Chapter Fifteen
Following supper, the men broke off for smoking and more cards; Caroline led the women outside to enjoy the warm night in the courtyard gardens lit by romantic torchlight.
Chairs had been set in alcoves of fragrant blooms growing around the tinkling three-tiered fountain.
Contrary to convention, after-dinner drinks were served to the women as well.
Some sipped claret as they walked the perimeter, while others examined the variety of flowers.
After spending time making her rounds of the guests, Caroline discovered Emily sitting on one of the benches, watching the torchlight sparkle in the fountain’s rivulets.
“May I join you?” Caroline asked her.
“Oh, yes!” she replied animatedly. A brilliant smile lit up her angelic face and she slipped her gloved hand into Caroline’s. “Congratulations are in order for you as well!” she said with a grin. “How wonderful about the baby.”
“Thank you!” Caroline nearly rested her hands on her belly and then remembered herself.
The gown helped to hide how far along she was, but to do so would make it obvious.
She’d been doing it more and more often lately, loving the idea of cradling the babe whose tiny movements she was feeling with increasing frequency.
Emily leaned in conspiratorially and cast her eyes about as if watching for eavesdroppers. “I have something to confess.” Caroline adopted a similar position and nodded for her to continue. “I am expecting as well.”
“Oh, that is wonderful!” Caroline pulled Emily into a hug.
It mattered not that they’d only met twice and corresponded as many times, but she felt a kinship there.
Neither Caroline nor Gideon had family; she wanted to embrace these people with both arms wide open and welcome them into their lives.
The fact that she and Emily would be navigating pregnancy and all four of them would be learning parenthood at the same time felt like a fated bond.
“I have not told Oliver yet, so…” Emily made a motion of buttoning her lips.
Caroline nodded in agreement. “Of course! I will say nothing.”
“Our pregnancies must be close in terms,” Emily added excitedly. Caro did not correct the assumption. “Won’t it be wonderful for our husbands? Give them something over which they can bond?”
“I hope so. Speaking of which, I am ever so grateful that you were able to attend tonight. I hope it was not inconvenient for you to leave London and travel all this way.”
“I have been out of the city only once before, so I was excited to visit Kent. My world has been expanding a bit since I met my husband, but there is still so much to see.”
“Did he say you lured him under the pretense of visiting a cottage for purchase?” Caroline asked, recalling their earlier conversation.
“It is something we have discussed, and I think he will be even more supportive of it once he learns of my delicate condition.”
“Will you be vacating London entirely, then?” Caroline hoped not; she’d liked the thought of being able to visit with them regularly.
“No. At least not right away. I still help from time to time with my mother’s business, and there is no one to replace me at the moment.”
“May I ask what it is you do there?” Her curiosity won out with that question. Caroline hadn’t met any prostitutes, but her mind’s image was not this composed, educated woman before her.
“The books,” Emily replied, smiling kindly as if she’d anticipated the question. “I balance the accounts and manage the orders.”
“Fascinating,” she said, not a hint of sarcasm in her tone. “And your husband? Is he also employed there?”
She hadn’t expected the shuttering of Emily’s expression. “Occasionally. He recently retired from a position, and he is trying to decide upon a new industry.”
Whatever it had been, Caroline thought it must have been a lucrative business for them to now manage on Emily’s income alone, maintain a residence in a respectable neighborhood, and have the flexibility to consider purchasing a cottage in the country. The mysteries abounded.
“Well, I wish him luck in his endeavors; though I will say I rather selfishly hope you stay close so we might see more of one another.”
Emily giggled brightly. “Do not fret about that. I can tell your husband is growing on Oliver; the speech he made went a long way toward that. And, I must say, that kiss!” Emily fanned her face dramatically, causing Caroline’s cheeks to burn anew.
“It is clear you will be quite preoccupied with your marriage even after you return to town. Swanleigh adores you.”
I love you.
He loved her. He’d said so in front of everyone; even if he’d said it softly, he’d done it.
“I think he might.”
“I know he does. Even if he hadn’t proclaimed it, everyone can see it.”
She was basking in the glow of this knowledge as Gideon and Oliver led the rest of the men out to the courtyard.
