His mother stepped in, looking as she always did, perfectly coiffed and impeccably dressed with a sour expression making the deep lines even deeper in her face.
“Hello, mother.”
She scanned him up and down. “Pierce.” She nodded. “Have you grown shorter since the last time I saw you?”
He was well over six feet tall. “No,” he answered stepping up next to her and making a show of leaning down to kiss her cheek. “I am exactly the same height as when you saw me in the spring.”
She huffed. “Perhaps you just look older then. Your shoulders are stooping. Or perhaps it’s because I see you so little that I often forget.”
“Perhaps,” he answered straightening away. “How was the trip?”
“Dreadful,” she answered, waving a kerchief. “The inns you booked were beyond awful.”
She’d been through the door for less than a minute and he was already irritated. “Sorry, Mother. Stanley made sure they were the only ones we could use.”
She clucked her tongue. “Don’t you blame your brother. He was a saint. If he were here now, he would have ensured I’d had a far more comfortable journey.”
Pierce attempted not to roll his eyes. He mostly succeeded but he did glance at the ceiling. “If Stanley were still here, you’d be living in squalor.”
“Oh please.” She traipsed past him. “We’re one notch above. That’s hardly cause to celebrate.” She turned back, waving to the footmen. “Bring in my trunks. I’d like to rest in my room.”
“I’ll show you there, Mother,” he said as he stepped next to her once again, offering his elbow.
“This was my home for twenty years. I know how to get to my room.” Her spine straightened.
Pierce winced. He would not be in an adjoining room to his mother. “That room is being readied for the new countess. You’ll have to stay in another.”
She stopped, her eyes narrowing. “You always were dreadful,” she nearly spit. “Is this your punishment for the list?”
He raised his brows. She no longer made him angry, but he always felt hollow inside when he was near her. “I’m not punishing you for anything.”
She pressed her hand to her chest. “How I could have one son who was so loving and another so spiteful?”
His throat clogged with irritation and he let out a very long breath. Now he was beginning to anger. “Your stay will be short?”
“You don’t want to be with your mother?” She made a sniffling noise. “You could accompany me back to the country. I know you prefer living there. You always did.”
He stared at her. Pierce did prefer the country to the city. He didn’t return because his mother harassed him from morning until night. “I’m giving you your space, Mother. Once I’ve built you your own home, I’ll return.”
She sniffed. “Speaking of my own home. How does the wife-hunting fare?”
Pierce held back a groan. “Fine.”
“How many of the women on my list have you met?”
“Three,” he answered honestly. “None of them are viable options.”
She stopped again. “Now you really are just being spiteful.”
He rubbed his forehead. This was going to be a long day.
* * *
Caroline had stayed home for much of the week. She sat next to her aunt, attempting to crochet but her thoughts, as they’d been wont to do, drifted back to Pierce and the last ball they’d attended.
Her Aunt Millie set down her needlepoint. “For heaven’s sake. You’ve been sighing for days.”
It was true. She reached for her aunt’s hand. Her mother’s sister had taken over her care years before and continued to do so despite Caroline’s status as a fallen woman. “Auntie, where do you think we should go to live out our lives?”
“Why do we need to go anywhere?” Aunt Millie asked picking her needlepoint again.
Caroline shrugged. “I’m an outcast here. I feel as though I should carry myself off and hide under a rock or something.”
Her aunt sniffed loudly. “They haven’t broken you yet. They’re not going to. Stay here and continue rubbing your existence in their faces.”
Caroline’s mouth dropped open even as she shook her head. Her aunt never spoke like this and she appreciated the sentiment. Still, Caroline thought of the shame when other women rejected her publicly. “Doesn’t it embarrass you, Auntie, to be seen with me? I thought that’s why you stopped going out?”
Her aunt carefully set her needlepoint aside. “I stopped going out because society is wrong, I’ll not participate in such nonsense. What they’ve done to you is just cruel.”
Tears filled Caroline’s eyes and she leaned over to hug the other woman. “I wanted to snub society too. Which is why I’ve been going out.” She did not mention the book. There were some things her aunt was better off not knowing. “But then a Lady Blakely reminded me why I’ve stayed away.”
Her aunt reached for her hand. “Oh child, is that what the sighs were about? I have to confess, I thought maybe you’d fallen in love.”
Her stomach twisted as her heart beat faster. Fallen in love? Had she?
Thinking of Pierce, her hands trembled. “Perhaps that too,” she answered, looking down at her lap. “But he’s an earl and…” She didn’t want to say all the reasons he could never be hers. She’d thought them a thousand times already.
Her aunt placed her hand on top of Caroline’s. “If it’s meant to be, it will happen.”
Caroline shook her head. She wished she could have that sort of confidence.
Then her aunt gave her clasped hands a tap. “Speaking of, a note arrived for you this morning.” Then Aunt Millie rose and crossed to the desk. “It looks like an invitation to me.”
She crossed back to their chairs and held the note in front of Caroline.
Her fingers still trembled as she reached up and took the note from her aunt’s hand. Then she too stood and went to get an opener to break the seal. Pulling the note from the envelope, she scanned the letter.
