Chapter Five #2
“Most mornings, yes. Followed by a walk in the gardens after tea. Then, after dinner, Mother insists on reading aloud to us all, sometimes for more than an hour at a time.” Her tone and expression were equally rueful.
“Do you not envy me my exciting existence, George? I have all of this whilst you have had to content yourself with the minuscule diversions of London.”
“I will issue my promise once more. You have but to say the word and I will take you to London myself, and you can enjoy those diversions to your heart’s content.
” He felt he knew Caroline well enough to know she would never wish to spend her time in truly frivolous or scandalous behavior.
But he suspected she would be thoroughly delighted with the theater and the opera, with balls and musicales.
She would very easily make friends amongst the other young matrons, and would pass many cheerful afternoons making calls and receiving visitors.
“Where do you spend your time when the Season is over, George? Do you descend upon Bath or Brighton, or are those months passed in Shropshire?”
“Shropshire. I have at last managed to see the house refurbished and the estate fully prospering. I have time enough now to live as a gentleman of leisure, but have found myself most comfortable at home. I am afraid I am doomed to live a most dull existence.”
She smiled at him. “I doubt your life will ever truly be dull. You have always possessed a knack for finding adventure wherever you may be.”
“Why is it that we are forever attacking one another with our childhood misdeeds?”
“Perhaps because there are so very many of them.” She very nearly laughed, he could hear it in her tone. Oh, how he hoped that meant she was feeling more at ease in his company. “And, more likely still, because we were always present for one another’s disastrous failings.”
“There have been good times as well,” George reminded her. “The time we convinced Cook to secretly give us tarts and we ran all the way here, to the garden, to eat them without anyone knowing.”
She moved a bit closer to him, holding tighter to his hand. “You also danced with me at my first assembly. The very first set, in fact.”
“I remember. I had to punch Edward in the face in order to claim that privilege.”
She stopped walking at once. “You did what?”
He laughed at the shock in her expression. “Did no one ever tell you about that row?”
“No.”
“All of the male members of your family were terrified that you would have a less than enjoyable experience at your first assembly and had, therefore, concocted a very elaborate scheme to ensure your success.”
“And that scheme involved striking Edward?”
He slipped his hand from hers and set his arm across her back, guiding her around a puddle in their path. “I suggested that I ought to be permitted the first dance. Edward insisted that he meant to claim it. In the end I had little choice but to dim his lights a bit.”
Once again she stopped walking to look up at him. “I am grateful you both wished to help me, but coming to blows seems drastic.”
“Mine and Edward’s motivation was, I assure you, not at all the same.”
She watched him, her gaze seeming to take in every inch of his face, as if searching for an answer in his expression.
Mr. Downy’s warning about not pressing his advantage too quickly ringing in his ears, George kept to the least revealing of his reasons. “I always did enjoy dancing with you, Caroline. I haven’t in quite some time, you know, and I would very much like to be able to again.”
“A husband may dance with his wife anytime he wishes,” she said.
“Anytime she wishes,” he corrected. “A wife is not a slave, and a husband is not her master.”
“How refreshing.” She leaned her head against the side of his shoulder. “That is the best argument you have made for this marriage thus far.”
“Did you believe I would treat you so poorly?” He most certainly hoped not.
“Of course, not. I am simply pleased to know that I was right.”
This was progress, however small. “Do you still enjoy dancing, Caroline?”
“I am so seldom permitted the opportunity that I hardly know.”
He settled his arm more comfortably around her middle.
“I have wanted to ask your mother if she would plan a ball, but in light of the undecided nature of our connection, I fear that would be presumptuous. One cannot, after all, throw a betrothal ball for a couple who may or may not remain betrothed.”
“I suppose that would be uncomfortable.” But she sounded hesitant. “It is a shame, though. We haven’t held a ball at Downy House since I was a little girl.”
He had suspected she would enjoy a ball. “What if we did not declare it a betrothal ball? We could simply put it about that your family is celebrating being together again.”
“It has been some time since all of us were here.” She was at least a little in favor of the idea, then.
“We could plan it for three weeks from now.” He knew he was pushing a little, but he had such a short amount of time that hesitancy was clearly the enemy. “If you have decided to accept me and my hand, then we could officially announce our betrothal then. If not, we need not say anything.”
She pulled her shawl more closely around her shoulders. “And would I be required to dance the first set with Edward?”
“You will not be required to do anything.”
She looked up at him and seemed genuinely pleased. “I look forward to the ball, George. And I hope, this time, you will not resort to fisticuffs with my brother.”
“Let us both pray that does not prove necessary.”