Page 15 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
Caro nodded. ‘I will.’ She had no choice now they had come here. Their visit would be the talk of Maidstone.
‘Then we should go directly.’ Mary stood. ‘John can send a cart back for your possessions.’
‘I have only one bag, Lady Framlington.’
A drowning, overwhelming sensation swallowed Caro whole, stealing her breath.
She had not stepped outdoors for days, let alone with people she did not know.
‘You must call me Mary. You are my sister.’
Caro took a deep breath, fighting against the threat of panic. Yet Drew would not have asked her to do this if he did not think it right.
7
Caro had lived through abuse all her life, she knew fear. Yet, when she walked downstairs in Pembroke Place, her brother-in-law’s home, to face the magistrate who was considering the charge of incest, she had never felt so petrified.
Her hands clasped together in front of her, the clamour of her heartbeat pounding in her ears so hard she might be walking through a smithy where several blacksmiths hammered iron on anvils.
Mary and her uncle, the Duke of Arundel, waited for Caro at the bottom of the stairs. She had been told the magistrate was waiting in the drawing room.
If she could not make this man believe her, Drew might hang because of her. But to speak about such private things to a stranger.
‘Would you like me to join you in the room?’ Mary asked.
‘No. Thank you.’ She could not bear to tell the truth of her humiliation before her young sister-in-law. She had not been here long but already she knew this family would not treat eachother as her family did. Certainly, the husbands would not beat their wives.
Shame flooded Caro and touched her skin with warmth as she entered the room, she must be crimson.
‘I have asked for the records to be handled discreetly,’ the Duke of Arundel said quietly before closing the door.
Caro took a breath to calm her nerves and looked at the magistrate. She held his gaze firmly as she walked forward, denying her fear.
8
Caro sat in a chair in the corner of the Duke of Pembroke’s formal drawing room, staring at the ornate frescos painted on the walls and ceiling, and the pretty designs in the plasterwork dressed with shining goldleaf. Her hands rested in her lap, her fingers clasped together, as she struggled with her nerves. Her heartbeat raced as though she were running, and her shallow breaths would not draw any deeper into her tight chest.
Lady Marlow, Mary’s mother, sat beside Caro, speaking to her, not with her, because Caro could not persuade her tongue to form a word.
The room was full to the brim with members of Mary’s family, and only the Lord knew why, but for whatever reason, Caro, who had until a couple of weeks ago spent her life in teeming ballrooms, now had an irrational fear of this crowd of people. Her palms were damp. She wiped them on the skirt of her dress beneath her shawl.
The Duchess invited Caro to eat with the family daily, for every meal. Caro had continually declined and kept to the rooms she had been allocated. She felt safer within the more confinedspace that she controlled, where she could say who entered and who did not, and there she had no need to feel ashamed. The Duchess must think her rude, though, but it was better than feeling as though she might humiliate herself by vomiting in front of them.
She was only here this evening because Drew had arrived. He was free. The Duchess had come to Caro’s rooms an hour ago to inform her.‘Drew has been released from prison, he is here, but he needed to wash. He sent a message to say he will be down for dinner and will speak to you then.’
The room was full of Mary’s extended family, who came from London to celebrate.
Drew must surely come soon.
Mary was in the room earlier; she spoke to her father, then they left together.
Caro’s gaze hung on the door while Mary’s mother talked of her younger children.
The noise of conversation was intense, deafening. A shiver ran up her spine. It was more than simple fear, there was annoyance and anger too. She could quite happily scream,be quiet, at these people. At any moment the panic inside her would explode and she would shatter like glass.
Her mind spun with the words that would give her a reason to excuse herself and retire to her rooms. Drew would come up and speak to her later anyway.
That was the moment he walked in, with Mary at his side. His hand holding hers.
