Chapter Six
Why was he simply standing there when he should leave? Caroline had explained her purpose, and he appreciated the fact that she wanted him to have clearly written documents for his meeting with her father in the morning, and he was hungry, but he could not make his feet move.
He also should have closed and secured his banyan to shield his chest and abdomen, as would have been proper, but he did not and only because of the high color in Caroline’s cheeks when she first viewed him.
Though she first looked at the papers before her and then at his face, her eyes did eventually stray below his chin.
That was when her eyes darkened and if he was not mistaken, her breaths grew a little shallow as her plump lips parted.
While she might project being the proper daughter of an estate manager, and only wanted to assist her father, she was also a woman who had known intimacy, and perhaps she missed what a husband and wife shared in the privacy of their sleeping chamber.
And, given she was a widow, it was acceptable for her to take a lover, if she wished.
Did Caroline want or need a lover?
The appreciation in her dark eyes also had an effect on him and Sterling was grateful that he was wearing trousers and that he was shadowed, shielding the stirring of his own desire for Caroline.
How long had it been since he engaged a mistress?
Good God! It had been over a year. He had last seen his mistress a month before he sailed from England, the same day he had terminated their agreement as he did not know how long he would be gone. No wonder the need for intimacy and release rose so quickly.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t had the opportunity to bed various women during his travels, but Sterling had always shied away from unfamiliar women and certainly avoided courtesans and light-skirts. After all, he did not want to be afflicted with an uncomfortable consequence of coupling.
“Lord Wyndham, did you have further questions?”
Her inquiry penetrated the fog in his mind and Sterling cleared his throat. “No. That is all. I will now leave you to your work.” This time he did leave the office and made his way to the kitchens.
He should not be thinking about taking a lover, especially not Caroline. It was improper! He was the employer of her father; therefore, she was his responsibility much like a servant would be and he would never seduce a maid, therefore, he could not seduce Caroline.
He first set a pot of water over a flame so that he could brew tea, then rummaged through the larder and came away with jam, then found the bread that remained from the day before. As he cut a slice, his mind wandered to his encounter with Caroline.
If she needed time to prepare the reports, her father could have asked for a later meeting.
Were they afraid of his reaction if he had?
Did Hallaway think that he would refuse and demand an immediate meeting?
Or maybe Hallaway didn’t want him to know that his daughter assisted him.
If that were the case and given that most men were proud and tried to hide that they relied on the assistance of a female, Sterling decided that he would not mention the matter to Hallaway.
As he slathered the jam on the bread then prepared a cup of tea, Sterling recalled how enticing Caroline had looked bent over the desk with her full breasts pressed against the bodice of her gown, nearly spilling over.
Yes, it was the fashion and, on most women, it would not be something he spent much time thinking about, yet his eyes had been drawn to her bosom.
Except, Caroline wasn’t dressed fashionably. Her dresses were light cotton, likely due to the oppressive heat, and without any decoration of ribbons or lace. Simple and practical, which he supposed was appropriate for her rank.
He swiped the crumbs from the counter and set his empty cup in the sink before he snuffed out the candles in the kitchen.
There was no need for Caroline to keep working. He could reschedule the meeting with Hallaway to later in the day tomorrow, which was what Sterling intended to tell her, except when he returned to the office, Caroline was gone and the lights had been extinguished.
He entered slowly and stopped at the desk. In the center and to the right was the report. To the left were the ledger pages for the last quarter.
As it was unlikely he could sleep again, Sterling lit candles and settled in the chair to begin his review of the report written in Caroline’s neat penmanship.
He had not reviewed any reports or accounting for nearly a year because he had been traveling and wondered if anything of import had been contained in them.
Sterling shook his head. He could simply ask tomorrow what those reports had contained.
With those thoughts, he opened the drawers in search of parchment, but instead found a ledger labeled in his father’s hand. Why would anything from when his father lived her still be kept in the desk?
He withdrew it only to realize that the estate accounting had been added to the back providing a history of accounting from when his father was the estate manager through last year.
His father had changed so much once they moved to England. All of them had, but one thing that his mother had said that still bothered him about his mother wanting to return to England. I wrote and asked if I should or even could. He never responded to any of my letters.
Why hadn’t Father written her back?
In that instant, he remembered. When the post arrived, his father tossed any letter from her into the waste receptacle. He did not even bother to read them. Sterling knew this for certain because he had looked, but because they had been written to his father, he did not read them either.
How could he have forgotten? No wonder she hadn’t come home. She was waiting for permission or to be asked but his father never read her damn letters to know that she wanted to come home.
