Page 74 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
When the clock chimed four and the last caller left, Caro moved to an armchair and dropped into the seat sighing with exhaustion.
Mary laughed.
Caro smiled. ‘May I cry off this evening?’ The family were going to a musical evening, and as Rob would not be there she did not want to go. ‘This afternoon has been too taxing, I would rather stay here. Would you mind?’
‘Of course we do not mind. Remain here and rest.’
‘I shall retire now, then, if you will excuse me, Kate. May I take a simple supper in my rooms?’ Caro stood.
‘Of course, Caroline,’ the Duchess agreed.
40
Rob had slept restlessly. When he had said he could not join his friends at Manton’s today, they had teased him, speculating on his increasing number of absences.
‘Is it a woman?’Tarquin had accused.‘It is the only reason I imagine you might be drawn into ballrooms and drawing rooms.’
‘It is not,’Rob had denied. But perhaps a blush gave the truth away because his friends captured the theme.
‘I think it is,’Arthur agreed.
‘Who is it?’Stephen asked.
‘No one. There is no woman.’Thank God he had been in Brooks’s and not White’s, where someone within his family might have heard.
‘I think he is lying,’Patrick had teased.‘You should be careful of this political reputation you wish to build, if you are consorting with women.’
‘I will only face such a stupid rumour if any of you spread it.’He had lost his temper, something that was even rarer than him attending balls, and had only served to make his friends more suspicious.
‘Then he will take us down to Manton’s shooting range and use us as targets.’Tarquin had laughed.
‘I, for one, do not accept your denials, Rob.’Thomas had thrown in his tuppence worth.
Rob had never lied until he began this thing with Caro.
Memories of the two times he had lain with her whispered in his head as he steered his horses through the busy, damp and chilly London streets, with the collar of his greatcoat turned up to protect the back of his neck from the rain. His morals had deserted him; he had sinned with her in the summer and he wished to commit sin with her again.
He left his horses in the care of John’s grooms, and climbed the steps as Finch opened the door of John’s town house.
He would be alone with Caro today, he hoped, and he hoped they would have an opportunity to share a bed again. He intended taking her to his rooms.
‘Master Marlow.’ Finch bowed as Rob walked in.
‘Is anyone home?’
‘The Duke is to be left undisturbed in the library, sir, and Lord Framlington is out. However, the Duchess and Lady Framlington are in the drawing room.’
Rob presumed Caro was there too. ‘Thank you, Finch, you need not show me up.’
He handed Finch his hat and gloves, then climbed the stairs two at a time, his heart thumping with an eagerness to see her.
When he walked into the drawing room, she was not with them. Before he even said good morning, he asked, ‘Where is Caro?’
Mary stood to greet him. ‘She has not come down. She is not feeling well. We had a considerable number of callers yesterday afternoon. I have not seen her since.’
‘I cannot blame her, Rob,’ Kate said. ‘She spent the entire afternoon as an exhibit. Though she survived it remarkably well.’
I should have been here.
