Page 76 of Embracing the Earl (The St. Clairs 3)

“No. After a full day at Evie’s, all I’ll want to do is come home and soak in a hot bath.”

The thought of a naked, wet Caroline had Luke salivating. He better change the topic quickly.

“Do you plan to spend all of your days at Evie’s?”

“I’m not sure,” she said evasively.

Once again, Luke wondered what she hid from him. He would get to the bottom of it after they were inside Templeton’s townhouse. They’d have no interruptions to plague them.

He sensed the cab slowing. Once it came to a full stop, he hopped out and paid the driver and then handed Caroline down.

She opened her reticule as they walked to the door and withdrew a key. “I’ll need to have this delivered to Mr. Higgins by Monday.”

Luke took it from her and unlocked the door.

They entered the foyer and he asked, “Are there any particular rooms you wish to visit?”

“No. I just wanted to see the place a final time. I doubt I’ll be invited to grand homes anymore.”

Luke kept silent, waiting for her to see her childhood home a last time before he challenged her opinion regarding how thetonviewed her. He knew she had formed it based upon the little gossip she’d overheard in the retiring room. He wanted her to know she had good friends, even powerful ones, who would see that society treated her well.

They visited the library first, which she said had been her favorite room growing up.

“Books were friends to me. I soaked up learning. At first, it was to show my father how much I could learn. The facts I spouted never impressed him, though. By the time I realized that, I was learning because I wanted to, squirreling away knowledge.”

“I’ve told you my father was much the same. His children were nothing but a nuisance to him. He left us in the care of nursemaids, followed by tutors and governesses. Jeremy and I were shipped off to school and largely forgotten by him. Poor Rachel had to stay home. She avoided encounters with him.”

“What about your mother?” Caroline asked.

“All three of us never knew our mothers. Each died in childbirth. Father would marry again once he tired of his current mistress or needed a new dowry to fill the family coffers.”

She bit her lower lip, causing a surge of desire to ripple through him. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s all right. Besides the hired help, we had someone better than a parent. Cor. She made up for any lack of attention by our father. Cor taught us right from wrong and what should be valued. She saw we were well loved and grew up to be strong, independent individuals.”

“I’ve only spoken to her a few times but she’s a remarkable woman.”

“I think so, too.”

They stopped at the drawing room and then her mother’s small parlor. A cushion still rested on a settee that Caroline said she’d embroidered when she was ten.

“Will you take it?” he asked.

“No. it’s from a past that I don’t wish to recall. The only good from that time in my life was being with my sister. Cynthia was a dear companion. When Father was largely absent and Mama ineffectual, Cynthia is who lives on in my memory.”

They went upstairs after that. She didn’t bother returning to either of her parents’ bedchambers and only briefly looked into her sister’s. Instead, they crossed the hall and she entered her former room. Walking to the window, she pulled the curtain aside and gazed out on the square below.

“Cynthia and I used to sit in this window seat and look across the way. We didn’t know who owned the townhouse opposite us. No one ever lived there so we made up stories about who the owner was and why he and his family were never in residence.”

Luke knew the true tale of how Evan’s father, the Duke of Winstead, had washed his hands of his only son when Evan was but thirteen. Evan had chosen to remain in the country at Edgemere when not in school, learning from his steward all he could about the estate and getting to know his tenants. The townhouse had remained empty. To this day, Evan didn’t speak to his father, especially after the duke had tried to prevent Rachel from marrying Evan. He’d once told Luke he wished he could remain Marquess of Merrick forever instead of one day inheriting his father’s title because he didn’t want to be known as Winstead.

Caroline dropped the curtain back into place and crossed the room to the bed. She sat on it and looked at him.

“I would like to lie in my bed one last time. With you.”

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