Page 119 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
Rob turned, to cross the road.
A dray passed, loaded with barrels. ‘Oy! Watch out!’
When it rolled on, a woman on the far side stood on the very edge of the pavement outside the door of his apartment, looking at him. She wore a navy bonnet decorated with jay feathers and a pelisse of the same colour, with buttons that matched the blue in the feathers, her hands were hidden in a fox fir muff. One hand slid free, rose and waved at him.
‘Caro.’
He crossed the street as quickly as his leg would carry him.
‘Caro. What are you doing here?’
‘May we go inside? Then I can tell you.’
‘Of course.’ He unlocked the door, opened it and encouraged her to walk in ahead of him.
Her face was pale, although her cheeks and the tip of her nose were pink, perhaps from the cold.
He followed her up the stairs, then reached around her and opened the door to his rooms. The scent of lavender hung in the air around her.
‘You are lucky you caught me here. I have been staying at John’s because of my injured leg. I came to pack up my things.’
She stood as still as a statue, facing him, barely across the threshold.
‘I have to tell you something that will make you angry, yet you must understand I have lost children.’ The words rushed out ofher, in a breathless tone. ‘I was told I would never be able to give birth to a living child. So, I never expected this…’
‘This…?’ he asked, not understanding.
‘I am carrying your child. It has moved. It is alive. I saw a doctor two days ago who said the child’s heart is strong.’
‘A child?’ He was paralysed by shock. ‘Who knows?’
‘The doctor, who I gave a false name to, and my housekeeper, who I asked to help me let out my clothes.’
He took off his hat and threw it into a chair. Then pulled off his gloves, looking at the task not at her, as he thought. Or rather did not think, he could not take it in. When he looked up, he faced hazel eyes as dark as amber in the shadow of her bonnet.
‘Have you been afraid?’ he asked.
‘Not until now. I did not believe the child would live. I have been enjoying every minute of the feel of him or her within me.’
He reached out and held her hand. ‘You should have written to me.’
Her hand closed about his. ‘And tell you about a child that would never be born? I thought it would be cruel to ask you to join me in that pain, and you would have been left with me as a wife.’ She smiled.
He lifted her gloved fingers to his lips and kissed the back of them. ‘Having you as my wife will always be a joy, Caro, no matter what we face when we are wed. My packing can wait, I will take you to Pembroke House. My mother and father are there, we can tell them we are going to marry.’
‘I have a ticket to return to Maidstone on the mail coach. I need to get back.’
‘That is how you travelled here…’ He sighed. ‘You will not return that way. Sleep at John’s tonight, and I will take you home tomorrow.’
‘Rob—’
‘No, not a word against it,’ he silenced her protest. ‘We must announce our engagement and make the wedding plans.’
A tear escaped one of her eyes.
He wiped the tear away with a thumb.
‘I hope for this child, Rob. Desperately hope, but I will be terrified for every day before its birth.’
