Chapter Eighteen
Caroline had decided that she ought to let her father and the boys know of her intentions, as her plans would affect them, too.
Lord Devereux was, to put it plainly, less than amused and more than furious.
“Is this how you’d like me to live out my days, Caro? The father of a spinster instead of a countess? In debtors’ prison instead of Havenlock Hall? Penniless instead of, of, penny-full! How cruel you young people can be to your elders!”
Caroline had collected the blackmail letter and now sat with it in her lap. She didn’t know when it had gotten folded in half, but no matter. She had it, and she was going to do the right thing with it.
“Papa, if Lord Rockford wishes to maintain our engagement after I’ve returned the letter, I shall be only too glad to accept. But he must make that decision without anything held over his head.”
“I disagree. To achieve anything in this life, one must keep things far out of other people’s reach. A full story overhead if possible!”
“You’re not going to talk me into this course of action, Papa.”
In truth, part of Caroline had tried her damnedest to talk herself into keeping that letter. When she thought of Rockford—no, of Gabriel—her heart seemed to speed up.
He’d been the first man to show her so many things.
Pleasure, for one, both the pleasure of being kissed and the ecstasy of being touched. The thought of sampling more, all of him made her feel almost lightheaded and rather breathless.
More than that, though, he’d shown her admiration and respect for her mind and spirit, not simply her physical beauty or for her accomplishments that could be useful to him.
All she wanted was to run away to a fantasy world and live there with him in perpetuity, secure from the world and her own feelings of guilt. But Caroline had learned that she was not a villain. Writing out all the dastardly blackmailers in her stories and then trying to play the part of one had only proved how unsuitable she was for doing wrong.
If Gabriel still wanted her…but she knew that once he had his liberty back in full, he would cool. Her heart sank at the thought. But if you loved someone, you had to do what was best for them, always.
Her father did not see it that way, of course.
Baron Devereux paced back and forth and around the furniture in the room, looping erratically and making Caroline and Edmund rather dizzy in the process. Her father was an ambling bumblebee whose spot of choice nectar, a Lord Rockford–scented blossom heavy with pollen, had been snatched away.
“Papa, might you sit? This is rather wearying,” Caroline said.
“I shall pace from now until Judgment Day if it alters your course of action!”
“Then you should know it’s useless.” Caroline was not in the mood for this; she’d bookkeeping to get sorted and then more pages to write for her publisher. Maybe they didn’t want her novel, but they’d take another Gothic thriller. It was money, at least.
“How could you let something as insipid as principles stand in our way?” her father cried. “No one in London has morals anymore, you know that! It’s not fashionable.”
“I’m afraid I’ve an independent and perverse streak as you’ve long observed, Papa. If my natural condition makes finding a husband impossible, so be it.”
After all, Caroline had spent the last few years attempting to be like every other debutante in town.
She’d tried dancing, but had tripped up all her partners; she’d held a ghost story competition during her debut ball, which had seen one heir to a marquessate faint dead away; when she’d tried to laugh along with a chorus of young ladies, she’d always laughed too loud for anyone’s taste.
She wasn’t suited for life in the ton . Gabriel deserved to make his own choice of wife; he shouldn’t be stuck with an incompetent like her if he didn’t wish it.
And he won’t. I know that.
“Edmund, you know how to talk sense into your sister. Help me!” the baron cried.
“Father, this has really gone far enough.” Edmund’s cheeks were rosy with indignation, an unusual sight. Normally he simply went along with whatever either their father or Caroline wanted, depending on the situation. “Caro’s been the only one of us who’s properly tried to improve our situation over the last few years. It was beastly of us to ever allow her to do something like this on our behalf. The fact that she wishes to do the honorable thing no matter the risk only makes me respect her more.”
Caroline felt rather light upon hearing that. She loved Eddie, of course, but she’d never felt this proud of him before. It was rare that he stood up to anyone, least of all their father.
“Sentiment! That’s all you children know with your books and such.” The baron huffed, collapsing into a chair. “Sentiment’s lovely for your novels and poems, but when we end up living and dying in a poor house, you’ll want to give sentiment a good hard kick in the teeth.”
