Chapter 7
“Would you sit still, Gwen?” David grabbed his sister as she jumped up again to look out the window. “You’re going to end up falling over or out of the carriage if you get up at the wrong moment.”
Gwen rolled her eyes, and she slumped heavily into her seat again.
“I’m not going to hurt myself, David. Would you stop complaining?”
“Who will be dealing with your complaining when you actually hurt yourself?” David shot back.
Gwen scowled, and Henrietta smiled.
“She’s just excited about meeting Caroline’s parents. And we’re going to be going somewhere new.”
“I understand that, but her excitement will get her hurt, and then we’ll never hear the end of it.”
Henrietta shrugged.
“She’s ten. What do you expect?”
She did have a point. David wished he didn’t feel like an agitated father keeping his daughters in order.
At least Gwen was in her good mood right now, although that could change very quickly if they weren’t paying attention.
And Henrietta was looking content, sitting serenely beside her little sister.
David couldn’t help smiling at the sight of them.
Annoying as they were, they were still his sisters.
It was hard to keep on the side of being their brother without sliding over the line to being a parent.
Henrietta had said they knew the differences between the two, but David was beginning to blur the line, and it was going to get annoying.
David knew that, and he couldn’t stop. He was in charge of two children, after all.
Maybe finding a wife wouldn’t be so bad after all. But David was still uncomfortable about doing that. And if his sisters didn’t approve, then he was stuck.
There were so many problems with what he had to do now, both as a duke and guardian. It was piling up, and David didn’t even know where to start. It would take some time before he got his proper footing and knew what he was doing.
He didn’t like having no idea what he was meant to do.
The carriage turned a slight bend in the trail, and Caroline’s family home appeared behind the high, uncut hedges.
David had always liked coming here as a child.
It was a house far smaller than his own and had the bare minimum inside, but it was very homey and warm.
There always seemed to be a lot of laughter, and everyone seemed happy. David loved it.
Even in the late afternoon sun, there was something different about the house.
It was almost like a dark shadow in the middle of brightness.
The fields that stretched out around the house were rather sparse, but something was growing.
Workers were out there, dots on the horizon, but it still looked very desolate.
David had seen this from a distance already, but witnessing how dire things were up close really hit him in the gut.
Why hadn’t Caroline told him more about her current situation?
He would have offered to help her, but Caroline would be too proud to accept anything like that.
She didn’t see it as a good thing to ask for handouts.
David didn’t see it as a handout. He saw it as helping out a friend.
The carriage pulled up outside the house, and David got out first. Helping out his sisters, he nodded at the driver.
“If you come back about nine-thirty, Charles? That should be enough time for dinner.”
“Very good, Your Grace.”
Charles touched the brim of his cap and turned the horses back towards the road.
As the carriage trundled away, David led his sisters up to the front door.
He could feel the warm sun on his back as he lifted the huge knocker and let it fall three times, the sound reverberating around his ears.
After a while, the door opened, and Caroline appeared in the doorway.
She gave them a warm smile, her eyes sparkling when she saw David.
“David. I mean, Your Grace.” Her cheeks flushed a little as she gave him a quick curtsy. “Forgive me, I forget myself at times.”
“Given we’re in an intimate setting,” David tried not to react to the fact he had said ‘intimate,’ “I think calling me David is perfectly suitable.”
“I don’t think Mother and Father will appreciate it, though.”
“Fair enough, then.” David gestured at his sisters. “In you two go, girls. We don’t need to stand on the doorstep forever.”
“Oh, of course!” Caroline stepped aside. “Come on in. Baxter will take your coats.”
The foyer didn’t seem to have changed much in the years since David had been there.
It did feel a little darker, and the paint seemed to be peeling on the walls, but the smell brought back a wave of nostalgia as David shrugged off his coat.
He handed it to the footman, who had appeared out of nowhere before the young man bowed and disappeared with the three outdoor garments.
Gwen looked around herself with a curious expression.
“Is this place haunted?” she asked.
“Gwen!” Henrietta hissed. “Don’t be rude!”
“I’m just asking a question. I’m not meaning to be rude.”
Caroline smiled.
“This house was built in the fourteen-hundreds, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a ghost existed. This place is full of memories.”
