The Secret Love of a Gentleman

by Jane Lark

  As he seated himself next to his uncle, Rob’s hands curled into fists, the words John had whispered in his ear over supper echoed in his head. “So that you know, the Marquis of Kilbride has just tried to get himself in.”

  Apparently Kilbride had turned up at the door, hoping the footmen would be too awed by his rank to reject him, but they had held fast to the rule that only those with invitations might come in—and refused. Finch had been the one to finally throw the man out.

  Rob was angry that Kilbride had even dared try, and yet really it was no surprise, he’d made it clear enough that he still thought of Caro as his.

  She was not, though, and he should learn that.

  Anger was low in Rob’s stomach, another outcome of the emotion loving Caro had brought into his life.

  Yet it had felt good, to be the one that John told, to be the one who was seen as the person to protect her. That was what Rob had wished for in the autumn.

  Chapter 43

  Caro took the lead toy soldier Drew held out and passed it to George. “There, see, we have it, there was no need for so many tears.” She’d taken George down to the library, where John, Drew and Edward had gathered, to retrieve George’s favourite soldier from Drew’s pocket. “Papa only put it in his pocket to keep it safe.”

  George nodded against her shoulder, with the rescued soldier clutched in his tight little fist.

  “…Mister Robert Marlow.”

  Caro looked up as she stepped out from the open library door. She knew that voice.

  “He is not staying here, my lord.”

  “Then I want to see… Caro!” When Albert saw her, he moved forward. There were three footmen about him and Finch. Caro gripped George tighter, instinctively clasping him to her chest.

  “Come here! Come with me!” Albert’s barked order told her to move. She backed away as George glanced at the angry red-faced stranger.

  “You are not welcome here. I have asked you to leave,” Finch said calmly.

  Caro backed away two more steps towards the stairs.

  One of the footmen turned to open the front door, as two others moved towards Albert as though they planned to push him out, but Albert would not endure that.

  She took three steps back as he came forward, taking the advantage of only two men before him to slip past them, and then he was before her, yelling at her and lifting his hand.

  She gripped George’s head, covering his ears, trying to protect him and not scare him as she stepped away, ducking to avoid a slap, but she stumbled and fell.

  “Caroline…”

  “Kilbride! What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Get out, you bastard!”

  The three men came out of the library behind her, with a surge of aggression. In the moment, she fell back, slipping on the first stone stair.

  “Ah!” She held onto George, terrified he would be hurt as they tumbled onto the steps. Her hip and elbow hit the stone and George thrust his head back, shouting, as he bumped the side of his face. Caro lay there, nausea twisting through her stomach as George howled in her arms, while John, Edward and the footmen manhandled Albert out the door.

  “Caro.” Drew was there, and his hand braced her elbow. “Are you hurt?”

  Only within. “Bruised, that is all.”

  “Why did you let him into the hall?” John was shouting at his staff.

  “George.” Rob’s father was there. “Let me take him?”

  Caro gave him up willingly. She’d probably been holding him too tightly.

  “I bumped my head.” George said as tears spilled down his cheeks.

  “Can you stand?” Drew asked Caro.

  He helped her up, but her hand shook and her legs felt as though they belonged to someone else.

  “You put Lady Caroline at risk!” John shouted at the footmen and Finch.

  “I will take you upstairs.” Drew held her arm.

  “May I go to my room?” Mortification swept over her, that Rob’s family had seen how violently she’d been treated, that she’d been holding poor George.

  “I know, he was a very nasty man,” Rob’s father said as he walked before them with George.

  Caro shook violently as they reached the first floor. John was still shouting downstairs and George’s sobs could be heard as his grandfather carried him on to the drawing room. Drew’s hand stayed beneath Caro’s arm, guiding her towards her room.

  She did not try to undress, merely kicked off her shoes and lay down on the bed as Drew looked down at her. She was suddenly terribly tired.

  “I am sorry this happened, Caro.”

  “It is not your fault. It is no one’s fault.”

  “Will you manage here if I go to see George?”

  “I shall be fine. I will sleep. I am still tired from last night.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes, I had a shock, that is all. I just need to rest.”

  ~

  Rob leaned back in his seat and laughed at something one of Uncle Robert’s friends had said. Lord Sparks patted his arm in answer. “I am serious, young Robbie. It is no joke. Robert and I have sons who are forever being pulled from brothels in Oxford and then there is you with your desire for politics.”

  “Although, as I have said before, like father like son. Yet Geoff and I did not trouble ourselves with brothels.” Uncle Robert lifted an eyebrow.

  Rob laughed again. His uncle would not speak to his son, Henry, like this. In fact, none of his uncles spoke to his cousins like this.

  Perhaps his inspiration to help those less lucky in life had come from a base of a sense of inferiority to his cousins, but as a man, and even as a child he’d been their equal. He had been blood, skin and bone too. It was mystifying how fate played with you. If he’d not felt inferior, he would not have chosen the path he had, nor would he now see any man—or woman—he walked past in the street as equal. Simply born into a different situation. The understanding would make him a better politician when his time came.

