Her Sudden Groom (36 page)

“
Perhaps. Perhaps not.” A telling blush warmed her cheeks.

He grinned. “Now that we have that settled, let’s discuss what I called you away from my randy son for. First, you should know I never make sincere apologies, so if I’ve said or done anything to offend you, I’m not sorry and you’ll not be hearing a word of a true apology from me.” He frowned and fluffed his pillow before shoving it back under his head.

She smiled. In his own way the baron
had
just apologized for anything she may have found offensive about him. The other day when Alex had pressed him to apologize, it had been insincere, but this one was real. Of this, she was certain.

“
The second thing I wanted to talk to you about—” he punched his pillow two times— “I’d get around to if this blasted pillow would do its job and support my dying head.” He sat up, flung that pillow to the end of the bed, then grabbed another. “Much better,” he muttered, squeezing the feather pillow to keep the part under his head firm. “The second thing I wanted to say is about Alex. You should know he cares for you far more than you may realize.”

“
Yes?” she prompted when he stopped talking, her heart soaring. She wanted to hear more. To know just how much Alex cared for her.

“
That’s all. My son cares for you and he does a two-bit job of showing it.”

“
No, he doesn’t,” she said, jumping to her husband’s defense.

His blue eyes traveled her face. “Think what you wish,” he said at last. “What I’m trying to tell you is I want you to know he does care a great deal for you, no matter what he says or does to the contrary.”

Caroline stared blankly at him. Why he was insulting his son in such a way? Furthermore, why did he think he needed to be the one to tell her Alex’s feelings? She sighed. Perhaps it was a medication he was taking, or maybe he was becoming delusional so close to death. Yes, that must be it. “Thank you. I’ll make sure to keep that in mind.” She used a handkerchief to dab the sweat from his forehead.

“
Thank you, gel,” he said softly, closing his eyes. “I’m glad Alex married you.”

She smiled. She was, too.

A low, ragged chuckle sounded in chest. “I knew the moment I saw you, you’d make a good match for Alex. That’s why I pressed Joseph to have that contract amended.” He snorted. “You might have only been seven at the time, but the way you clung to that telescope and insisted it went or you stayed, I knew instantly you and my son were kindred spirits.”

She froze, her skin turning stone-cold. The only gentlemen who had ever seen her with a telescope at that age had been her father, her uncle, and some stranger who had come to her house to carry her away in the dead of night. The latter, she only remembered by the conversation they had as he came into her room and told her to grab whatever it was she valued above all else, because she was leaving and not coming back. Immediately, she’d gone to what she’d believed to be her mother’s telescope (she later found out it wasn’t because her uncle had already taken the real one to his house following her mother’s death so her father couldn’t sell it). The big man half covered in shadows shook his head and told her to pick something else, something smaller. She’d refused. She’d put her hands on her hips and informed him the telescope went or she stayed. The strong man then scooped her up in one arm, and the telescope, stand and all, in the other and carried her out the back of the house.

“
That was you?” she whispered at last, tears pricking the back of her eyes.

His eyes fluttered open and his brows snapped together as if he was confused, perturbed even. “Yes, gel. I came with your uncle that night. I thought you knew that.”

She shook her head. “No. Uncle Joseph never so much as breathed one word about that night again, and neither did I.”

“
Probably for the best.” Edward reached out to take her hand. “I admit I was the one who came that night. Joseph asked me to help him. Do you know why?”

She swallowed. “Because my father was an addict,” she said weakly, not able to meet his eyes.

His hand squeezed hers. “That’s a large part of it. But there is something else. Do you remember anything else? Anything happening around that time?”

She shook her head. She’d been only seven, barely seven at that. All she remembered from the time she’d either chosen to forget about, had recurring nightmares about, or only remembered snatches of—usually with an incorrect timeline.

“
That’s probably for the best, too,” he said, squeezing her hand again. “Try to forget it, dear girl.”

“
I’ll try,” she muttered, sitting back down and closing her eyes tight.

“
Alex doesn’t know,” Edward said suddenly.

Her eyes snapped open. “Pardon?” She cleared her throat and forced a smile to cover up her rude outburst.

Edward waved her off. “Unlike my son, I suffer no difficulty deciphering facial expressions. Yours clearly indicates you’re worried about what he does or doesn’t know. Am I right?”

“
Yes,” she admitted. “He seemed to know exactly how awful Rupert Griffin was the other day.”

“
That he does. But Alex doesn’t know Griffin is your father or the details of your past before you went to stay with your uncle. He only knows what you’ve told him. I promised your uncle I’d take it to my grave. Regina knows only because she was able deduce where I went that night—the clues were very obvious, all things considered. But I never told Alex. And I meant what I said the other day. Your secrets will go to my grave.” He flashed a rueful smile at her. “Whenever that might be.”

She smiled weakly at his jest. “I thank you for all you’ve done,” she said, wiping away a tear that had slipped from her eye.

“
You’re more than welcome, my girl,” he murmured, patting her hand. “Now, go see that rapscallion I call a son and let an old man rest.”