“I’m going to try the law again.” Edmund turned even pinker.
“My boy, be serious. You’re a good sort, but you have no temperament for work!”
Caroline grudgingly admitted her father had a point; Edmund was even less practical than she herself was, an astounding feat.
“Well.” Edmund blushed even pinker. “I might marry well.”
Well, there was no need for the baron to positively bray with laughter. Edmund winced, and Caroline was annoyed on her brother’s behalf.
“Eddie is heir to a title, a charming, handsome young man, and sweetness itself. He could do quite well on the marriage mart,” she snapped. “After all, there are plenty of heiresses out there who want a title. Though I’d hate the thought of Eddie having to sell himself in marriage to help us.”
“It’s more honorable than you blackmailing a man, Caro.” Her brother patted her hand in support. “And as the eldest, it should be my duty, not yours.”
“You both are impossible!” Baron Devereux threw up his hands. “What is this, a children’s fable? Do you expect a good fairy with an armful of sweets and presents to waltz in here and reward you for virtue at any moment? Edmund, my dear lad, you know the Devereux barony is the poorest and most land-strapped in the entire ton . We haven’t even a proper ancestral home! Just that manor by the sea in Cornwall, which of course we had to sell to your aunt and her husband.”
Yes, Caroline missed Windward Cottage. At least her aunt and uncle encouraged them all to visit whenever they liked, but…this was getting off topic.
“Papa. Let me explain this fully and finally,” Caroline said. “I am not going to restore our family’s fortunes by doing something so wrong. I shouldn’t have tried this in the first place!”
Because you should have taken care of us. You’ve let Mamma down horribly. She almost spoke the words but then held them back. She wasn’t angry enough for that just yet.
Sometimes when Caroline saw other young ladies of the ton with their fathers, she felt a surge of envy.
True, Sybil and others would often complain about how overprotective their fathers were, but at least they had men who insisted on shouldering the burdens of the family.
Caroline had been left to act as both the woman and the man of the house for much of the last few years, without any of the perks of either.
Sensing he would not win, the baron grumbled as he headed out of the room.
When the siblings were alone, Edmund gave Caroline a brief hug. “I’m proud of you, Caro. I know Mother would be proud, too.”
“I hope you’re right.” She sighed. “I hope she wouldn’t think me very selfish and self-regarding for destroying my one chance at a strong match.”
“You can’t think her that sort of person,” Edmund said. He was right, of course.
Lady Devereux would never have seen honor in blackmail, not even if it would keep her family secure.
Well. At least Caroline still had dinner at Kane House tomorrow night to look forward to. She would have one final opportunity to look upon the Earl of Rockford and see him return her gaze with tenderness.
Once she gave Gabriel the letter, he could be gone from her life for good.
…
Gabriel had tried to figure out why Caroline had become so hesitant over the last day and a half. Was she attempting to be coy? To increase his desire to marry her?
She didn’t know that his picnic by the pond had had nothing at all to do with putting on a good face for society. It had been entirely about her.
Well, he was going to make it clear to her by the end of this dinner his high regard for her was real. He’d asked the servants to arrange daffodils throughout the dining room, so she could see that he’d carried her brightness with him all the way home.
“Why daffodils?” Lady Rockford scoffed as she entered the room. She gazed with frosty disdain at a cheerful yellow flower. “They are fine for simple country folk, but they have a distinct lack of regality.”
“Because they’re Miss Devereux’s favorite, Mother. That’s why.” He looked at the dowager with wariness. “Did you instruct the cook as I asked?”
“Indeed. I’m not certain why we’re having braised lamb in the depths of summer.”
“Because it’s Caroline’s favorite dish. That’s what Lady Sybil told me, anyway.”
“Caroline is it, now?” The older woman appeared even more disdainful, a neat trick and hard to pull off. “Your chumminess and informality with a common criminal shall never cease to astound me.”
Gabriel sighed. Now that his mother was here, he’d put her to work helping him with his final preparations for the Season. This dinner tonight had been one of them, and then came the invitations for the ball he wished to host. He wanted to make the engagement official as soon as possible, to put all uncertainty on Caroline’s part to rest.
