Her Sudden Groom (12 page)

Mother looked at Caroline with wide eyes. “He allowed you to help him?”

“
Not exactly,” she said. “I undeniably forced myself on him.”

“
Indeed?” Mother glanced at him in a way that made his face burn.

“
Yes. The trick is to relax the shoulders,” Caroline said easily as if she were completely unaware of the unintended double meaning of her earlier words.

“
You should keep that in mind for future game play, Alex.” Mother flashed him a laughing smile before turning her gaze to Caroline. “Caroline, dear, would you like to stay for tea?”

“
Can you give us just a moment, Mother?” Alex said quickly, taking hold of Caroline’s elbow.

Mother nodded. “I’ll wait by the door.”

“
Caroline, you don’t have to stay,” he said earnestly.

She blinked. “All right. I suppose I should be going home.”

“
What I mean is, you can stay if you wish.”

Her brows furrowed. “What’s gotten into you?”

He released a breath. “Caroline, if you stay for tea, my mother is going to invite you to come meet my father.”

“
Oh.”

Rubbing his jaw, he blew out another deep breath. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but he’s not well. It’s not something you can catch from him, mind you. But it’s not something the doctor seems to be able to cure, either.”

She stared at him with those big blue eyes of hers. “Is he really that ill?”

“
Yes,” he said hoarsely. “He is. If you’re not comfortable meeting him, don’t be afraid to say so.”

“
What do you want, Alex?”

His heart stopped beating momentarily. What
did
he want? Under normal conditions he’d not be in control of whether she met Father or not. Father had the type of personality that some might find offensive, but he never let that stop him from letting his presence be known—especially around his own house. Now things were different. Father’s illness had made him merely a shell of the man he’d once been. No longer as tall, strong, or imposing. No, now he was weak and vulnerable.

Allowing Caroline to meet him was meaningful. More so than Alex originally thought. He looked at her thoughtfully. He may not know her well, but he trusted her. If she was to be his wife one day soon, she’d need to meet his father anyway. But more than that, Father would like her, and she’d probably like him if she could get past his crude remarks.

“
Are you going to be comfortable—”

She placed a finger on his lips to silence him. “I asked what you want, Alex. Don’t answer my question with one of your own.”

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her finger away from his lips. “I want you to be comfortable,” he said, still holding her wrist.

“
That’s not what I asked.” She didn’t fight his hold of her wrist.

He sighed. “Caroline—”

She put all the fingers from her other hand on his lips to stop him. “Alex, I asked what you want. Don’t make me ask again.”

He wrapped his fingers around the wrist of her hand which now rested against his lips. “I want you to stay,” he whispered against her fingers. Then, before she could move her hand away, he tightened his grasp on her wrist and pressed a lingering kiss on her gloved fingertips that made her eyes widen and her pretty, pink lips part as a blush colored her cheeks a fetching shade of pink.

Chapter 8

Tea with the baroness went by in a blur. A nervous blur, but a blur all the same. Now it was time to meet the baron.

Uncle Joseph used to speak of Lord Watson, his closest friend, quite often. He’d always remarked upon how sharp the baron was. Much like Alex, the baron was vastly interested in all subjects pertaining to science and had spent most of his youth doing all sorts of unusual experiments.

As excited as she was to meet such a great mind, she was also nervous. Meeting him under different pretenses might make it easier. But to meet him standing next to his son, who happened to be betrothed to her cousin, was a bit unusual. She glanced at Alex, and for the first time in her life she was envious of Olivia. Olivia was extremely fortunate and didn’t even know it. Nor did she care. To Olivia, marriage to Alex was just a means to an end. She’d gain a title from the marriage (at some point) and he’d gain a headache. But that was Olivia’s fate, not hers, she reminded herself once again as they left the drawing room and moved down the hall to where the baron was resting.

The baroness knocked on the door and showed them in. “Edward, we’ve a guest to see you.”

“
Good. I need some fresh company,” he said, pushing himself to sit up against his pillows.

Caroline followed Alex’s lead and after murmuring a greeting to his father, she joined Alex by the wall. She’d never really been in a sickroom before. Not counting Olivia’s, that is. Her mother had died suddenly with no lingering illness, pain, or suffering. Her aunt and uncle had also had passed quickly. This was the first time she’d actually seen someone who had to truly be suffering, and a strange feeling of pain settled in her chest. She glanced at Alex and lowered her lashes. She didn’t know which of the two men she had greater sorrow for. The baron, who suffered from such horrible illness that was hurting him so, or Alex, who the illness seemed to be hurting just as much, just in a different way.

“
Miss Caroline Sinclair,” the baron mused, bringing her from her thoughts.

“
My lord?”

“
Allow me to apologize on my son’s behalf,” he said, picking up a glass of water off his nightstand. He took a drink and placed it back down. “You might think I’ll apologize he misled you about the Banks family owning a lawn chess set, but I won’t. No, my dear girl, I wholeheartedly apologize for your having to play pall mall with him.”

She took an instant like to him and his undeniably false apology. “Truly, he wasn’t so bad,” she defended playfully.