When you have erred, the mistake is yours and you must make the proper correction on your own, without consultation, so that you learn and so that it is not repeated in the future.
He could still hear the voice in his father’s head when Sterling had failed to plan properly.
His father had waited for her to make that proper correction, without consulting him. No doubt, she was to have taken the next ship available next ship. As she had not, again she had failed.
Sterling wasn’t even certain that his mother had been aware that was one of his father’s rules because he had instructed his sons to make them better and responsible men.
Bloody hell!
His father was more at fault than his mother. Far more at fault. He hated that he may have been wrong about his mother for nearly eleven years. Then again, she still hadn’t come home. Despite her reasons, some of the blame still lay with her.
*
Caroline startled awake to a room bright with sunshine.
How could she have slept so late? Yes, she had not gotten to sleep until sometime around three in the morning, partly because she had worked so late and partly because she had been thinking about Wyndham’s chest, abdomen, and imagined what had been shielded by his trousers as a longing and ache that she had not experienced in years made it difficult for her to fall asleep quickly.
Still, she always woke with the sun. Always!
But by the amount of light flooding her room from a side window, she was certain that the sun had risen hours ago.
“Are you sick?”
She turned her head to find Livia standing by her bed. “No, darling. Why do you ask?”
“Because you are still in bed.”
Her daughter was already dressed, her hair brushed and there was a bit of jam in the corner of her mouth.
“Where is Beatrix?” Caroline asked as she pulled herself from the bed.
“She is still drinking her tea and told me not to disturb you.”
Caroline chuckled. “Then why did you?”
“Because I was afraid you were sick.”
“I was up very late, that is all,” Caroline assured her daughter. “Are Grandpapa and William still at the breakfast table.”
“No. They have already gone to the fields.”
She truly had slept late if they were already gone and now her entire day would be off schedule. “Return to Beatrix and I will be along shortly.”
Livia skipped out of the room and closed the door behind her.
That morning, Caroline did not take time at her toilet but rushed it.
She brushed and pulled her hair back and knotted it at the back of her head then chose a simple, light gown to wear.
One that was also durable and already stained because her work today would likely leave her dirty.
She just hoped that she did not encounter Wyndham.
Not that it should matter. She was the daughter of a servant and her appearance should not even be noticed.
She then hurried to the small dining room where her family shared their meals, and her heart sank.
The documents that she had brought back early that morning and set on the table so that her father and brother could review them did not even appear disturbed.
She had told them how important it was that they were familiar with the information within those documents before their meeting with Wyndham, which was to take place later that morning.
When she glanced at the clock her panic increased, likely because she was already suffering from some anxiety from having slept late.
“I will return shortly and will break my fast then. If someone returns for the hamper of food, please set aside some bread and butter for me,” Caroline instructed Beatrix before she marched from the house and once again had a horse saddled and rode out to the fields lined with grapevines.
“Why are you out here?” she demanded of William once she found him.
“Father wanted to check the ripeness of the grapes.”
“Did you even bother to read the reports and accounting?”
“I tried, but Father insisted on leaving early this morning and I did not dare let him go off alone.”
If they lost sight of their father, he would likely disappear into the test fields, or anywhere grapes grew, instead of seeing to the rest of the estate as he was supposed to.
“You are to meet with Wyndham in two hours. We must return to the house.”
“I will bring Father back right away,” William promised.
“See that you do!”
Caroline turned her horse and rode back to the stables. Once she had dismounted, she stomped to her home, prepared a cup of tea, and hoped that it calmed her irritation. She then slathered butter on a piece of bread even though she was no longer hungry, then waited.
She even went so far as to arrange the papers so that she could remind them of what was most important so that time was not wasted reviewing the state and health of the grape crop because her father had that information memorized. It was the rest that he didn’t retain.
It was nearly a half hour before she heard her father and William enter at the back of the house.
“Have you even looked at the reports?” she demanded when they joined her.
“You worry too much, Caro,” her father dismissed her.
“I must since you do not seem to have any concern.”
“I will read them,” William said as he settled at the table.
“I will wash and prepare for my meeting with Wyndham.” Her father mounted the stairs that led to his chamber.
Caroline sighed with aggravation. Her father was so certain that all would go well and that his position was secure.
He likely assumed that he could charm Lord Wyndham as well as he did Lady Wyndham, which he did to hide his faults.
Caroline would need to warn her father again when he returned.
Lord Wyndham did not appear to be the type of lord anyone could charm.
Whether her father would heed her advice was another matter.