“Annabelle is having a dinner party on Friday. We’re invited.”
“Annabelle the duchess?” Her aunt grinned. “My, but your friends have done well. Who would have thought it?” Then her aunt waved her hand. “Chloe and Lord Dryden will escort you, I’m sure.”
Caroline was certain they would. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if Chloe had orchestrated the dinner to begin with. She had a penchant for meddling. “Of course. Would you mind if I took May and went to see Chloe today?”
“Not at all, darling. It would be good for you to get out.” Then her aunt settled herself in her chair, picking up her needlepoint again. “Do you need a new dress for the dinner?”
“No, Auntie, I’ll be fine.” Caroline dropped the note and began penning one of her own. Her aunt was right. She might as well use the night to try and finish the book her friends had begun.
Chapter Thirteen
Caroline gave a long sigh as she assessed her reflection in the mirror. She’d dressed for dinner, then waited for Chloe and Fin to arrive to escort her to the party. Chloe had been unavailable all week, so Caroline had not been able to discuss with her friend the particulars of the last-minute dinner party thrown by Annabelle and Luke. Chloe’s sudden busyness only reaffirmed Caroline’s hunch that Chloe was behind this and had concocted some plot.
Perhaps she wanted to help Caroline with research, but more likely, Chloe was playing matchmaker. Caroline hadn’t spoken to Pierce since the ball. She was determined to leave him be so that he might find a wife without her getting in his way.
In fact, she should have written Pierce, telling him, if he’d been invited not to come. But she didn’t know how to broach the subject. What if he hadn’t been on the list? No one had confirmed or denied the guest list.
Or what if he was going to meet with another woman? She’d promised him assistance in that regard and while she thought it best to stay away from him, she’d said she’d do her utmost to help hi
m without getting in his way.
Her heart ached at the thought. What torture was she going to experience, watching him court another? Helena had been bad enough and the two had despised each other. She sighed again, wishing Chloe had clued her into what was happening.
Caroline crossed the room and headed down the stairs. She’d been tempted not to go at all but what if this was her last opportunity to find a rake to research? She’d stared at the book for several nights, unwilling to start her own entry.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard the rumble of a carriage and her aunt called from the front sitting room, “Good luck, tonight.”
Caroline waved her hand. “Thank you. I’ll need it.”
“Nonsense,” her aunt called back. “You’ll do wonderfully.”
A knock sounded at the door and the butler answered. Caroline nodded to Fin as she took his arm. “Do you know what Chloe has concocted this evening?”
Fin raised a brow. “As far as I know, only dinner.”
Caroline gave him a long look. “This is Chloe. It’s never just dinner.”
Fin chuckled. “She’s a very vivacious woman.”
“That’s one way to put it.” Caroline wrinkled her nose. “But when you suffer the consequences of her scheming, you’ll see it my way.”
Fin shook his head. “Don’t be too hard on Chloe. She loves you. Whatever she does, she wants to help.”
Caroline squeezed his arm. “That’s very sweet but only reaffirms my belief that she is up to something and that you’re in on it.”
The door snapped open and Caroline glanced inside. Of course, she’d been right. Sitting on the seat across from Chloe was none other than Pierce. Every nerve in her body jumped and she stopped, just as Fin had been about to help her in. “This isn’t a good idea,” she whispered, wondering if anyone had heard.
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Chloe answered.
“I agree.” Pierce gave her a grin. “We’ve a bargain to fulfill, if I recall.”
She let out a sigh and then allowed Fin to hand her in. “I’m only doing this because I made you a promise.”
“Don’t you just love that about her?” Chloe scooted to one side. “Always cares more about others than herself.”
“I do love that about her,” Pierce answered, his eyes drilling into hers.
She swallowed. Those words made her breath catch and her heart quicken. She wished he hadn’t said them.
* * *
Pierce didn’t just love Caroline’s compassion for others. He loved her. Emotion made his body tense and he resisted the urge to pull her in his lap and kiss her senseless. How had he ever thought that he’d marry another? That connections were more important than the woman sitting across from him?
She nibbled on her lip as she looked everywhere but at him. “How many people are attending this dinner?”
The door snapped closed and Fin seated himself as the carriage started moving again. “Just eight of us.” Chloe gave Caroline’s hand a pat. “I’ve a surprise for you, actually.”
“Surprise?” Caroline raised her brows. “What surprise?”
“Penny has returned to London. She’s joining us tonight.”
Caroline came alive at the news, her face breaking into a grin as she clapped her hands. “Oh, I’ve missed her so. I can’t believe she’s here.” Then she reached for Chloe’s other hand. “Is that why you’ve been hiding from me all week?”
Chloe dipped her head. “Of course, why else?”
But Pierce raised a brow. Chloe had just whispered to him, moments before Caroline had stepped into the carriage, that she had fashioned this opportunity for him to convince Caroline that she was worthy of his attention.
Which was ridiculous. He was the man who hadn’t been worth a damn thing to his family. How did he find himself with a beautiful woman who considered herself unfit to be his wife?