The baron’s greying eyebrows shot nearly to his hairline and his eyes bulged. “Gel, you must know that mistruths around here highly frowned upon. In this household we’re only allowed one falsehood per year. I’m afraid you’ve just used yours, and now you must be completely honest around here until this day next year.”

She grinned and put her hands on her hips. “Why, Lord Watson, we’ve just met and already you’re calling me a liar.” She clucked her tongue. “I’ll have you know, your son is quite talented at pall mall.”

He snorted. “All right, Regina, order gruel for her dinner.”

“
Right away, my lord,” his wife said, winking at Caroline.

“
Gruel?”

“
It’s what they always used as punishment when we were naughty,” Alex explained. “Trust me, it’s bad. I’m sure you’ve had it at some point. But the gruel that Cook makes is the worst I’ve ever tasted, and that includes all the gruel I ate during my years at Eton.”

Caroline wrinkled her nose. “But I haven’t been naughty,” she protested. “I told the truth. He’s a good player.”

Alex’s father blinked at her. “Pray explain.”

“
The reason he couldn’t play well at first was because he was stiff. Really,
really
stiff,” she explained.

Alex coughed and his cheeks flushed a light red. Lady Watson tapped her husband on the shoulder and shook her head ever-so-slightly, confusing Caroline.

Her husband waved her off. “I imagine it’s hard for a gentleman to play when he’s in such a state,” he mused, grinning like an idiot.

“
Exactly. Once he relaxed and his body became less rigid, it was easier for him to swing his mallet.”

“
Is that so?” The baron appeared to be choking on his laughter.

Alex sounded like he was choking to death right next to her, but the cause of his choking didn’t appear to be from laughter. “Are you all right?” she asked, truly concerned.

“
Just stop talking,” he said with a harsh cough.

She frowned at him.

“
Tell me something, gel,” Lord Watson said, gaining her attention.

“
Stop, Edward,” his wife said in a warning tone, shaking her head a little. “She’s not used to you and your humor. Don’t embarrass her.”

“
I’m not,” Lord Watson told his wife. “I don’t know what you and Alex think we’re talking about, but Caroline and I are just having a friendly discussion about Alex’s stiffness during game play.”

“
Exactly,” Caroline agreed.

Alex groaned.

Caroline looked at Alex. What was wrong with him? Was he embarrassed she’d told his parents she’d had to help him swing? Surely not. He played pall mall with a pink mallet to appease his family, for goodness’ sake. Accepting help was no comparison to that.

“
What’s wrong?” Caroline whispered to him again.

Alex shook his head. “I’ll explain another time. Just stop talking.”

“
Why?” she demanded with a frown.

“
Yes, Alex, why?” his father asked, putting the folded up handkerchief he’d just coughed into back on the nightstand.

Alex looked sharply at his father. “Don’t. Caroline was good enough to come see you. Please keep that in that disturbed mind of yours.”

“
Right you are, son,” the baron agreed, pursing his lips. “I apologize if I’ve embarrassed you,” he grumbled in Caroline’s direction.

“
No apology needed.” Really what would he need to apologize for? Alex and his mother were acting most bizarre.

“
I didn’t think so.” Lord Watson shot his wife and son a smug look. “Joseph once told me you had quite a fascination with science, Caroline. Do you still?”

“
Yes, my lord,” she said, relaxing a bit now that the tension seemed to have left the room. “In fact, I’ve just become the newest member of the
Society of Biological Matters
.”

“
Is that so?” Lord Watson nodded approvingly. “I’m glad to hear that. There’s always been a lack of ladies on the membership roster.”

“
That might have something to do with their being denied membership,” Caroline said as nicely as she could. She’d never fully accepted being denied membership due to her sex.

“
Pardon me?” the baron asked, not unkindly.

Caroline bit her lip. “Please forget I said anything.” She should have kept her mouth closed about this.

The baron looked at Alex, who was shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Do you know what she’s talking about, son?”

“
I might.” Alex cleared his throat. “Caroline here is helping me campaign to increase the membership in general. Our main focus will be on recruiting ladies.”

“
While I’m glad to hear that as well, I’d like to know who was ever denied membership and when.”

Alex sighed. “Caroline was. Three, no, four years ago.”

“
Why?” his father demanded, his sharp eyes darting back and forth between Alex and Caroline.

“
On the basis of my sex,” Caroline answered quietly. “But it is of no consequence now. Alex has recently granted me membership. All has been forgiven.”

Lord Watson crossed his thin arms. “While it’s nice you’ve forgiven the dimwit who denied you membership, I have not. Your uncle was one of my closest friends. He often bragged to me about how smart his niece was and even told me that if she were allowed to attend Eton and Cambridge she might unseat either Alex or me from the awards we’d earned.” He shook his head. “He was very adamant about it. Did he know you were turned out?”

“
I don’t know,” she murmured. To be honest she didn’t care about that just now. She was positively thrilled Uncle Joseph had thought her to be intelligent. What’s more, he’d bragged about it! Generally speaking, academics were not usually encouraged for young ladies, especially those which required use of one’s brain beyond knowing which colors coordinated well with one another.