  He had been so cut by Caro calling him inferior, when in fact that had been a blessing, and an awakening of the knowledge that was enabling him to step into a stream of politics his family would have never recommended—but now admired.

  He laughed again, but this laughter was directed at himself—equally his cousins had been born into a set of circumstances, the way they behaved, although he still did not approve, had virtually been laid out for them. He must learn to be as tolerant of their circumstances as he was of the poor.

  “…I am a much more pleasant man,” Uncle Robert finished saying.

  “With a son who has taken far too much of your blood.”

  “So has yours.”

  Both Lord Sparks and Uncle Robert laughed.

  “Excuse me, I need to stretch my leg.” Rob stood.

  He was not in his own club but in his uncle’s, in White’s. Uncle Robert’s man of business had wanted to meet with Rob and explain the tenancy agreement in person and then Uncle Robert had brought him here for luncheon.

  They’d seen nothing of his father or John, but Pembroke House was probably still silent. It had been a late night. He and Uncle Robert had agreed to rise early and get their last day of planning for their journey done. Rob was no longer to ride in his uncle’s carriage, but his uncle had offered to hire another for him, so he and Caro might travel up alone. Following his meeting with Uncle Robert’s business man, Rob now had the keys to Allington Manor in his pocket. It was the place he would make into a home with Caro.

  They were the keys to a new life and he’d gripped them in his hand.

  “Marlow.”

  Rob turned around. He was in the hall. He was not alone, there were two footman and the doors at either end of the hall were open. Yet, even so, an odd sensation raced up Rob’s spine, and his memory turned back to the dark and the strikes of a heavy metal bar. “Kilbride. I take it this corridor is a little light, and not empty enough for your messengers and so you came yourself—”


  “The Marquis of Kilbride to you, child.”

  Rob did not answer.

  “You cannot have her.”

  “That is not your choice. Caro is naught to do with you.”

  “She is mine, she always will be.”

  “She walked away from you the night you sent your thugs after me. Did that not tell you her view? She is no longer tied to you.”

  “Robbie…” Rob’s uncle Robert walked into the hall.

  Kilbride glared at him, then glared at Rob. “You will not have her. What I did to you is nothing compared to what I might do.” He walked away then, heading for the outer door as though he planned to leave the club.

  Rob breathed out. His uncle’s hand lay on his shoulder. “What was that about? What was he speaking of? What did he do to you?”

  Rob said nothing. The feelings of that night, the feelings of the following day brimming in his head. But had that threat been towards him or Caro?

  His uncle’s hand held Rob’s shoulder more firmly. “Is what I’m thinking correct?”

  Rob shook his head. He would have turned away, but his uncle’s grip held firm.

  “It was not thieves, was it? The men who left you lying in the street half dead…”

  Rob shook his head.

  “Do not deny it, Robbie, I heard.”

  “Very well, you are right, but do nothing and say nothing. This for me to resolve.”

  “Does your father know?”

  “Yes, but he is the only one. Mama does not and please tell no one else. They will all wish to be involved and make things worse. I will manage it myself.”

  Manage it… He had not been doing that. He had been ignoring it.

  “Does Caroline know? Have you told her?”

  “God, no, it would make me feel like a fool. We’d separated at the time. It would have embarrassed me and now it would worry her.”

  “I saw you, remember, the embarrassment is his, that he must mutilate a rival to try and keep the interest of a woman. The man is a coward, and why is he interested anyway? He divorced her.”

  “He might have divorced her, but he does not dislike her, he wants to keep hold of her, like a possession.” Lord, Rob must forget his own possessiveness.

  His uncle sighed. “What am I to do, then?”

  “As I said, nothing. We ignore his threats. I have been careful, and Papa has ensured that Caro is always with someone when she has been out. That is what I wish and this is my concern. We will be out of town in a day anyway.”

  Uncle Robert sighed. “If that is what you want.”

  “It is.”

  “Well, then, why do we not go out to Tattersall’s and buy you another wedding present. Instead of hiring a carriage to take you north, I shall buy you one, and the horses to go with it.”

  “That is too much.”

  “It is not. Remember I owe your father for numerous years of land management.”

  Rob smiled. But inside there was turmoil. How could he walk away from such a threat when he’d already taken a crippling beating from Kilbride?

  ~

  Caro turned to her back, her arm lifting as she dreamed of a fist flying towards her, and the low, vicious sound of Albert’s voice threatening her.

  She sat up, breathing hard and sweating. Her dress was damp; it stuck to her skin.

  She’d thought the days in which she’d needed to be afraid of Albert’s violence passed.

  She ran her hand across the slight curve of her stomach, and looked down. She needed to feel the child move. Her dress was a vivid scarlet below her waist, between her legs.

  Blood.

  Blood…

  She rose, her fingers gripping between her legs as if by sheer will she might hold the child in.

  Not now, not when she had so much hope.

  She rang the bell for a maid, and then returned to the bed and curled about her child, her fingers holding beneath her stomach and her legs curled up and tightly closed.

  Why is there blood?

  When the maid came it was through sobs that Caro asked her to fetch Mary.

  She was losing her child.