“Just wait until you’ve met Caroline, Mother. You’ll be amazed that you ever thought so meanly of her.”
“Gabriel, I don’t think meanly of anyone. I look at a situation honestly and give my opinion; that’s always been my way, as you well know. If Miss Devereux stuns me with her wit, her modesty, her superior nature and her charm, I shall be only too delighted. But given what I know of the woman, all those seem like unlikely possibilities.”
Just then, there came a knock at the front door.
Smith went to welcome the Devereux household. Gabriel gave his arm for his mother, who regarded it with the same frosty disappointment as she did nearly everything else that had to do with him.
“It was an unlikely possibility that I would inherit the Rockford estate. But it happened. Didn’t it?”
“There are unlikely events, my dear boy, and then there are miracles. I trust you to discern into which category I place the possibility of my liking this young person with whom you’ve entangled yourself.”
Gabriel would worry about his mother later.
First, he needed to make Caroline his countess. He needed her to know how fully and freely happy he was to be under her power. He needed to take away that stiffness he’d observed during their picnic. Above all, he needed her.
The sooner he had her by his side, in his arms, yes, in his bed, and secure inside his home, the happier they would both be.
He’d never been one for happiness before. That was the most startling change the authoress had brought to his life.
Gabriel almost lost his senses when he caught sight of her. Caroline had worn the lavender gown he’d gifted her tonight. The way the fabric played with her eyes and her coloring highlighted her rare, earthy beauty. By the way Lady Rockford straightened her spine and gave a slight hmmph , Gabriel could tell Caroline had scored a point already.
She was going to win the whole bloody game by the time he was through.
“It’s a pleasure to see you, my lord. Miss Devereux.” He took her hand and kissed the soft leather of her glove. Gabriel nearly trembled to think of the hand beneath the glove, soft and rosy and occasionally splattered with ink.
He wanted her hand in his. He wanted her hand on him, against his chest so she could feel the fierce pounding of his heart. He wanted her touch everywhere. On all of him.
Yet Caroline didn’t even lift her eyes to his. She worried her lip and muttered a shy ‘hello’.
“Lord Rockford, I would just like to say that we are so thrilled to have been invited to Kane House.” The baron looked strangely red-faced as he gripped Gabriel’s hand and shook it with frantic fervor. “I also wish to say I know you’re a good sort of man who never goes back on his word. That’s what I liked about your father, after all. I can see he passed that quality down to you.”
“Well. Perhaps,” Gabriel drawled, smirking when the baron winced.
“I can assure you, Baron Devereux, that the late Earl of Rockford did indeed endow his son with many qualities.” One could have sharpened blades on his mother’s tone. Gabriel understood her anger, though he wished she could be more at ease for Caroline’s sake.
“No doubt. No doubt he did, my lady.” The baron kissed his mother’s hand, which she offered with reluctance. “May I also say what an honor it is to finally be presented to Her Ladyship socially.”
“My husband was the sociable one,” the dowager countess replied. “I found his choice of company to be rather lacking. But he didn’t much mind whom he had around him.”
The dowager countess had always been expert at deploying veiled yet caustic remarks.
“Mother, perhaps we might show the Devereuxes the ballroom before we go to dinner.” Gabriel made certain his tone was polite but carried a subtle warning. He would not have Caroline and her family shamed tonight. He offered Caroline his arm. “I should like to escort you in particular, Miss Devereux. It’s where I plan to host Kane House’s first ball in many years, naturally. It’s where we should make our announcement.” He hoped that would please her, reassure her that he looked forward to their engagement.
“Of course. The ballroom. How thoughtful.” But Caroline only sounded faint. She looked positively miserable as he led her down the hallway. Gabriel noticed she clutched the reticule swinging from her wrist with some fear, as if afraid it should suddenly vanish. The fearfulness puzzled him until he thought of his mother’s less than soothing remarks earlier. Caroline must feel so judged here. Gabriel resolved to change that for her, to make her feel as welcome in his home as she already was. While they walked, Lord Devereux continued chattering.
