by Laura Martin
‘The worst?’ she asked, cursing her mouth for not listening to her brain.
‘If we’re discovered having spent the night together.’
Caroline let out a strange, half-strangled laugh, her hand flying to her mouth to cover the sound.
‘I promise your virtue is safe with me,’ James said.
‘I am well aware,’ Caroline muttered under her breath, quickly pushing herself to her feet and walking to the other side of the room. She needed to put distance between them, to calm herself. Especially if they were going to be stuck in here all night.
‘I don’t think it would be a disaster,’ James said, oblivious to her discomfort.
‘What?’
‘If we were forced to marry.’
Caroline spluttered. It was not ladylike or attractive, but she just couldn’t help herself.
‘You disagree.’
‘No.’
‘No?’
‘Yes, then.’ She just wanted him to be quiet, or talk about something else, anything else.
‘This was meant to reassure you,’ James said with a frown. ‘I just wanted to tell you I wouldn’t let a scandal ruin your chances of getting married. If your other suitors stepped away because of the scandal, I would marry you myself.’
‘I’m not a charity case,’ Caroline said stiffly.
‘No, of course not.’
‘I don’t need you to marry me out of pity.’
‘That wasn’t what I was suggesting.’
‘Wasn’t it?’
‘No. Damn it, Caroline, can’t a man be chivalrous any longer?’
‘It is not chivalrous to tell a woman you would only wish to marry her in the direst of circumstances.’
‘That’s not what I said.’
‘It’s the truth. The only thing that would force you into marriage with me is a scandal of monumental proportions.’
‘That’s not fair, Cara.’
She knew it wasn’t fair, but her head was spinning and her heart breaking all at the same time.
He took a step towards her, then another. When it became apparent she wasn’t going to fight him off he strode across the rest of the distance between them quickly, taking her by the arms and waiting until she looked him in the eye before he spoke.
‘Any man would be lucky to have you as his wife, Cara. Any man. Including me.’
She looked up at him, aware that there were fresh tears in her eyes. ‘You don’t mean that.’
She didn’t want to hear his answer, didn’t want to see the expression on his face or pity in his eyes so she quickly shrugged him off, side-stepped around him and headed back towards the window, busying herself with jiggling the window fastenings to see if they would give way.
‘Let me try,’ James said softly as he came up beside her.
She stepped aside, still not trusting herself to look at him. She already felt like a fool and knew if she said any more it would jeopardise their friendship. It only worked as well as it did because James had no idea whatsoever of her feelings for him. If he knew she loved him, that he was the first thing she thought about when she woke up and the last thing she thought about at night there would be a new awkwardness between them and she didn’t want that.
‘I can get the window open.’ He pulled it up a crack and peered out. ‘But the street is busy below. We should wait until it gets dark and make our escape then.’
Caroline peered out of the window to the ground a good twelve feet below.
‘Do you think we can drop down without injuring ourselves?’
‘I’ll go first so I can catch you, or at the very least cushion your fall.’
Caroline chewed her lip. It would be better than being absent all night. The streets would probably be quieter by seven or eight. By that time her mother would be worried about her lateness, but she wouldn’t have summoned a search party. Caroline could claim an injury, something James had needed to tend to, perhaps, and they might just get out of this situation without any repercussions.
She nodded, feeling the relief seep through her.
‘Looks like you won’t have to marry me after all,’ James said softly. He began pacing around the room, looking at the various pieces of artistic equipment. ‘Now what shall we do with the next two hours?’ he mused, flashing her a grin.
Caroline couldn’t help herself, for a moment she imagined all the wonderful ways they could spend two hours, and most of them involved James’s lips pressed against her skin.
‘Can you paint, Cara? Or draw?’
‘Barely. I had lessons when I was younger, but my teacher eventually gave up and told me to stick to music as my art form.’
‘I dabbled a little when I was in Rome.’ He picked up a tin of charcoals and fingered them for a moment. ‘Model for me.’
‘Here? Now?’
‘Have you got anything else to do for the next two hours?’
‘No-o-o,’ she drew out the word.
‘Come on, then, have a seat, recline back and imagine you’re in a Rubens painting.’
Her eyes flicked to the silky dresses hung up behind the screen. She wanted to pose for him in one of those, not her insipid day dress. If he was going to look at her, really look at her, she wanted to be more exotic and alluring than plain old Caroline Yaxley in her own dress.
James followed her gaze, his eyes widening a fraction as he worked out what she was thinking.
‘We do have a couple of hours. If you wanted to get changed...’
‘I shouldn’t.’ It was unnecessary and vain. James had seen her enough times to know what she really looked like—changing into a revealing dress wasn’t going to change his views on her.
He took a step towards her, the irresistible smile on his lips, the one he knew she couldn’t say no to.
‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
‘Do you really want me to answer that?’