  “No.” Tears crept from her eyes, filling up her eyelashes and running onto the pillow.

  Mary’s knock was gentle.

  “Come in. Please!” Caro’s voice was a desperate plea, as though Mary might save the child simply by being in the room.

  “Caro, what is it? The maid said you were distressed.” Mary came across the room.

  “I am with child. But there is blood. I’m losing my child…”

  Mary looked pale and confused.

  Caro clasped her wrist. “Please help me!”

  Mary’s free hand covered Caro’s. “I will fetch Mama. She will know what to do, and Kate will call the doctor. Lie still.”

  Tears ran like fingers brushing down Caro’s cheeks as Mary left.

  Rob’s family would all think ill of her now. They would know about the child.

  Chapter 44

  Rob climbed the steps to his uncle’s house in high spirits. He would have jogged up them with an eager stride if he was fit and healthy. But he did not because his leg held him back. He’d enjoyed his day with his uncle. He hoped to enjoy living beside him.

  He looked back and smiled at Uncle Robert as they walked into the hall. Jenkins, his uncle’s butler, greeted them, bowing slightly. “Lord Marlow is waiting for you in the drawing room, with Lady Barrington, Master Robert, I believe he has an urgent message.”

  Urgent… Rob headed to the stairs, forcing his weak leg to move as fast as it would.

  When Rob walked into the drawing room, his father rose from a chair.

  “Papa…”

  “Rob, you must come back with me.” He looked at Rob’s aunt. “Please call for the carriage to be brought about, Jane.”

  “Why?” Kilbride’s threat echoed through Rob’s head.

  His father walked towards him, gripped his arm and led him back out of the room.

  “It is Caroline. Kilbride called this morning. Caroline happened to be in the hall and she was caught up in the footmen trying get Kilbride out. She fell and she has been bleeding since then. She is afraid she will lose the child. A child, which you failed to mention to us. A child that must be due in less than four months, Robbie.”

  Heat burned in Rob’s cheeks. “You had no need to know. I did not know until she came to town looking for me. I would have told you after we left. I did not wish her to feel embarrassed while we remained in town.”

  “It is not Caroline who ought to feel embarrassed, a man leads these things.”

  “Papa, I do not wish to discuss it.”

  “It is unimportant now, anyway. The only thing of importance is that I get you home. She has been crying for you. Where have you been?”

  “At Tattersall’s.”

  “Well, never mind, let us get you there.”

  Rob swore at his bloody leg as he tried to make it hurry down the damned stairs.

  Jenkins opened the door for them. “Tell Uncle Robert, I am going out—”

  “I have told your aunt. She will let Robert know.”

  The carriage was already waiting.

  “Get in,” his father stated, and then, as soon as the door shut he continued, “I am angry with you. Caroline was under the protection of this family.”

  “You know I am marrying her for more reasons than the child. I told you I wished to marry Caro before I even knew.”

  “And it is a good thing, because I am not sure the child will survive.”

  Rob stared at his father. No. That was nonsense.

  “But whether you wished to marry or not, you should not have lain with her. I would have expected this of Harry, not you.”

  “Things happen, Papa, and this is hardly the time for you to preach morality. This speech is too late, we are to be married tomorrow.”

  “But I am allowed to express my anger and disappointment.”

  “I was disappointed in myself at fir
st, and yet I do not regret this child, or that I shall have a lifetime with Caro, and she is thrilled, she has lost…” The words died on his lips, but he forced them out. “She has lost five children. This is the first time she has carried beyond four months. That’s why she did not tell me. She expected to lose the child.”

  It cut into his heart. It was his child that might be lost now.

  His father stared at him as the carriage rocked over the cobbles.

  Rob could see Caro’s eyes as she had looked at him while they’d waltzed last night, wide and bright, shining amber and gold in the bright glow for the chandeliers, and he could see her breaths lift her bodice, and feel the beat of her pulse in her wrist as he gripped her hand.

  “Drew said you are the only one who has ever been able to calm Caroline when she is anxious.”

  “She calms herself. I merely challenge and encourage her to do it. She is more capable than she thinks.” Rob’s heart pumped hard. “Do you think she will really lose the child?”

  “I do not know. Kate had called for her doctor when I left. But your mother said Caro has lost a lot of blood.”

  She may have already lost the child, then… Rob had wished to protect Caro, he’d not even thought of his child. He’d been at Tattersall’s. He’d let Kilbride threaten them this morning.

  “What time did Kilbride call?”

  “Midday.”

  Kilbride had called there, distressed Caro and then come to White’s and threatened Rob. There was one thing Rob was certain of. Kilbride must learn a lesson. Rob had to extinguish Kilbride’s threats.

  When they reached John’s, without thinking, Rob opened the carriage door and jumped down, pain lanced up his leg but he ignored it, although it made him limp more severely as he hurried up the steps.

  Finch opened the door. “Master Robert, Lord Marlow.”

  Rob did not acknowledge Finch. He looked at his father. “Where is she?”

  “In her room, on the first floor, turn to the right and the second door along.” His father answered.

  Rob climbed the stairs faster than he had done in weeks.