“And lots of dead people,” Gwen murmured as she looked around.
David cleared his throat and gave Caroline an embarrassed smile.
“Forgive my sister, Caroline. She became very interested in ghosts after she found a book about it in the library yesterday.”
“It’s fine. Given our random conversations when we were that age, this is hardly anything new.”
“Even so …”
“Shall we go through and meet my parents?” Caroline turned to Henrietta and Gwen. “They’re looking forward to meeting you. We haven’t had any children visit for a long time, and they miss that.”
“Then why don’t you give them children, Caroline?” Gwen queried.
David wanted the world to open up and swallow him whole. Henrietta groaned and grabbed her sister’s shoulder.
“Stop it!”
But Caroline didn’t seem to be affected by the intrusive question. She just shrugged.
“If you can find me a husband, then I’ll think about it. But there’s only so much I can do.”
“Well, David’s still unmarried.” Gwen turned and looked up at him. “You could marry my brother.”
David could feel his face getting really warm. He glared at his sister, unable to look at Caroline after that comment.
“Gwen,” he said as sweetly as he could, “what have I told you about watching what you say? We’re not at home anymore, so you have to mind your words.”
“Don’t worry about it. She’s only young.” Even as she spoke, Caroline’s voice trembled a little. Then she cleared her throat. “Why don’t you ladies follow Madeleine? Mother and Father are in the drawing room. Just be calm, though. They’re not as young as you.”
David watched as his sisters walked away with the maid, silently hoping Gwen didn’t say something so brazen in front of Caroline’s parents. That would make him wish that he hadn’t told Charles to leave. He turned to Caroline, whose cheeks were looking a little pink.
“I must apologise for Gwen …”
“She’s a child. It’s normal.” Caroline managed a small smile. “I can handle it.”
“You don’t have to marry me if you don’t want to.”
Her smile widened, and David saw her relaxing a little. She straightened up.
“I’m sure that will be a relief for both of us. You and I would end up ripping each other to shreds.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” David said, glad that she was teasing now. “But I’m sure I’ll become a nightmare to live with.”
“That goes for me as well.”
Silence fell between them, and David could feel something prickling in the air. The hairs on his arms were tickling the sleeves of his shirt. What was that all about? He pushed it aside and focused on his friend.
“I missed you at the ball,” he commented quietly. “I was looking forward to seeing you again.”
“Ball?” Caroline frowned. “I don’t recall any balls happening recently.”
“There was one two nights ago. Joseph and I met Eleanor there, and we thought you were going to be present, too.”
Caroline frowned.
“But I never got an invitation to that ball.”
“What? You didn’t?”
“I was aware of a social gathering happening when I went into the town, but nobody said anything to me about it.”
Now David felt even more awkward. He shuffled from foot to foot.
“I … I didn’t know. I thought you would …”
“I thought I’d already mentioned that I didn’t often get invited anywhere.” Caroline’s smile was now sad, and she turned away. “Shall we go and make sure that your sisters are behaving themselves? I hope Gwen isn’t asking something to make my mother faint if she’s interested in ghosts now.”
David watched her walk away, recalling how something changed behind Caroline’s eyes on knowing she hadn’t been invited to a ball.
She was still a member of the ton, so she should have been given one, but evidently, everyone thought it would be a waste of time.
Caroline was someone nobody considered interesting or worthy.
That was not true. David found Caroline interesting. He had thought of her in the past as being fascinating and fun.
And then you left, and you didn’t contact her since. What does that say about you?
Sighing, David followed Caroline down the hall. He could only hope that his sisters didn’t embarrass him further.
#
Caroline sat at the edge of the room and watched as David’s sisters interacted with her parents.
Henrietta was sitting beside Sir Geoffrey and having a deep conversation about something that had both of them quite animated while Gwen and Lady Gabrielle were going through a book Gwen had found in their small library.
She had certainly got the same love of reading as Caroline’s family, and she was eager to learn.
At least her mother hadn’t been shocked at Gwen’s questions about ghosts haunting the house. She had simply laughed and regaled Gwen with a potential ghost story that Caroline was sure she was making up on the spot. She was enjoying the attention of the young girl.