Page 65 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
With a determination she forced upon herself, Caro lifted her hand as she presented a shallow curtsy. If she was to be brave, she must simply be brave. ‘Thank you for inviting me.’
He looked at her hovering hand for a moment, surprised, but then held it gently, bowed and released her.
‘You are a member of the family, no invitation was even necessary, you may visit the house whenever you wish, and you must feel at home here. Ask for anything you need and do exactly as you like.’ He smiled. Caro smiled in return. He looked away. ‘Katherine,’ he called across the room. The Duchess, who had been drawn into another conversation, turned back. ‘Would you see that Caroline and Drew are served with tea?’
‘Of course. Come with me.’
Caro quickly glanced over the occupants. Rob was not here. Her throat dried. She hoped he would be waiting for them.
Katherine threaded an arm through Caro’s and led her and Drew towards a table containing a porcelain tea urn, teacups, finger sandwiches and plates full of a choice of small cakes.
Caro longed to ask,is Robbie due to call today?But she feared the Duchess would think her interest odd.
35
Rob leapt down from his high-seated curricle, his heart pumping hard.
One of John’s grooms held the horses’ heads, another waited to climb up into the carriage seat to drive the phaeton around to the mews. Rob left his animals in their hands and climbed down the steps, pulling off his riding gloves. He rapped the knocker. A chilly autumn breeze swept at his long coat as he waited for the door to be opened, and rustled through the bronze leaves in the trees of the square’s park behind him. A few leaves spiralled down around him. He lifted his hat off his head and tapped it impatiently against his thigh, as his stomach rolled summersaults. He had never felt this nervous in his lifetime.
Mary said in her last letter they would arrive late in the afternoon, so, Caro might be inside even now.
The door was opened by a footman – not Finch, the butler. Finch must be upstairs with the family.
‘Sir.’ He bowed deeply.
Rob stripped off his outdoor coat and handed over that, hishat and gloves to the footman. ‘Thank you.’ He walked through the hall and climbed the stairs at a brisk pace.
In the weeks since Rob left Drew’s house, he thought of Caro almost constantly. He was no nearer to being able to offer her marriage, though. All he had discovered so far was he needed more money than he expected and definitely more money than he had. He must pay to enter the run for a seat, and there were costs to run a campaign for votes, and even if he won the seat, he would then need money to support himself while he sat in the House of Commons, as the role was unpaid.
All he’d done so far was invest some of his income from John in his Uncle Robert’s business properties, in the hope it would start earning something back. But that was unsatisfying as even if it did, the original investment came from John. He could not stand up with any good conscience and speak for the working class while he lived off his family.
So now, he had begun thinking about work, to earn the money he would need. He had considered business and administration positions, but if he were to sit in Parliament, he could not undertake a paid position that required his constant presence. Hence his unsatisfying choice of investment.
If he were to describe his progress, in summary, he would say – he had thought through many things while amusing himself with horses, looking over them at the Tattersall’s markets, walking about museums, boxing, fencing and firing pistols in Manton’s, and committed to nothing. He was still fixed upon his plan, he simply needed to work out his route to achieving it.
He might have thought about breeding horses, but his father’s friend, Lord Forth, who bred horses, told Rob, months ago, rather condescendingly, that a racehorse was different from a carriage horse and Rob did not have an eye for it.
It seemed either John or his father were better at everything in life.
‘Master Robert.’ Finch greeted Rob on the landing. John’s butler was walking away from the family drawing room. ‘Would you like me to announce you, sir?’
‘Thank you, but no. Has my sister, Mary, arrived?’ His heart pumped firmly with excitement and expectation that in a moment he might see Caro.
‘Indeed, sir, a little more than an hour ago.’
‘Thank you.’ Rob strode on. Many jumbled voices travelled from the drawing room. He could not pick out Caro’s.
What if her feelings have changed?he thought in the last few steps, because he had received no word from her in Mary’s letters, no sign that her feelings were the same.
As he walked into the room, he looked about everybody, searching for her.
There… She stood out amid his younger, white-clad sisters and cousins in mauve. She was even more beautiful than he remembered. Her hair was pinned up high, with just one thick swirling ringlet draped across her left shoulder. A sharp pain pierced his chest, as though a sword had run through him – or Cupid’s arrow.
‘Robbie.’ His Aunt Penny was the first to notice him. ‘How good to see you. You do not normally come.’
No, he rarely called here. He had his own rooms, and coming to London had been about escaping his family not visiting them daily. He spent his days with his friends.
‘Aunt Penny.’ He bowed his head.
