to find alternate lodgings. I shall have to pray that my brother will allow me to stay at Carlton Abbey until I can figure a way out of this cock up. We shall have to go to Wales, there’s no two ways about it. Convincing Gertrude of that shall be a battle and a half. The family currently living at the house there shall have to leave. I’ve never been in such a complete and utter cock up in all of my life!”
She gasped at his use of strong language. “Papa,” she chastised.
“I don’t give a bloody fig about my language at this moment, Caroline. I am riled up, can’t you see that?”
“I can see that you are quite peeved, Papa, and from what I can understand, I do believe I should be rankled as well. You, sir, told me a host of Canterbury tales!” She said, moving to confront Edward.
“You do not understand, Caroline. I didn’t want to shatter your innocence about the whole thing,” Edward said, his voice plaintive.
Why should she care about this union not coming to fruition? She barely knew Edward. She’d been a foolish girl with her head in the clouds! Her feelings for him were probably not even genuine. Infatuation. Yes, that was what it was. She was besotted with him because of his charming way with her. She’d never had a man pay so much attention to her before and it had quite undone her. He had turned her head. Indeed, he had mesmerized her!
“You told me that my mother wanted us to marry. You told me that it was more or less her dying wish.”
“I didn’t lead you astray, Caroline. My own mother told me the story when I returned from the Peninsula Wars. She found it entertaining, she laughed about the whole thing. She found it quite amusing that both had died without revealing the plot to you—or me.”
“I thought you had proof. I thought you had a letter, or that your father had told you in person. You are basing this all on what your mother said? Can you trust her at her word? And you, Papa, you never told me that we lived mostly on charity from the duke’s family. You and Mama should have told me—you both kept that from me. What did the Old Duke do to my mother? Surely he didn’t ruin her?” Her breath caught in her throat.
“No. Your mother was pure of heart, body and soul when I married her. Alas, not everyone believed that. She did after all attach herself to a most scandalous man—the scandal he caused when he brought your mother back to England with him raise d quite a raucous but he was a duke so he was forgiven everything. He was a rakehell of all rakehells. Your father, sir, was a libertine of the worst sort.”
“I do not deny that,” Edward said. “But trust me, he rued every single day of his weakness with the ladies. He regretted the fact that he took my mother to his bed and got her with child, while he was betrothed to Lady Margaret. He sorely despised himself for having to inflict a breach of promise on your mother. Thus, breaking her heart, and his own. He let temptation ruin his life, and he told me the last time we saw each other that I could not let sin and temptation rule my life.
He told me I had to marry the woman I loved—that I could not allow any other woman to turn my head and seduce me. He said those acts came with frightful consequences—those consequences being me. He had to marry my mother quickly so I would not be born a by-blow. By all accounts, at least from those I’ve heard from others and from my own dear Mama, my father truly loved your mother, and I believe he loved her until his dying day.”
This was too much. Oh, her poor dear mother! The pain she must have felt by being denied the man she loved. Dryness prickled at the back of her throat. Her head started to spin. Her hands felt clammy, and streaks of silver light crossed the blackness that swept her gaze. She felt so very lightheaded.
“I think I just might faint,” she muttered, looking for some kind of support.
She felt sick. Her world was spinning around her. Now she knew
She gasped at his use of strong language. “Papa,” she chastised.
“I don’t give a bloody fig about my language at this moment, Caroline. I am riled up, can’t you see that?”
“I can see that you are quite peeved, Papa, and from what I can understand, I do believe I should be rankled as well. You, sir, told me a host of Canterbury tales!” She said, moving to confront Edward.
“You do not understand, Caroline. I didn’t want to shatter your innocence about the whole thing,” Edward said, his voice plaintive.
Why should she care about this union not coming to fruition? She barely knew Edward. She’d been a foolish girl with her head in the clouds! Her feelings for him were probably not even genuine. Infatuation. Yes, that was what it was. She was besotted with him because of his charming way with her. She’d never had a man pay so much attention to her before and it had quite undone her. He had turned her head. Indeed, he had mesmerized her!
“You told me that my mother wanted us to marry. You told me that it was more or less her dying wish.”
“I didn’t lead you astray, Caroline. My own mother told me the story when I returned from the Peninsula Wars. She found it entertaining, she laughed about the whole thing. She found it quite amusing that both had died without revealing the plot to you—or me.”
“I thought you had proof. I thought you had a letter, or that your father had told you in person. You are basing this all on what your mother said? Can you trust her at her word? And you, Papa, you never told me that we lived mostly on charity from the duke’s family. You and Mama should have told me—you both kept that from me. What did the Old Duke do to my mother? Surely he didn’t ruin her?” Her breath caught in her throat.
“No. Your mother was pure of heart, body and soul when I married her. Alas, not everyone believed that. She did after all attach herself to a most scandalous man—the scandal he caused when he brought your mother back to England with him raise d quite a raucous but he was a duke so he was forgiven everything. He was a rakehell of all rakehells. Your father, sir, was a libertine of the worst sort.”
“I do not deny that,” Edward said. “But trust me, he rued every single day of his weakness with the ladies. He regretted the fact that he took my mother to his bed and got her with child, while he was betrothed to Lady Margaret. He sorely despised himself for having to inflict a breach of promise on your mother. Thus, breaking her heart, and his own. He let temptation ruin his life, and he told me the last time we saw each other that I could not let sin and temptation rule my life.
He told me I had to marry the woman I loved—that I could not allow any other woman to turn my head and seduce me. He said those acts came with frightful consequences—those consequences being me. He had to marry my mother quickly so I would not be born a by-blow. By all accounts, at least from those I’ve heard from others and from my own dear Mama, my father truly loved your mother, and I believe he loved her until his dying day.”
This was too much. Oh, her poor dear mother! The pain she must have felt by being denied the man she loved. Dryness prickled at the back of her throat. Her head started to spin. Her hands felt clammy, and streaks of silver light crossed the blackness that swept her gaze. She felt so very lightheaded.
“I think I just might faint,” she muttered, looking for some kind of support.
She felt sick. Her world was spinning around her. Now she knew
Similar Books
