Page 1 of Caroline Saves the Blacksmith
PROLOGUE: THE BEGINNING
EARLY AUTUMN, 1818
Tears streamed down Caroline Brown’s cheeks as she packed her valise and a small trunk provided by Mrs. Harris.
She was leaving Baydon Hall, the only true home she had ever known, for a new position in the local doctor’s household that Mrs. Harris had arranged for her. Yet she did not deserve the post.
I deserve to be thrown out of the manor, without any assistance, for what I have done.
Regret and shame warred in her chest, and her body felt too small and tight to contain all the emotions threatening to brim over.
It is all my fault.
She had lost her home, her friends, and her self-respect, and for what? For a few moments of pleasure here or there in a libertine’s arms. So desperate for attention from a man, she had succumbed to temptation these past weeks and betrayed a dear friend.
Three days earlier, Miss Annabel Ridley, the daughter of the baron at Baydon Hall, had caught her dallying with the lady’s betrothed, the Earl of Saunton, in the stables. Lord Saunton had failed to defend her, and Miss Annabel had been rightfully enraged, unwilling to see or speak to Caroline. Nevertheless, Miss Annabel had seen fit to provide her a reference for her position as a maid and bade Mrs. Harris, the housekeeper, to find her employment elsewhere.
It was incredibly generous given the circumstances, but Miss Annabel had always been kind. As a girl, Miss Annabel had taught Caroline to read and bestowed gifts of fabrics, ribbons, and threads on her birthday each year to encourage her interest in sewing. Now, despite the horrendous betrayal, Miss Annabel had assisted Caroline with her future position.
But the young mistress of Baydon Hall was furious and distraught. She had instructed that Caroline remain out of sight in the kitchens and leave the Hall as quickly as possible.
Miss Annabel’s unexpected generosity added to Caroline’s crushing guilt. She wished she could plead for forgiveness, to assure Miss Annabel that she had seen the error of her ways and wanted to make amends for their relationship that had been so influential in her life.
But she had no amends to offer.
I am a fallen woman.
Worse, she was a disloyal friend, undeserving of the help she was receiving.
Her grandmother would turn in her grave to hear how Caroline had thrown away the opportunity afforded her by the old woman’s friendship with Mrs. Harris. One of her last acts before dying had been to write to the housekeeper to request her assistance with the then-thirteen-year-old Caroline, who was about to lose her last living relation. Mrs. Harris had offered employment as a favor to her old friend, and Caroline had been summoned into service at Baydon Hall.
Since Grandmama had died, the servants, along with Miss Annabel, were Caroline’s only family. She had betrayed all of them, ruining Miss Annabel’s happiness in the process.
A few tender words from a handsome nobleman, and compliments to her figure, and Caroline had allowed herself to be lured into carnal relations with a rogue. Fresh sobs tore through her chest, despair a physical pain. How would she ever forgive herself for what she had done?
THE MEETING
8 NOVEMBER 1820
Caroline waved goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson and their daughter and gently shut the door of her shop, Mrs. Brown’s Elegant Millinery and Dress-Rooms, to draw an exhilarated breath. The odor of wood, fabric, and beeswax invaded her senses, and she gave a deep sigh of happiness.
The shop was now hers and hers alone. As of today, she was officially a modiste. The proprietress of her own business. Well … hers except for the interest-free loan from Lord Saunton that she must pay off as profits allowed.
Caroline still experienced moments of unreality, thinking she had dreamed all that had happened in the past few months. Lord Saunton had summoned her to London, nearly two years after the incident in the stables, to apologize for his disruption of her life. He had offered her financial assistance, but instead of accepting his charity, Caroline had seized the opportunity to demand the loan that Miss Annabel had intended to provide after her planned marriage to Lord Saunton.
Of course, Miss Annabel never married Lord Saunton. Caroline had learned from the local gossip in Filminster that Miss Annabel had married the Duke of Halmesbury and now lived somewhere nearby in Wiltshire.
Lord Saunton had corrected his wayward behavior to marry a young woman in London, for which Caroline could only be grateful now that he had assisted her with her dreams to open her own dress-rooms in his effort to make amends. He had set his man, Mr. Johnson, to find a suitable location for her shop and advise her on how to make her business venture a success.
The lurid path to her proprietorship must remain a secret now that she had a fresh start in Wiltshire. It would ruin her business before it had begun if the local townspeople learned she was a fallen woman—or if they assumed she was currently a kept woman.
That will not happen.
Those who knew the truth of her past were the Duke and Duchess of Halmesbury, the Baron of Filminster, Mrs. Harris, Lord and Lady Saunton, along with his men Johnson and Long, and Caroline herself. Thus far, all the parties involved appeared to have practiced discretion, and Caroline was the only one living in Chatternwell. She supposed Mr. Thompson, the earl’s half-brother, might be aware of her situation, but he had not intimated such during his visit.
As long as Caroline focused on her business, and did not form any personal relationships, she could keep her secret. As she had done in Filminster when she had worked for the local doctor.
For months after being caught in the stables, Caroline had lived in the shadow of fear that her secret would come out. But then her book learning and knowledge of numbers, taught to her by Miss Annabel to prepare her for running a business one day, had resulted in a promotion to housekeeper of the doctor’s household.
