Secret Heiress
Page 15
Giles smiled ruefully.
“The more you turned to Bradford—a man I despised—the more disturbed I became and the more I wanted to warn you away from him. I thought you incredibly stubborn and foolish to be so taken with such a scoundrel.”
“I did want to believe in him,” said Caroline. “So much so that my common sense was suspended.”
“Then my warnings to you were most unwelcome,” said Giles.
“More than unwelcome,” said Caroline. “You were merely confirming what I felt to be true and did not want to believe. And at the same time you seemed to be making a fool of yourself over a child just out of the schoolroom!”
“What the devil are you talking about?” demanded Giles.
“You seemed so charmed by Arabella. You had a kind of fatuous smile …”
“Have you lost your reason?” asked Giles. “Arabella?”
“Tell me that you were not infatuated with her,” said Caroline.
Giles took a deep breath. “I suppose I was for a time,” he admitted. “She was so young and innocent … but, my God, Caroline, I soon discovered she’s a mere child! Artless, charming—for about an hour. I began to fear I’d said too much and might be forced to offer for her. Lucidly for me, her mama would have none of an earl’s younger son.”
“And that’s another thing,” interrupted Caroline. “You didn’t tell me you were the son of an earl.”
“I guess I, too, just wished to be liked for myself,” he said. “I’d been ill, I was tired and worn out, and I didn’t want still another female fawning over me.”
“What a terrible problem,” said Caroline. She laughed, and Giles did, too.
There was a pause in the conversation. Both seemed about to speak, but neither knew what to say. For the third time, Caroline broke the silence.
“I know we must say goodbye,” she said, “although I feel we still have much to say to each other.” She turned away and walked toward the window, fearing she had said too much.
Giles followed her and put his hands on her shoulders, turning her slowly around until she faced him.
“Why must we say goodbye?” he asked. “You are right, there is still much we have to say, much that I have wanted to say these many days, but each time I tried, we ended up at sword’s-point. I have wanted to tell you how much I admire you; how I have felt drawn to you from the beginning. Do you recollect, at Arabella’s come-out, when we were standing on the terrace? Then Bradford appeared and you went off to dance with him. I was so jealous, and I behaved so foolishly!”
“I could not imagine why you became so cold and distant,” said Caroline.
“I could not bear to see you beguiled by Adrian Bradford,” said Giles. “When I thought I had lost you to him I could not believe it. I realized then how much I cared for you. Oh, how I envied him! Caroline, say there is still time for me to say those sweet words that you desire to hear and that I long to say.”
“There is all the time in the world,” said Caroline breathlessly.
Giles drew her closer to him, his arms embracing her tightly. He looked down at her upturned face, her lips soft and inviting, and slowly his lips met hers, first gently and then more demandingly. Caroline’s hands caressed him as she returned his kisses hungrily.
Later, when they were seated on the sofa, Giles said softly, “Now I can tell you how much I love you. And that I loved you before I knew you were a woman of wealth and substance, and thought you only a woman of charm and wit. Will you marry me, Caroline, even though I am the son of an earl?”
“But only the younger son,” Caroline reminded him as she moved closer into his arms.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1982 by Shelley Koppel and Lillian Koppel
ISBN 978-1-4976-3459-6
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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