Her Sudden Groom (13 page)

The baron made a harrumphing sound. “I may be an old man now, but I have every intention of letting the rapscallion who was the president at the time know how I feel about him denying you for such a senseless reason. Grab me my quill and paper, Regina.”

“
What’s he doing?” Caroline whispered to Alex.

“
Don’t worry about it.” He placed one searing hand on the small of her back and the other on her forearm then pointed her in the direction of a settee positioned by the window across the room. “Let’s have a seat.” He applied pressure with his fingers and she shivered at the tingly sensations he was unknowingly sending through her body at this simple, yet possessive gesture.

Caroline picked up a stray gold colored pillow from the settee and moved it out of the way before sitting down gingerly and arranging her skirts in a way that kept them nice, but still gave Alex room to sit next to her. Then with all the grace of an elephant on ice skates, Alex plopped down next to her and rested his arm along the back of the settee.

“
Does he know it was you?”

“
No,” Alex whispered. “Don’t worry though. I’ll tell him when the time’s right.”

She glanced over to Alex’s father. He was scribbling just as fast as his shaky hand could move across the paper. In a chair next to him, his wife sat, trying to read the letter over his shoulder.

Caroline sighed. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”

“
You didn’t. He thinks you’ve been greatly wronged—which you have—and it makes him feel better about everything if he does this.”

Caroline stared down at her cuticles and listened as Lord Watson’s quill scratched across the paper. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have stayed,” she mumbled.

“
Nonsense.” Alex put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. “This is just how my father is. Whether you had stayed or not, he would have still made the same jokes about my lack of being able to play pall mall, and he still would have been upset had he found out about your being denied membership.”

“
But he never would have found out,” she pointed out.

Alex poked his lower lip out in the most overdone, mock frown imaginable and raised one shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. I’m glad he did, actually. It makes him feel important to be defending you. You should take it as a compliment.”

“
I’m flattered,” she said dryly.

Chuckling, Alex used his fingertips to massage her shoulder.

“
All right,” Lord Watson said tersely after he was done. “I’m going to read this out loud. Tell me what you think.” He handed the quill back to Lady Watson and she quietly put it away. “’Dear,’” he looked up at Alex, “Who is the imbecile I’m writing to anyway?”

Alex waved his hand dismissively. “Just read the letter to us, then I’ll tell you how to address it.”

“
Fine. My hand is paining me anyway. All right. Here goes. ‘Dear Mr. Imbecile.’” His eyes shot up to Alex. “Perhaps I should leave it like that. What do you think?”

“
If you wish,” Alex said, scratching under his chin with the index finger of his free hand. “Would you just read that thing, already?”

The baron twisted his lips in the worst mock sneer Caroline had ever seen. “’Dear Mr. Imbecile, It has recently been brought to my attention you denied a young lady membership into the
Society of Biological Matters
based on her lack of a male appendage. While it grieves me that it took me so long to learn of this travesty, I wish to bring it to your attention that had I been president of the
Society
at the time, I would have denied your application due to your lack of a brain. This young lady has more intelligence in her little finger than you do in your whole body. I think you realized she was of higher intelligence than you and dismissed her because of it, which is a cowardly thing to do, making you not worthy of said male appendage which she lacked. Due to your cowardliness and despicable past behavior, I request you withdraw your membership post haste. The
Society
was created to allow a place where people could come to discuss matters of biology, not inflate a self-important idiot’s brain-box by denying membership to those of a higher function. Yours, Edward Banks, Baron Watson’.”

Hand clamped tightly over her mouth so not to give into the urge to laugh, Caroline peeked over at Alex. He had a thin smile on his lips, as did his mother.

“
You don’t need to send that,” Caroline forced herself to say, fanning her flaming face and trying diligently to keep her lips closed and her laughter contained.

“
Nonsense.” The baron took the quill and ink from his wife’s hands. “I’m sending it today. Alex can post it just as soon as I write this pompous coward’s name down. Now what is his name?” He turned his pale blue eyes to Alex.

“
It’s rather difficult to spell. Perhaps I should spell it aloud for you so there’s not a mistake.”

The baron sent his son an annoyed look. “Well, get on with it,” he said tightly. “I want this franked and sent with today’s post.”

Alex nodded. He then spelled out every letter of his full name, pausing for nearly ten seconds between each letter and space.

“
Was that it?” the baron asked agitatedly. “I thought I was going to pass away several times when you kept pausing. Really, son, the man’s name doesn’t sound so difficult. Long, perhaps, but I didn’t find anything unusual. Except the ‘X’. But that’s not so unusual, even your name has an ‘X’ in it.” He frowned and his eyes shot to his paper. His lips moved as he read the words he’d just written. His eyes snapped back to Alex. “It was you?”

“
That’s right, Father, I’m the self-important, cowardly imbecile who rejected Caroline due to her sex.”

Caroline’s heart squeezed. She wanted to reach over to touch him in some way to help reassure him. But she couldn’t be so affectionate with a gentleman she hardly knew. It wasn’t done. Instead, she kept her hands in her lap and flashed him a weak smile.

“
Why would you do that?” Alex’s father snapped.

