Page 5 of Fortune Favors the Frivolous
Wordlessly, they watched Lord Windermere lead Venetia into the dance, Henry standing too close, but Caroline couldn’t bring herself to move. Not when his thumb was tracing small, comforting circles on the back of her hand. Not when she could feel the warmth of his body even through the layers of fabric between them.
“Perhaps we should join them,” she said reluctantly, nodding toward the forming sets. Her voice came out softer than intended, almost breathless.
“Perhaps we should.” Henry’s smile was strained but genuine and as he offered his arm with exaggerated formality, Caroline felt her heart do something complicated in her chest. This was Henry—her Henry—yet somehow he was suddenly a stranger, full of new mysteries and dangerous attractions she was only beginning to understand.
She placed her hand on his arm, acutely aware of the way his breath seemed to catch when she looked up at him through her lashes.
Whatever was happening between them was as thrilling as it was terrifying.
Chapter Three
The following afternoonwas drawing to a close and Caroline was preparing to dress for dinner when her maid appeared with a note, her usually composed face betraying obvious agitation.
“Please, miss. It’s from Miss Venetia. Her abigail gave it to me and says she is very distressed and that I must wait for an answer.”
Caroline took the note with raised eyebrows, her stomach clenching with foreboding. Venetia was not hysterical by nature—quite the opposite. She had matured greatly during the last couple of years, far more so than Caroline, she had to admit. But then, Caroline was given free rein to pretty much do as she chose, while Venetia…
Having reassured her brother, Sir Frederick, of her good sense by not eloping with Mr. Greene several years before—though that had been a near thing indeed—Frederick was now so caught up in marriage and fatherhood that as long as Caroline didn’t cause a major scandal, he didn’t interfere in her day-to-day dealings. It was a freedom she perhaps took for granted.
Of course, she did still live with her Mama who had, fortunately, made a miraculous recovery having been so ill during Caroline’s debut, which had been brought forward for fear that Lady Weston was indeed on her deathbed. But unfortunately, it now seemed her mama wanted to exert an even more rigid parental eye over her unmarried daughter to makeup for her absence when, perhaps, Caroline’s waywardness had frightened off any potential suitors.
Other than the duplicitous and now thoroughly disgraced Mr. Greene.
Venetia, by contrast, lived under the iron rule of her very exacting aunt, where every nuance of behavior was reported back to Mrs. Pike with the efficiency of a military intelligence network. The poor girl could scarcely sneeze without permission.
So Caroline now wondered whether Venetia’s letter was merely the latest cry of distress due to her aunt’s impossible strictures, or something more serious.
Quickly scanning the note, she felt the blood drain from her face. This was no mere complaint about social restrictions. Her hands trembling slightly, she hastily put aside the gown she was about to don before appearing for dinner in an hour and instead opted for a fashionable walking gown and a pair of sturdy half boots.
“Millie, you can tell whoever is waiting that I shall meet Venetia in the park in five minutes, but that I can’t stay long if I’m to be home in time for dinner. I will meet you at the front gate as I’ll need you to accompany me, obviously.”
So, knowing that her message was going to be relayed in half that time, Caroline was able to make a more measured progress through the house in order not to attract attention and to arrive calm and unflustered at the gate of the park which Venetia had obviously had just unlocked.
Calm and unflustered was decidedly not how her friend appeared. Spying Caroline from beneath a plane tree, Venetia virtually flew toward her and threw her arms about her neck with such force that Caroline staggered backward.
“Aunt Pike has invited Lord Windermere to dinner!” she cried, her voice high with barely controlled panic.
“I’m sure that won’t be so terrible,” Caroline soothed, though her earlier confidence was rapidly evaporating in the face of Venetia’s obvious terror. “Remember what I said. He can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“But that’s the thing!” Venetia’s grip on Caroline’s arms was almost painful. “My maid told me she saw Aunt Pike packing some of my things in a traveling bag. When she asked her what she was doing, Aunt Pike looked a little red and reassured her it was for our visit to Bath next week. But Caroline—” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I don’t believe we are going away next week.”
Venetia put her hands to her face, and Caroline was alarmed to see actual tears leaking through her fingers. “I think she means for Lord Windermere to take me away tonight. She knows how resistant I am to his overtures and so she means for him to take me forcibly.”
At first Caroline was shocked by the audacity of such a suggestion, then she smiled as she put what she hoped was a reassuring hand on her friend’s shoulder. “That is all rather dramatic. I’m sure there is quite a reasonable and rational explanation. Of course, your aunt was not packing a bag to give to Lord Windermere in preparation for his kidnapping you and forcing you to wed him. That is the stuff of sensation novels and this is ordinary life.”
But even as she spoke the words, Caroline felt doubt creeping into her mind. Mrs. Pike’s desperation to be rid of her ward was no secret, and Lord Windermere… well, he made her skin crawl.
Venetia shook her head violently. “You don’t know my aunt as I do. You don’t know—sometimes I think she is quite mad with resentment, and I truly believe Lord Windermere has persuaded her that he would be doing us both a favor by taking me off her hands.” She shuddered so violently that Carolineinstinctively drew her closer. “Maybe he’s involved in something terrible—perhaps he means to sell me, or worse.”
Coming from her normally sensible friend, Caroline almost laughed before she quickly sobered. The fear in Venetia’s voice was all too real. “Oh my, I truly thought you were being overly dramatic. But you aren’t, are you?”
“I am not, because I know in my very bones that something terrible is about to happen to me, and I have no one in the world to help me except for you.” Venetia grasped Caroline’s hands with desperate strength. “You would help me, wouldn’t you, Caroline?” she pleaded. “You would rescue me if it turned out I was not wrong?”
“Well, of course I would!” Caroline declared without hesitation, though her mind was already racing ahead to the practical impossibilities. “But my dear Venetia, I must return for dinner, otherwise Mama will send out a search party.” With a final reassuring squeeze she added, “You only have to send me a note, and I will be there!”
But that did not seem to satisfy her friend. “Caroline, he will be here tonight. What if I am right and he tries to force me tonight? What if by tomorrow it’s too late?”
Caroline thought for a moment, studying her friend’s pale, frightened face. The idea that there was even a grain of truth in Venetia’s fears seemed quite ludicrous, yet… “I will have someone on standby to respond at the earliest,” she said finally. “Now I really must go.”
