Chapter Seven #2
Caroline lifted her gaze to his. Moisture spiked her dark lashes.
“My parents threw a ball that third summer at Papa’s country estate.
It was in the autumn, and Mama wished to enjoy a month in the country, so he indulged her even though he had to go back and forth for his duties in parliament.
” She dabbed at the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief.
“Lord Danforth asked me to walk through the rear gardens with him. I did because I thought he’d ask for my hand that evening. ”
Hot jealousy spiked through his chest. “Did he?”
“He did not.” Her voice broke on the last word.
Did she still regret that? After a few sniffles, Caroline continued.
“It was twilight. I remember smelling the late season blooms, hearing the crickets and the calls of the birds as they settled down for the night.” A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Lord Danforth kissed me. Then things rapidly grew heated. He said he wanted a future between us. I suppose that was to urge me to let down my guard.”
“Good God, you needn’t continue if it causes you pain.” If the man wasn’t already dead, he’d kill him.
“It’s all right. Perhaps I need to utter the words, so it won’t fester in my brain any longer.
” With a sigh, she dabbed at her tears again.
“He backed me up against a tree in the garden. The next thing I knew, his hands were beneath my skirts, and he’d put a knee between my legs while he freed his member from his breeches. ”
“Shit. Did he…?” For he could have sworn she had been innocent the first time he’d coupled with her.
“No. I shoved him away but he came after me, so I shoved my knee into his privates and then ran back to the manor.” Caroline shook her head.
“He very nearly raped me, though. In that moment, I saw what sort of man he truly was, and I wanted nothing else to do with him after that. It wasn’t what love was. ”
Felix nearly snapped his pencil in half as a wave of hot anger welled in his chest for Danforth’s treatment of her. “Did you tell your parents?”
“I didn’t tell anyone in my family, not even my siblings. I was too embarrassed.”
“So you kept that secret to yourself for years?”
“Yes.”
“What happened between your two families?”
“Nothing as far as I know.” She shrugged. “Our parents are still friends. Well, the earl died and Danforth’s oldest brother holds the title now. Danforth goes about Town as if the country is his playground and the women therein are for his amusement.”
“Did your parents try to put the two of you together after that night?”
“Oh, yes. My mother never listens to what I want or don’t want. She is adamant her girls marry well.” A burst of hysterical laughter escaped her. “Yet today was my wedding day, and I married a major. I suppose it’s too late for her to protest now.”
Felix narrowed his gaze. “Indeed.” Would her parents ever accept him as a good match for her? Bah, it doesn’t matter.
“Regardless, Mama will prove relentless with Debra, but since my sister is just as grasping…” As she spoke, Caroline twisted the handkerchief in her hands and shook her head.
“I tried to avoid him the best I could over the years. Unfortunately, two summers ago, I saw him at a society function in Mayfair. It was a garden party outside, with many of my mother’s friends in attendance.
He and I were talking quietly in the library—because he’d cornered me there after I’d warned another lady away from him—and I suppose I lost my control. ”
“Oh?” One of his eyebrows rose. “How?” Surely, she hadn’t asked him to bed her…
“Well, I broke.” When she shrugged, only one shoulder moved. “I dressed him down, most horribly and loudly, for he had been trying to charm some other unfortunate young woman, no doubt, into doing what I wouldn’t.”
Huzzah! Good for her.
Keeping his composure, Felix wrote a note. “What happened then?”
“We exchanged angry words. He called me frigid and haughty, said I was too picky for a spinster, said hewas willing to marry me despite my age and smaller dowry. I told him I’d rather die than marry a man who cared more about his vices than about a woman’s heart.
” She heaved out a sigh. “At the end of the conversation, I slapped him because I didn’t like the looks of the smugness in his expression. ”
“Shit. Did your mother’s guests witness that argument?”
“Yes.” As she nodded, a blush blazed in her cheeks. “More than a few women, but at the time, I was beyond caring. No man had wanted me anyway, so what did it matter that I ruined my reputation in that moment?”