Their expressions were eerily similar in the flickering light, both pairs of unique, silver eyes darkening as they spotted their respective wives.
There was dark, sensual promise in those gazes.
Caroline leaned over and whispered to Emily, “It would seem that you are a recipient of adoration of your own.”
“I most certainly am,” she replied dreamily.
“I don’t believe I have ever danced this much in my life,” Emily said a little breathlessly as she dropped onto a chair positioned at the periphery of the great hall.
A slight flush of exertion colored her cheeks and made her eyes flicker with joy.
“It will be a wonder if I am able to walk at all tomorrow.”
“I learned the hard way to plan a day of rest after any balls I attend.” Caroline sighed with relief as she sat beside Emily.
“I don’t know how many balls we will be attending.”
“Nonsense! You will surely be attending all of ours, and I plan on hosting many.”
“Do you?”
“Oh, yes! I think for my first event as Marchioness of Swanleigh this one turned out quite fine. I can only improve with practice.”
“Then I am sure everything will be utterly magical. Tonight has already been such a smashing success.”
Caroline smiled in gratitude. “Are you staying in the village?”
Emily nodded in response and sipped from the glass a servant had offered her. “We have a room at the Sword and Lion Inn.”
“That is nearly an hour’s carriage ride from here, is it not?” She remembered seeing the inn’s carved sign on their way to Bray Castle.
“I didn’t know how else to perpetuate the ruse I’d presented to Oliver. We couldn’t very well arrive on your doorstep yesterday, but I knew as soon as he saw me in my gown, he’d never say no to attending the party.”
Caroline smiled; she could well picture the stoic Oliver melting at the sight of his angelic wife in her finery.
“Now that the secret is out, perhaps you might move your things here? There are more than enough bedchambers prepared. We have some guests staying the night, but they will be leaving tomorrow.” She took Emily’s hand.
“Stay another few days if you can; we have only one more week before we return to London. It will be such fun!”
Emily looked thoughtful. “It will take some convincing, but I think I can manage it.”
Caroline gave a little bounce of excitement. “Splendid! It is settled. You will return in the morning.”
“Pardon the interruption,” Lord Trenholm said with a flourishing bow. His kind hazel eyes danced with just the right mixture of mirth and brandy. “I believe this next dance is mine?”
“Indeed, it is,” Caroline said with a gracious smile. She excused herself from Emily and allowed Trenholm to guide her to the dance floor for a spirited reel.
As she bobbed and spun, she caught sight of a tall, dark-haired man watching her with smoldering intensity.
Gideon had done his fair share of dancing that evening as well, but, more often than not, he’d been pulled into conversation or games of chance with his guests—everyone vying for time with the man of honor.
Now, however, he was alone and staring at her as if no one else in the world existed.
It was so exciting that she nearly missed her steps a time or two.
It was almost a relief when the dance finished and she curtseyed to her partner.
That was, until her heart began racing at a furious pace when her husband cut across the room and headed in her direction.
His long legs ate up the distance with startling speed until he was suddenly standing before her, looking sinfully, darkly handsome.
“I believe the next dance is a waltz,” he murmured and held his hand out to Caroline. “And I would very much like to share it with my wife.”
A few years earlier, at Lord and Lady Underhill’s fete, when the fall crispness had just begun to set in and the leaves were changing to brilliant shades of red and orange, making Hyde Park look like one giant sunset, Gideon had shown her how to be her authentic self in public.
For so long, she’d been trained only to do what was expected of her, to smother any “otherness” that might make her stand out in a bad way.
She’d received an invitation, though she knew Lady Underhill cared little for her.
Fortunately, her husband had once been close to Kempton and Brinley, and their little group attending en masse had become a foregone conclusion.
Caroline had nothing against the woman, other than the bitter downturn of her lips each time Caroline spoke.
True to form, Gideon reassured her that he would pull the same face right back at Lady Underhill each time she made it, regardless of how insane it made him appear.
Of course, Caroline could not decline witnessing such a thing, so she donned her best persimmon-colored gown with ivory lace trim, as well as the pearls she’d received for her sixteenth birthday.
She’d felt beautiful and confident, and she’d also had the best night of her life—up to that point.