not here to see you.”
“Regardless, you could have caused my brother and yourself a scandal too.” Max swept a stressed hand through his golden hair. “Go through that adjoining door. It leads to Anna’s room. She is a heavy sleeper and will not hear you if you can, at the very least, attempt to be stealthy. From there, please do us both a favor and return to your chambers without a single pause.”
Caroline faltered. “But…”
“Whatever you have to say to Dickie, itcanwait until morning.” He expelled a weary breath. “Now, if you will excuse me, I should like to go back to sleep.”