Honestly, he loved her all the more for it. “Who is Penny?”
“Well now, she is Lady Preston, wife of The Earl of Preston.” Caroline’s entire demeanor had changed. She glowed with happiness as her hands slapped at her skirts. “She is our dear friend. Her husband had nothing but his title and—"
“This sounds familiar,” he cocked a brow, loving the story, actually.
Caroline waved her hand. “Not really. He had nothing. I mean ragged clothes on his back. And Penny lived with me and then she inherited a dilapidated home that they moved to the country to repair. They are slowly building wealth as they also build their life but…” Caroline paused, her eyes meeting his as her lips parted. “But they love each other and they don’t care that they have less than many around them.”
He gave her a small smile. Warm and affectionate. “I think I shall like your friends. They sound like people who understand what is important, who live life with love first.”
She leaned toward him, their gazed locked together. “Is that what you think is important?”
“More every day,” he said, hoping she heard the sincerity in his voice.
Fin cleared his throat. “We’re nearly there. Everyone ready for the reunion?”
Caroline clapped her hands. “I can hardly wait.”
Neither could he. “Caroline.” He reached across the carriage to grasp her hands. “Before this night begins, I want you to know that I wish to formally court you.”
She stilled, her smile slipping from her face. “Pierce, I…”
“Don’t answer.” He could hear the hesitation in her voice. “Think on it tonight while we are all together.” He clasped her hands in each of his. “We can discuss this more later, but I just want you to understand what my intentions are.”
She gave a hesitant nod. “Thank you, Pierce.”
He squeezed her fingers one more time before letting them go. This should be a beginning. But somehow, her thank you had not sounded hopeful, held no promise. Her words had held far more of a goodbye.
Chapter Fourteen
Caroline’s stomach swayed in her body despite the fact the carriage had just drawn to a stop.
She wanted to throw herself against Pierce and kiss every inch of his face. Thoughts of kissing far more than just his cheeks made hers flush with heat.
She stilled her racing thoughts. Part of her considered Penny and Wes. They’d found happiness despite the odds and they didn’t care about wealth or status. Perhaps that’s how she should approach life. But then she looked over at Pierce. He deserved the perfect woman. The one who lifted him up past what his brother had done. Past his mother’s criticisms. And she didn’t think that person was her. What if she wasn’t strong enough? She’d allowed a complete buffoon of a rake to ruin her.
Thoughts of Lord Parks made her wince and she pushed the man out of her head. The footman opened the door and the men stepped out. Fin had told her that everyone made mistakes. Lord Parks was a terrible person but, perhaps, she was too. She’d allowed all of it to happen.
Pierce handed her down from the carriage and tucked her hand into his elbow. Annabelle, Luke, Penny and Wes stood at the bottom of the steps waiting for them. She pushed her thoughts aside to greet her friends.
“Caroline,” Penny gushed, holding out her arms. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Me too.” She let go of Pierce to rush into Penny’s embrace.
Wes stepped forward to shake Pierce’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“It’s only nice because you don’t know him yet.” Luke chuckled as he slapped Pierce on the back. “He’s a damn pain in my ass.”
Pierce finished shaking Wes’s hand and winked. “The feeling is mutual.” All the men laughed.
Penny kissed her cheek. “He fits right in.”
Caroline didn’t know what to say. He did. But that didn’t mean he belonged here. Instead she hugged Penny closer. “You look radiant.”
“Marriage agrees with me,” Penny answered. “It agrees with both of us.”
Caroline looked over to Wes. The gaunt m
an she’d first met was gone. In his place was a strong, fit, terribly handsome fellow who gave an easy smile to the group. “I see that it does.”
“If someone had told me last year that this would have all come to pass, I never would have believed them. I thought I’d never marry. That I didn’t deserve this sort of happiness.”
Caroline hugged Penny closer. Was the same true for her? Did she deserve to give Pierce a chance?
Pulling away, she gave Anabelle a hug too and then greeted her friends’ husbands. Funny, they’d become like family.
“Let’s go inside,” Annabelle called to everyone. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m famished.”
“We can’t have that,” Luke placed an arm about his wife. “Do we have time for a drink first? I’d like to say a few words.”
“Of course,” Annabelle answered. “What a wonderful idea.”
One by one the couples followed until only Pierce and Caroline remained at the bottom of the stairs. He wrapped his arm about her waist. “Tonight is about you, Caroline. Everyone has assembled here for you, love.”
“You’re here for me?” she asked, her heart in her throat. She stopped staring into his face. She’d remember this moment for as long as she lived. “Why?”
“Because,” he reached up and brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “You deserve it.”
Her breath caught and she clasped his hand against her face. She still believed she needed to let him go. She knew it was selfish, but she also wanted to cherish his affection this one time. A memory to hold on to for later. “You deserve so very much too.”
He smiled and started moving up the stairs. “I’m glad to hear you say it.”
She’d said it before and she likely would again. He deserved the very best and that’s why she wasn’t the woman for him.
The Wicked Wallflowers Page 37