“I do look forward to dinner, Lord Rockford. I should especially like to sample your wine cellar. The old earl told me how splendid it was, and I believe I could do with a drink.” The baron laughed, sounding desperate. Well, he had every reason to be nervous with the Dowager Countess of Rockford at his back.
“It’s so surprising my husband never mentioned you, Lord Devereux. Your company provides endless amusement,” Gabriel’s mother said. Gabriel couldn’t help but smile; served the old bastard right to get prodded a bit.
Gabriel escorted Caroline while Edmund trailed behind and the elder people brought up the rear. Gabriel watched her face when they entered the ballroom.
Kane House boasted one of the oldest and grandest such chambers in the whole of London. The walls were mirrored in the French style, so the space seemed to stretch on and on into the distance. Caroline gasped as she was confronted with replications of herself in every corner.
“I must say, this gown is truly stunning, my lord. I can never thank you enough for it.” She still sounded shy even though they’d left her father and his mother behind. Gabriel had understood her hesitation earlier, but why was she being so nervous even when it was just the two of them? Gabriel frowned, beginning to wonder if something more was amiss than he’d previously thought.
“You don’t need to thank me for the gown. I ought to thank you for improving the thing,” he replied. “A gown is only fabric without a woman, after all. You’ve transformed it into a living work of art.”
“That’s so kind.” Her voice trembled, her brow wrinkled. Was she fighting tears?
“Kindness be damned. It’s the truth. I like to see you in these mirrors.” He pressed nearer, hoped she could hear the desire in his voice. If she doubted the sincerity of his feelings, he wanted to soothe her doubts. “It looks as though you belong here. As if you’d been made for Kane House.”
Made for me, especially. Designed only for me.
“I’d like to believe that,” Caroline said. And that was all she said. He was growing more confused by the minute.
Was the vixen attempting to turn Gabriel’s resolve to sludge? Did she want him to run out into the streets and proclaim their coming union? He’d bloody do it if she’d only smile and tease him again.
The gong sounded for dinner, waylaying his plans of public exhibition.
Gabriel watched Caroline greedily as they entered the dining room. He saw her expression light up when she beheld all the daffodils; then, her spirits only seemed to depress further.
“Don’t you like them?” Gabriel felt desperate.
“I adore them.”
Blast the flowers, I want you to adore me, he thought.
They took their seats and Baron Devereux helped himself to the wine. Indeed, the older man drank as if expecting a sentence of death at any moment.
“I believe I recall your debut ball, Miss Devereux,” Lady Rockford said as the servants delivered the first course. “You caused quite the sensation, if I’m correct.” She took a spoonful of watercress soup. Gabriel had never seen anyone eat soup with all the elegance of a dance before; his mother was a unique woman. “Unique” being a kinder word for “glacial.”
“Oh, I think ‘sensation’s’ rather a nice word, my lady.” Caroline attempted a smile as she explained to Gabriel. “I couldn’t have been more awkward. I accidentally promised myself for an allemande to Reginald Cartwright. You may not know him, the baronet Cartwright’s eldest?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” Gabriel winced. “The fellows down at White’s call him Left-Right Cartwright, in fact.”
“Yes, that name’s got to do with me. You know how wonderfully I dance the allemande,” Caroline drawled.
“Indeed. I could hardly forget.” Her memorable spill at Vauxhall seemed to pain her, but it gave Gabriel only a source of delight. That was where he’d first observed how unflappable Caroline truly was.
“Well, poor Mr. Cartwright didn’t believe me when I warned him of my dancing skills. It also didn’t help that I’ve a difficulty with letting men lead.” A hearty understatement, that. “He thought we ought to turn left; I believed it was right. It ended in a spin and me, well, accidentally throwing him into the buffet.”
Gabriel laughed. He couldn’t help it. He could see Caroline surrounded by peers of the realm, that odd combination of apology and defiance about her.
“Yes. It did cause quite a commotion,” Lady Rockford said. “It can be so difficult for a young woman in our society to stand out, Miss Devereux, but it seems you have managed such a feat with miraculous ease.” Gabriel did not like the dowager’s tart remarks aimed in Caroline’s direction.
