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His Grace lifted Caroline up and planted her on her feet as if she were a piece of furniture. Then he stepped back, making sure to step around her and block Isabella from escaping, trapping the two women between himself and his grandmother.

“Do not be ridiculous,” he sighed. “I was simply helping Miss Dowding.”

“It looked as if you were.”

His expression was flat… even if there was a tinge of red on his cheeks. “She ran into me if you must know. They both did.” He widened his eyes at Isabella. “So, I ask again, what is going on here? Where are the two of you coming from?”

“Nowhere!” Isabella said immediately. “Right, Caroline?”

“Caroline?” His Grace raised an eyebrow at Caroline which had her cheeks flushing even more red. “I did not know the two of you were so close.”

“I… we… I asked that she call me as such,” Caroline managed, unable to meet the Duke’s eyes because her mind was still onhis arms around her, and whenever she looked at him, she could hardly concentrate.

“Oh, leave the poor girl alone,” Esther said. “Both of them.”

“I simply wish to know where my daughter was,” he argued. “I was told she was outdoors, climbing trees…” He looked warningly at Isabella. “… but my daughter knows better than that.”

“I do!” Isabella said a little too loudly. “Which is why I would not do such a thing.”

“Is that right?”

“It is.” She firmed her gaze on her father, refusing to break it.

“Then tell me…” He looked right at his daughter, anger building. “… why is your dress dirty?”

“I—” Isabella caught her tongue because, indeed, the knees of her dress were scuffed with dirt from sitting on the carriage’s roof.

“I told you not to lie to me, Isabella.”

“I didn’t!”

“Another lie.”

“I… I was not climbing trees, father! I promise.”

He groaned and rubbed his eyes. “Go to your room. We will speak of this later.”

“But—”

“Your room!” he bellowed so loud that the hall seemed to shake.

It was heart wrenching to watch. Isabella winced and looked away from her father, her chin wobbling furiously as she tried to keep herself from crying. And while Caroline had only known the girl for a few short minutes, she felt responsible for some reason, as if she owed it to her to protect her from her father.

Not her job, she knew, but she wished growing up that she might have had someone to do the same, and in that, the feelings that were swirling about her concerning the Duke faded as new ones came about. That same heated feeling that she had experienced the last time the two had spoken.

“Oh, leave her alone, will you,” Caroline snapped before she could help herself.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me perfectly well,” Caroline said, forcing herself to meet His Grace’s eyes. She glared at him, and he glared right back. “The poor girl is beside herself, and all you can think to do is yell at her.”

The side of his mouth twitched. “I will ask that you keep your nose out of business that does not concern you.”

“It does concern me,” she said. “Seeing as I will be living here for the foreseeable future, I think it concerns me greatly.”

“Yes, well, we shall see about that.”

“Excuse me, Frederick,” Esther interrupted. “Are you suggesting that you might throw my companion out onto the street?”