She bit her lip, considering. Nothing bad could really happen. They were locked in here, it wasn’t as though they were about to be discovered. She took a step towards the folding screen. Caroline felt the surge of excitement inside her. Just for the next couple of hours she was going to be daring and carefree and she would leave the sensible part of herself behind.
‘No peeking,’ she instructed.
‘You’re really going to do it? I was joking.’
‘I want to see what you can do,’ Caroline said, knowing he would love the challenge in her voice.
* * *
James tapped his foot on the floor rhythmically. He knew women’s clothes were unnecessarily complicated, but it was taking Caroline an age to get changed behind the screen. He could hear the rustling of material, the swishing of fabric as it brushed against skin. Unbidden, an image of Caroline shrugging off her dress came to his mind and James felt himself begin to grow hot. These past few days, ever since that moment in the study when he’d had the urge to kiss her, he’d been plagued with inappropriate thoughts about his friend. Normally he wouldn’t react whenever her hand brushed innocently against his, but now he felt as though his skin were on fire at every innocent touch.
And now they were all alone in a locked room and Caroline was stripping off only a few feet away. He could imagine the cotton of her dress falling off her shoulders, pooling at her waist before she wriggled her hips and it dropped to the floor. He knew she would be wearing some form of undergarment, but in his imagination her skin was completely bare, bare and rosy and warm.
He groaned, standing and pacing around the small room, trying to distract himself from the images racing through his mind. Perhaps this hadn’t been a sensible suggestion. He hadn’t thought she would agree. Caroline was adventurous and daring, more so than other women of his acquaintance, but she was also innately sensible. And stripping off in a strange building, even if every door in
the place was locked, wasn’t an entirely sensible decision.
She stepped out from behind the screen and James let out a low whistle.
‘You like it?’
The dress was a deep red, the colour of seduction, with a full silky skirt and a tight, low-cut bodice. Flimsy bits of material acted as sleeves, but they had been cut too large and sat off the shoulder seductively. It was more skin than he’d ever seen Caroline reveal and he found he couldn’t tear his eyes away. To add to the effect she had unpinned her hair, letting it fall loose around her shoulders.
‘Where do you want me?’ she asked innocently, the words making James taut with desire. He took a step towards her and then with a momentous self-resolve he stopped where he was, knowing if he got within touching distance he might do something that would ruin their friendship for ever.
It’s Caroline, he told himself, trying to pair this vision of seduction in front of him with his normally so-ordinary friend. No, not ordinary, that was unfair, that was selling her short. Caroline was much more than ordinary, she was fun and mischievous and loving, but she wasn’t this.
‘The chaise longue,’ he managed to get the words out after a few seconds. She seemed to glide across the floor as if her feet were barely touching it. He watched as she settled herself on the edge, perching as if she were in a drawing room full of well-to-do ladies.
‘Perhaps I should recline.’ Then she smiled and James felt the world stop wobbling under his feet and right itself again.
‘You look...different.’
‘Hardly a compliment,’ she said, raising her eyebrows. ‘I was hoping for something more than different after struggling with these fastenings for ten minutes.’
‘I could have helped you.’ The words were out before he even knew what he was saying. He could just imagine his fingers trailing down her back and tugging on the ties that held the silky dress in place.
Caroline blinked in surprise at his words. It wasn’t as though they always spoke to one another formally, but he hadn’t ever flirted with her before. He shook his head, aware he must look as if he were having a little mad episode, but for the life of him he couldn’t think why he hadn’t ever flirted with her before.
Your friendship, the remnant of the sensible part of him was quick to remind him. Friendship, a one-of-a-kind friendship that would be ruined if he acted on even one of the thoughts that was racing through his head.
‘Then I really would be a ruined woman,’ Caroline mused, but much of the tension from a few minutes ago had gone from her voice.
‘No one would know.’ James’s voice was low and he saw how Caroline responded to it. The slight widening of her eyes, the way her chest rose and fell a little more quickly.
He took a step towards the chaise longue and then another. Part of him was screaming to back away, to send Caroline behind the screen to change back into her normal clothes, but he knew he wasn’t strong enough to do that.
‘Lie back a little,’ he instructed, watching as she reclined, her eyes never leaving his. ‘Good.’ He reached out, only hesitating a moment before he gripped hold of her ankle, bare underneath the silky fabric of her skirt, and lifted it on to the edge of the chaise longue. Her skin was warm and soft and he had the urge to trail his fingers up to her calf and beyond, but with iron self-control he stopped himself. ‘Are you comfortable?’
She nodded and he noticed the flush to her cheeks and the sultry parting of her lips. It wasn’t just him, she was feeling something between them, some spark, the irresistible pull of desire.
Slowly he leaned over her, thinking how easy it would be to kiss her, but instead gently pulling the loose coil of her hair over her shoulder so it fell over one side of her chest.
‘Perfect,’ he murmured, stepping back.