Alex ground his teeth. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

“
Why the blazes not?” Lord Watson demanded hotly. His face grew dark red and he had to reach for his handkerchief again to cover his mouth and nose while he hacked.

Alex waited for his father’s coughing to subside before he answered. “I was asked not to,” he said simply.

“
By whom?” Lord Watson took the words straight from Caroline’s mouth. Who could possibly have wanted her to not be allowed to join?

Alex shook his head. “I really don’t wish to discuss this. I’ve apologized to Caroline already and I’ll do so again, but I don’t want to make this worse.”

“
Make it worse?” his father echoed. “How could you possibly do that?”

“
Trust me, I could.”

“
I don’t believe it.” The older man crossed his arms. “Did her uncle know about this?”

Alex looked at Caroline for an extended second and squeezed her shoulder, an apology for something she didn’t understand in his eyes. “Yes, he knew. He’s the one who asked me to have Caroline and Lady Olivia turned out.”

“
Excuse me?” Caroline and the baron said in harmony.

Alex sighed. “A few years ago Lord Sinclair caught me outside my tailor’s in London and asked me to have Caroline and Lady Olivia banned from attending the meetings. I explained I couldn’t do that. I told him the
Society
was open to all patrons and I didn’t have the authority to turn them out for any reason. I told him he’d have to forbid them from going if he didn’t want them to attend. He was relentless about it though, claiming I would be doing a favor for my father’s closest friend. He pursued me every afternoon for a week before I finally agreed.”

“
And you used the excuse of their sex for what reason?” Lady Watson asked quietly, surprising them all. With the exception of getting a quill and paper for her husband, she’d practically faded into the wallpaper for the past ten minutes.

Alex met her gaze and swallowed hard. “Lord Sinclair asked me to reject them without them knowing he was the one who requested it. I had no doubt in my mind Lady Olivia didn’t have the intelligence to stay and would have rejected her on the basis of not having enough knowledge on the subject, but the problem was Caroline. To be honest, I didn’t know what Caroline did or didn’t know about biology, and it would have seemed suspicious if I had to deny them for different reasons.”

“
So you picked their sex,” Alex’s mother said tartly.

“
Well, yes.” He crossed his arms. “It was the only thing they both shared that nobody else did. At the time we had no other ladies in attendance. Besides, many organizations are only open to gentlemen. I didn’t see a problem with it.” He locked gazes with Caroline. “As I said, I’m very sorry. I would never have done that if I hadn’t been pressed.”

Bile burned the back of her throat. How could Uncle Joseph have done this to her? He may not have spoiled her the way he had Olivia, but he’d never intentionally been cruel. Or so she’d thought. She nodded numbly to let Alex know she had at least heard his words.

“
I just don’t believe it,” the baron said, sighing. “Did he say why?”

“
No.” Alex solemnly shook his head. “I asked, but he wouldn’t say.”

Lord Watson shook his head. “It just doesn’t make sense that he’d brag about her to me one minute, then do something like this.” He ran his hands through his unkempt hair the same way Alex always did. “And he never gave any indication as to why?”

“
No, he didn’t.” Alex shifted in his seat. “I have my suspicions, but he never said, so I don’t know for sure.”

“
Well, since the man isn’t here for us to ask, your suspicions are as good as we’ve got. Spit it out, boy,” his father urged.

Caroline’s ears perked up. She was just as interested in hearing this as Alex’s father seemed to be.

Alex’s body stiffened next to her and his breathing grew labored. “I don’t know for sure,” he began slowly, “but I think it had something to do Rupert Griffin joining the
Society
at the meeting prior.”

His words made a wave of nausea pass through her like she’d never experienced before. It had been years since she’d heard the name of the horrifically vile man who dared call himself her father. She’d thought he’d been dead all this time. Apparently not. Apparently he was alive and well, and she’d even been in the same room with him only four short years ago when she’d attended her first, and only, meeting for the
Society of Biological Matters
.

Suddenly gratitude for Uncle Joseph washed over her. He’d had the foresight to have her thrown out of the
Society
in a way that not only didn’t expose him as the force behind it, but also didn’t expose her to the knowledge of her father’s presence still on this earth. She hadn’t been this thankful for him since he and a stranger had rescued her in the dead of night from Rupert’s evil clutches.

Silence filled the room, and Caroline stared at her white knuckles.

“
You’re likely right, Alex,” Lord Watson acknowledged at last, his voice so quiet there was no doubt in her mind the baron knew just who Rupert Griffin was to her.

“
I should probably be going now,” Caroline whispered, still not daring to look up from her lap.

Alex shifted and pulled out his pocket watch. “You’re right.”

Caroline used the arm of the settee for support as she tried to stand on her shaky legs.

“
Are you all right?” Alex asked, steadying her as he stood up next to her.

“
Yes,” she said weakly, trying to hold onto every shred of dignity she had left. She looked at him, and where she expected to see disgust or disapproval, concern and tenderness were present instead. Her breath caught. Either he didn’t know, or he didn’t seem to care. She swallowed and chanced a glance at his parents. Then just as quickly, she jerked her gaze away.