Page 24 of Awakening a Lord's Desires
“I—pardon?” she asked again, and her brow furrowed.
“I feel as though I am consistently putting you into awkward situations, like the other day with Max.” He let out a nervous chuckle as he put on his hat and gloves.
“Oh, that is just that I do not like him. My stepmother dotes on him in an odd way, and he is seeking out an advantageous marriage. She is helping him with that. That is all that is between us.”
Charles nodded, but he knew he needed to leave. She had not refuted her being courted by Lord Fitzroy, and that meant that he’d kissed her, had let himself see a new world when she did not feel the same.
“I ought to return home, and you will likely catch your death if you remain out of doors any longer with such wet clothes.” He nodded to her gown.
“Yes, of course.” She looked deflated somehow, but he wasn’t sure why.
It was he who had kissed her and made everything different, when he had only just arrived, and they had only just met.
“Good day to you, Miss Caroline. I am certain we will see one another again soon. I hope you stay healthy and well.” He touched his hat, and then he was gone, traipsing down the path with water squelching in his boots, wishing that he had taken his horse on this sojourn to find the nymph in the woods again.
As he stomped away, he could feel her eyes on his back, likely wondering if he had gone mad. But it felt as if he had done. This was the last thing he wanted while escaping London. He had had no intention of getting involved with any young woman, but now he was soaked to the bone in a chilled breeze, and he’d wordlessly been rejected by a woman who was becoming more interesting to him with every second.
He tried to think clearly as he walked away. She had not outright said that she was not being courted by Lord Fitzroy, but she had made sure to explain what her relationship to Max was. Even if the man made her nervous, it was a good thing that there seemed no hope of a match between them. He could have gathered that well enough from last evening, when her stepmother had spoken so ill of her.
Even Miss Caroline had thought her stepmother a bit strange, mentioning it to him in a sidelong way. Max was there to make an advantageous marriage, but clearly that was not to her. But then to whom was Miss Caroline promised? For even if her stepmother did not think well of her, Charles could see just what a gem she was.
And the way she kissed, for being an innocent, was beyond reason. His lust had become something new entirely. It had taken on a life of its own, and it would not be satisfied with any woman but Miss Caroline Turner.
If only she were not being courted by another, then I might have finally, at long last, found my match.
Chapter 25
Caroline rushed home as fast as her feet could carry her. She could most certainly not afford her stepmother seeing her soaked as she was, and she squelched as quietly as she could up the stairs to her room after she’d called for her maid to prepare a bath. As she stripped off her wet clothes, she trembled as she thought about that kiss.
It had been everything that she’d hoped a kiss to be and more, but then Lord Charles had thought she’d pulled away because of Alexander? What a ridiculous notion!
And he did not even give me a chance to explain!
But then she had spluttered and been speechless at the thought of such a thing. Why would he think that she and Alexander were courting? She had spoken to her old friend only briefly last night, but perhaps Lord Charles believed there to be some agreement between them?
But then why would he think that she would respond to his kiss, and with such fervor? It did not make any sense at all, and she was frustrated with him as well as with herself for giving in to his kiss. She threw her wet clothes over the back of a chair, and the maid arrived with a steaming bucket for the bath.
“Susie will be coming with the next one, miss, so I can help ye with yer clothes.”
“Thank you, Lara.” Caroline sighed and stood closer to the hearth while Susie worked on the ties of her stays and removed her shift from her wet skin. “Will you tell Penelope that I am feeling ill and will not be down to breakfast straightaway?”
“Of course, miss.”
While Caroline had been completely undressed, Susie had come with two more steaming buckets of water, and then Caroline sank into the bath, finally feeling warmth seep back through her bones.
“Are you well, though?” Lara asked. “Is there anything I should know?”
“No, thank you.” Caroline smiled. “I have come to no danger. A mere accident.”
“Very good, miss.” Lara left a towel and a slice of soap next to her in the bath, and then she took up the wet clothes and left the room, leaving Caroline on her own with her strange thoughts.
As she scrubbed, her mind was elsewhere. She liked that kiss, had loved it in fact, but it was only because the fear of them getting caught had taken over that made her stop. If she hadn’t stopped, well, she was certain she would have allowed herself to have been fully scandalised.
Doing that, with Lord Charles Spencer, did not seem like a bad thing, and yet the way he’d looked at her afterward had made her wary. Did he think she was the type of woman who kissed any man? That she courted one man and kissed another?
She knew he was far more experienced in the ways of the world, and no doubt he had come upon many a woman who might have done such a thing. But it hurt her that he thought that of her. That he’d assumed it was because of another man that she’d stopped kissing him.
That cad. I shall have to set him straight.