He retreated behind the easel, selecting a charcoal from the tin and beginning to draw. Every so often he would stop and look at her, noting the angle of her head and the fullness of her lips, committing it all to paper.
All the time he was drawing he found himself wondering what it would be like to kiss her, to take her in his arms and tumble back on to the chaise longue together.
‘How is the drawing?’ Caroline’s voice pulled him abruptly from his thoughts.
‘Hmm.’
‘That doesn’t sound promising.’
‘I may have overestimated my ability.’
She laughed and he wondered how he had never seen her beauty before, how he’d only just noticed how desirable she was. They had been friends for five years and she was the woman he’d spent the most time with, ever. Surely he should have noticed the enticing way she smiled and the intriguing sparkle in her blue eyes.
You’re a fool, he told himself, repeating it time and time again. It sat heavily on him, this thought that the only reason he was attracted to her now was because she was suddenly unavailable. Caroline had decided to marry and all of a sudden he was finding her almost irresistible. It was an uncomfortable thought, one that didn’t say much for his unconscious decision making.
‘Can I see?’
‘Not yet. Give me chance to fix it.’
‘My foot is going to sleep.’
‘Stop wriggling, woman. You’re hardly the perfect artist’s model. Bertie would sit still for longer.’ With his words they both fell still and silent for a moment and then together rushed to the window.
‘Can you see him?’ Caroline’s face was pressed close to the glass.
‘No. I can’t hear him either.’
They had tied Bertie to a post just around the corner, out of view in case Henrietta had been in a position to catch a glimpse of him. In the drama that had followed they had forgotten about the lively dog that was no doubt growing frantic at their absence and was probably now terrorising the street.
‘We need to get out of here.’
James watched as she started pulling at the ties that held the dress in place, letting the strands run through her fingers as she loosened off the bodice. He knew he should step away, or at the very least look away, but instead he took a step towards her.
‘Let me,’ he said, feeling her body fall completely still underneath his touch. Gently he unlaced the ties, feeling his self-control waver every time his fingers brushed against her skin. When the dress was loose, only held up by Caroline’s hands at her front, he took a shuddering breath and stepped away.
It was a passing desire, nothing more. He’d desired many women in his life and it wasn’t worth losing five years of friendship over.
You could have her. He silenced the voice. He could. He could marry her, wake up to his best friend and the woman he was currently finding irresistible, each and every morning. It was a tempting thought, but he knew he couldn’t do it. He loved Caroline, but not in that way. He’d promised himself long ago he would hold out for true love, even if it meant staying a bachelor until he was seventy. Caroline deserved to be more than second-best.
He waited as she changed, busying himself with the window catches, waiting until she was ready to pull up the window and look down into the street below. It was quiet, with the occasional person hurrying past into the failing light.
‘Are you ready?’ He stepped back to the easel, rolling up the charcoal drawing he’d made of Caroline and tucking it inside his jacket.
She nodded, looking down into the street with an expression of determination mixed with apprehension.
‘We’ll have to be quick. If someone sees us climbing out of here they may well raise the alarm and I don’t fancy explaining to an angry mob that we weren’t up to anything nefarious.’
‘I’ll be quick,’ she promised.
With one last look up and down the street James swung his leg out of the window. He gripped hold of the sill and began to lower himself, feeling the burn in his muscles and glad of the exercises he did every morning and the hours spent at the boxing
club. As soon as he was as close to the ground as he could get while still holding on he let go, pushing out from the wall at the same time. He landed lightly, feeling a judder through his knees, but immediately he knew he hadn’t done any damage.
Looking up, he saw Caroline’s face in the window and marvelled at her courage as she swung herself out without any hesitation. She was as quick as he had been, lowering herself before looking back to ensure he was ready for her.
‘I’ll catch you.’
She pushed off, landing on him heavily and with her in his arms he took a few staggering steps back.
‘Oi, stop,’ a voice called out from the other end of the street.
They both instinctively turned towards it, then before the man could move, James set Caroline on her feet, grabbed her hand and began to pull her along. They ran, stopping only to untie Bertie who barked happily as they approached and then ran alongside them wagging his tail furiously.
* * *
Only when they were half a mile away did James let them slow their pace. Caroline turned to him, her face glowing from the exertion, her grin the widest he’d ever seen it.
‘We made it.’
‘And it’s not even that late.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, squeezing his arm.
‘I can’t take you home like this.’
Caroline raised a hand and grimaced as she felt the free flow of her hair over her shoulders. She looked as though she’d spent the afternoon being ravaged. Although James had only fantasised about doing just that, he felt guilty all the same.
‘I’ll take you to my house. We can send a note to your mother and make up some story of why you’ve been delayed. That should give you time to make yourself look more like you did when you left this afternoon.’
Caroline nodded and slipped her hand back into the crook of his elbow. As they walked along he realised his plan meant being once again alone with Caroline in a private space and he felt the thrum of anticipation, even though he knew nothing could ever happen.