Page 84 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
‘How are you?’
‘Have you been having fun?’
Helen and Jenny asked their questions simultaneously.
‘If you will excuse me, Rob, I shall ask for another place to be set for dinner for you.’ Kate stood and gave Hestia, who was a little older than Iris, to a nursery maid. ‘I presume you would like dinner?’
He nodded. ‘Yes, please. I came early to see Mother and Father, and these rapscallions.’
‘I’ll put Iris down too.’ Caro stood when Kate left the room and followed the maid to the children’s bedchamber.
Rob sat down, with Jemima on his lap, and told his older sisters a little about his life in town. He listened to himself and felt guilty again; they would never have an opportunity to live independently.
He thought of Caro. Of Caro calling herself a parasite.
She should have been angry with him for sulking, yet, she had not seemed angry.
When Caro returned, she had not only set Iris down but dressed for the evening. ‘Are you ready to come downstairs, Rob?’
‘Yes. You may say goodnight to me, girls. Off you get, Jemima.’
‘Goodnight.’
‘Goodnight, Robbie.’ Helen kissed his cheek.
‘Goodnight.’ He received another kiss from Jenny, and then one from Georgiana. Jemima gave him another bear hug.
‘Goodnight, all,’ he said finally, and left the room with Caro, his hand cupping her elbow; a movement that he saw Helen notice. Her eyebrows lifted. Of course, they had not seen the change in Caro.
He threw Helen a smile, before closing the door. Then his heart jumped joyfully, because he found himself alone with Caro in an empty hall. His hand braced the back of Caro’s neck and drew her mouth to his. The kiss became far more than he intended as her mouth opened and her tongue searched for his.
After what seemed like minutes but was probably seconds, he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. ‘I am sorry I did not call yesterday or this afternoon. Were you upset with me? Did you have to endure many visitors?’
‘Not too many, but I missed you.’
‘You must forgive me for sulking the day before too. My family are not remotely comparable to yours. It was crass of me to say they were worse than having no family.’
‘I do not mind. I understand.’
‘Understand…’ He stepped back, frowning his confusion.
‘How you feel,’ Caro explained, turning to walk downstairs.
The steps were too narrow to walk two abreast, so he walked behind her. ‘How do I feel?’
‘Inferior.’
Inferior?The word cut him to the quick. His footsteps hesitated for a second.
She said nothing more until she reached the bottom of the flight, then she turned and faced him, smiling. ‘I understandbecause it is how I felt when I was younger, among my half-brothers and sisters, and sometimes with Drew and Mary too.’
He held her hands. ‘You have no need to feel like that now.’
‘Nor do you, yet you do.’
‘I have only ever thought of it as pride, yet… inferior is a bitter word. It sounds self-pitying. I have not thought of my emotions like that. That is not a good attitude.’
She smiled more broadly, humour glinting in her eyes. ‘I have burned with the sense of inferiority since the day your brother collected me from the little cottage Drew had hidden me in.’ She actually laughed. ‘But I have recovered.’