Felix scribbled copious notes into his book. “Where did Danforth go after that?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t care about that either.”
“Where did you go?”
“I stormed upstairs to my room where I remained until breakfast the next day.” She met his gaze without wavering this time. “Of course, gossip followed as soon as the garden party ended. I’m surprised someone didn’t tell you about that when you first met me.”
He grunted. “I’m not one to pay attention to things like that and I certainly don’t judge people on hearsay.”
“It’s one of the things I appreciate about you,” she said in a soft voice. The emotions pooling in her blue eyes were inscrutable.
Ignoring the urge to abandon his duty and take her into his arms, Felix wrote a few notes. The scratch of his pencil lead across the page sounded overly loud in the silence. “One of the other guests said Danforth was a friend of your brother’s. Is that true?”
“How would I know? Andrew has rooms at The Albany, so he’s not often at Papa’s townhouse in London. If they were friends, it wouldn’t surprise me. Someone has been influencing Andrew recently, and not in a good way.”
“How?” If he sounded more harsh than usual, he couldn’t help it. This was a murder investigation, after all.
“He’s nervous now, where he wasn’t before. Always going off to secret meetings with people he won’t tell us about. Hasn’t ordered a new jacket in months, which is odd.”
“Interesting.” Finally, he stopped writing and then closed his notebook with the pencil still inside the pages. “One last question. Do you still have feelings for Danforth?”
“Of disgust? Yes, but that has faded ever since I met you. Unfortunately, it rears its ugly head every time my mother brings his name up.”
“Ah. Do you wish you’d married him instead of me?” The investigation had moved into personal territory, but that couldn’t be helped.
“Why would you even say that?” Caroline shot to her feet with a heaving chest. “How can you think that I would chose anyone beside you?”
Slowly, Felix stood. “You know how this works. I must ask the questions.” It nearly tore out his heart to see her so upset.
“Be that as it may, you needn’t act the arse about it.
” Clenching the handkerchief in her hand, she stormed to the door where she turned and glanced at him.
“I haven’t given Lord Danforth a thought until I saw his body this morning.
” The delicate tendons in her throat worked with a hard swallow.
“I am your wife, Major. The least you can do is believe my story or offer me comfort. It’s been quite an emotional day. ”
Confusion slammed through his chest. “You have known me a year, Caro, and you know that I am a detective first when murder is at play.”
“Even a couple hours after you married me? You consider the welfare of a dead man over and above what I’m feeling, what this is doing to me?” Her voice rose with each question.
“I…” Damn his inexperience and distrust of women. Because of that, he only looked at her as his mind strained to find words. “Put yourself in my position…”
“You can go hang, Felix.” Then his wife of only a few hours stormed from the room. Seconds later, the sound of a door slamming echoed through the cottage.
Needless to say, he spent hours walking the shore by himself after Felicity and her family left for London.
Then he spent another couple of hours by himself in the drawing room, eating dinner alone, drinking far more brandy than was good for him, and generally second-guessing everything in his life.
By the time he went up to the room that was supposed to have been their nuptial chamber, Caroline was already asleep. She lay in the middle of the bed, her back to the door. Beside the bed on the floor were three folded blankets and two rather lumpy pillows that had come from God only knew where.
Clearly, she wouldn’t welcome him into the bed, and also just as clearly, they wouldn’t consummate their new union tonight.
“Point taken,” he whispered into the room at large as he collected his night shirt and the blankets.
“I deserve that, but I also refuse to do a shitty job at this investigation just because your feelings are hurt.” Whether she heard him or not, he didn’t care, for had she even stopped to think how difficult this investigation was on him?
On how her history with Danforth had pried open his carefully compartmentalized insecurities?
Then he left the room with the intent of sleeping in the chamber Felicity had previously occupied. After all, she wouldn’t need it any longer.
This was not how he thought his honeymoon would begin.