She got up to kiss his cheek before she left, then turned to the door when his voice called her to halt. “I didn’t know your mother well. She was a bit too young to be my playmate. But Regina knew her. They were roommates at a school for young ladies. Perhaps you should speak to her.” He coughed a couple times, and when he spoke again his voice was low and scratchy. “Though we all love our mothers unconditionally, and often choose to ignore the unsavory information we learn about them, you might be forgiving her for a sin she didn’t commit.”

Caroline looked back at him to elaborate, but his eyes were shut and the blankets were high around his chin.

Numbly, she turned back around and left the room, closing the door behind her as quietly as she could on the way out.

“
Is he sleeping?” a feminine voice asked from across the hall.

Caroline’s eyes fell on Regina, who sitting in chair across the hall. “I think so.”

Regina stood up. “Just as well. I’ll let him rest for now. That dress looks lovely on you, dear. Green is your color.”

“
Thank you,” Caroline murmured, flashing her a shy smile. Compliments were not something she was used to receiving so often.

“
Would you care to join me in the drawing room?”

Caroline blinked. Like an act of fate, Regina had been unoccupied and waiting outside Edward’s room just after Edward had told her to ask his wife the truth about her mother. “I’d love to,” she said, feigning excitement. “Though I feel I must warn you, I’m terrible at embroidery, and sewing isn’t my specialty, either.”

Grinning, Regina shook her head. “You’re as bad a liar as my son.”

“
I really am bad at—”

“
I believe
that
,” Regina interrupted. “I do not believe, however, that you’d like to join me in the drawing room. I know all about you, Caroline Banks. Alex is in the conservatory mucking around with some flowers or something. Why don’t you go join him?”

Caroline walked to the conservatory as fast as her slippers would carry her, slowed only by the doddering old butler who had agreed to show her the way.

She swung open the door and her eyes fell right on Alex. He was kneeling in the dirt. His coat, waistcoat, and cravat had been discarded in a pile on a bench ten feet away. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and the top three buttons of his shirt were open, treating her to an unobstructed view of the column of his throat and a triangle of his tan chest.

“
Caro.” His eyebrows lifted in surprise. In his palm, he held a delicate flowering plant, the roots dangling in between his splayed fingers.

“
I’ve come to join you. Is that all right?” She walked to where he was kneeling. “No conversation required,” she teased.

He grinned. “In that case. Take your gown off and you can help me replant these.”

She gaped at him. Was he teasing or did he really expect her to undress out here where anyone could come walking through the door?

He must have read her thoughts. “Nobody’s going to come in and see you in your chemise. But you’ll get your gown dirty if you leave it on.”

“
I don’t think I can take it off,” she said, glancing at the door skeptically.

He put the flowers down next to the others and stood up, not bothering to dust off his knees before he walked over to a large bowl that was on another bench. He picked up a little brush and dunked it in the water. He scrubbed his fingers for a few minutes before setting the brush back down and drying his hands on a nearby towel. “Turn around.”

Hesitantly, she turned her back to him and sucked in her breath as his hands made quick work of the row of buttons on the back of her dress. With all the tenderness of a lover, Alex slipped his hands inside her gown and pushed it off her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground, forgotten.

“
Put it on the bench,” he instructed hoarsely.

Clad in only her chemise, she put her gown, slippers, and stockings by his clothes and willed herself to stop being embarrassed. He’d seen just as much, if not more, last night. She walked back to him and knelt down. He was still digging up the same row of plants and there were at least thirty to go.

Side by side, the two of them dug up the rest of the plants, the silence only broken by the sounds of dirt clumps falling from the roots back to the ground.

“
I want to replant these along the south wall,” Alex said after he’d dug up the last one. “I dug the holes day before yesterday.” He picked up the little box they’d been putting the flowers in and stood.

She followed suit and walked with him down the length of the conservatory until they reached the holes he’d dug a few days ago.

Once again, the pair worked in companionable silence to replant the row.

“
You have quite the collection,” she remarked, allowing him to help her to her feet. She glanced around at all the plants, trees, flowers, and other greenery.

“
Would you like to look around?” He took her hand.

“
Of course.” She allowed him to interlace their fingers.

He took her around and showed her all his prized trees and flowers, answering any of her questions as they went. When they’d finished, his eyes swept her from her horribly disheveled coiffure to her dirty bare feet. “You, my darling Caro, are a mess. And while it’s a good thing you took that gown off, we now have another problem.”

A nervous burble of laughter escaped her lips. “I hope you’re not going to suggest I run to the house like this and try to sneak in the servants’ door.”

“
Never,” he said, bringing her arms up around his neck. “There’s a little creek just outside. It’s behind the conservatory so no one will see us.”

“
Sounds scandalous.” She grinned up at him and brushed some dirt from his shoulders. “But I’m not really surprised by your suggestion. You seem to be known for taking your clothes off as your claim to scandalitity.”

A lopsided smile took his lips. “I may have taken a first in both science and mathematics, and possibly a second to last in English at Cambridge, but I’m fairly certain that is not a word.” He wiped a smudge from her cheek.

“
We can argue about it later. For now, let’s go to that creek you mentioned.”

Before she knew what was happening, Alex’s arms came around her, picked her up, and carried her out the back of conservatory and down to the creek. He lowered her to feet to the ground. “Your bath, Mrs. Banks.”