“Mother, perhaps we might move on.” Gabriel was resolved not to glower at the woman in front of guests. He was trying to be more civilized these days.
“If Miss Devereux is to take my place as head of the household, she ought to know the scrutiny she’ll be placed under. It would not be fair of me to neglect my duty to her.” The dowager countess gave the thinnest-lipped smile ever devised by humankind. “Then again, perhaps when you’ve wed my son, Miss Devereux, we’ll be able to relax about the ton ’s scrutiny. I’m sure you’ll be ample help in that department.”
“Um. Yes.” Caroline looked a bit pale. Gabriel noted how she was clutching that reticule in her lap as though it were a lifeline.
“We might speak of something else,” Gabriel said as the soups were cleared away and the braised lamb served. He noted Caroline’s surprise at the dish. “Lady Sybil Forsythe told me this was your favorite. I hope it’s prepared to your liking,” he told her.
“Everything here is to my liking.” She finally looked him in the eyes as she said those words.
He saw the happiness that he’d yearned to locate. He saw hope, as well, and perhaps the smoldering ember of desire. Yet that ember was extinguished by the appearance of tears. Caroline struggled valiantly to conceal them, but Gabriel noticed.
And his mother only made the bloody situation worse.
“I do so want you to like Kane House, Miss Devereux. Indeed, the entire Rockford line must now be bent to your will, it seems. However did you manage such an ingenious hold upon my son? You must regale us with all the different ways you managed to cast a spell. Your womanly talents have long been in doubt, but it seems we all underestimated you. I should love to know how you caught his eye.”
“Mother!” Gabriel barked. Caroline shot to her feet, her lip trembling but her shoulders pulled back.
“I have an announcement to make concerning just that,” she said.
Gabriel frowned; the devil was going on?
“And I have a toast!” Baron Devereux shot to his feet, raising his thrice-filled wineglass to the ceiling. The rosiness of his cheeks and the way he rather wobbled where he stood indicated he may have enjoyed a nip or two of brandy before coming to dinner; there was no way he could be this inebriated already.
“Papa, I really must speak before the toast,” Caroline said.
“And I must proclaim to one and all assembled how proud I am to have our two families united!” Lord Devereux raised his voice louder and louder the more Caroline attempted to get a word in. “I am more than proud! I am delighted, exultant, ecstatic, um, enthralled, delighted—”
“You said that one already, Father,” Edmund said. The young man had resolved to make himself as invisible as possible tonight, it seemed; Gabriel had almost forgotten the fellow was in the room.
The baron shushed his son. “Repetition only serves to prove how proud and happy I am. Happy! Indeed, I’m jubilant. I’m positively elated.”
“Before we continue finding every synonym for happy, I believe I should speak.” Caroline looked quite irritated with her father, which Gabriel could understand. She began to undo the strings of her reticule. “That is why I’ve brought—”
“I’m not done speaking yet, Caro!” As the baron said this, he made a sudden move to get to his daughter on the other side of the table.
Unfortunately, in his haste and inebriation, he did not notice that a slight corner of the carpet was turned up. Lord Devereux tripped and stumbled, waving his arms about and dropping his glass. The wineglass shattered to pieces as the baron pitched forward.
“Papa!” Caroline cried out.
The girl’s father collapsed to the floor, his head hitting with quite a juicy thunk . Edmund rushed to the older man’s side and turned him over. The baron was unconscious, and a wound on his forehead was bleeding quite a lot. Gabriel tensed. Oh, bloody hell. The last thing Gabriel needed to placate the girl he wanted to marry was for her father to drop dead at dinner.
“Fetch the doctor at once!” Gabriel ordered.
While his servants set about doing as he asked, Gabriel reached Caroline’s side and let her bury her face in his shoulder.
Even with an unconscious baron, a rattled dowager, and a flurry of servants dashing about here and there, Gabriel felt still for the first time that evening. It felt good to offer Caroline protection. In the chaos, the matter of the reticule was abandoned.