Page 12 of The Duke’s Replacement Bride (The Wild Brides #6)
“ W e’re going home,” Levi told Caroline firmly.
“What?” Caroline blanched. “Levi—no—we can’t go home. I can’t just go home without finding her, or at the very least finding out something about her. Don’t you understand that this is my sister I’m talking about?”
“I understand very well,” Levi said firmly. “I also understand that Prudence has been missing for weeks.”
Caroline was horrified. “You can’t possibly be suggesting that I give up on her. I won’t!”
“Caroline, I’ve been very tolerant with you, but you will heed me when I give you instructions.” Levi’s face grew hard. “We are going home. If you continue to argue with me, I’ll see to it that you don’t leave your room until you’re ready to be more cooperative.”
“You would confine me to my room?”
“Rather than risk catching you wandering through gentlemen’s clubs unattended? Of course I would. I am your husband. It’s my duty to keep you safe and under control, and I won’t allow you to engage in any more of that type of behavior.”
“But my sister?—!”
“Listen to me, please. Your sister has been away from home for weeks. I am not suggesting that you give up the attempt to locate her. I have every intention of aiding you in that quest.”
“You do?”
“Of course I do,” he said. “I can’t understand why you didn’t come to me right away when you understood that she was missing. You must have known that I would have resources that could be brought to bear in the search—or were you determined to play the hero and find her yourself? Is that it?”
“Of course that isn’t it!”
“Then tell me why you didn’t ask me for help.”
“It wouldn’t have been help,” Caroline said.
“You don’t believe I would have helped you find your sister? Do you think so little of me?”
“That isn’t what I’m saying,” Caroline said.
“I’m saying… you would have been the one to play the hero.
You would have left me out of it altogether, forced me to stay home while you handled everything.
I still think you might do that. Why else are you so determined that I should burn these garments? ”
“Because I don’t want you dressing as a servant boy, I can’t be trusted?”
“Well, answer me this, then, is it your intention to allow me to help in the search for Prudence? Now that you know about it, are you going to include me in whatever you do next? Or have you decided that this is a problem for you to solve, and that I ought to be left out of things?”
She held her breath, waiting for his answer.
The truth was that she wanted to be wrong.
She wanted him to tell her that, of course, she ought to be involved, that he wouldn’t dream of making her sit at home waiting for news when Prudence could be anywhere, in any sort of harm.
She wanted to think that after their time together, he understood her well enough to know she would need this.
“We’ll talk about it at home,” he said quietly. “My carriage is just there. I’ll send someone back into town to retrieve the horse that you… borrowed .”
His tone of voice was clear—there was no room for argument, and she knew better than to make the attempt.
She also knew that while he hadn’t put it into words, he had answered her question.
He didn’t mean to let her help with the search for Prudence.
He didn’t consider it appropriate, no doubt, for her to be involved in such a thing.
Perhaps that was her own fault. Perhaps she had alarmed him so badly with her behavior today that he felt the need to seize control of the situation.
And really, does it matter if I’m involved? As long as Prudence is located, that’s what is most important. He’s right. He has more resources than I do. I’m glad he is involved in this. I’m glad he’s going to help me find her.
Even as she had that thought, though, another one nudged rebelliously at the back of her mind.
He won’t make me stay home. He won’t lock me out of the search. Prudence is my sister, and no force on Earth will ever prevent me from trying to find her.
When they arrived home, Caroline went directly to her room without speaking further to Levi.
It wasn’t that she was angry with him exactly, but she feared what he might say if she gave him the chance.
He might demand that she dispose of the clothes she was wearing at once, in front of him, so that he could confirm it had been done.
She had to at least make the attempt to keep them.
Who knew when she might be able to put them to effective use?
She squirreled the garments away at the bottom of her trunk and changed into a simple but feminine gown with lace at the sleeves and the collar, hoping that her appearance might wipe the other image from Levi’s mind.
Even if he persisted in scolding her for her behavior today, maybe he would forget that there were clothes he wanted her to be rid of. She would hope for that.
She lingered in her room for the better part of an hour and then forced herself to go down to the midday meal, lest he develop an idea that she was hiding from him. At first, she thought he wasn’t going to make an appearance—maybe he was avoiding her— but then he arrived and took a seat.
“I thought I might not see you again today,” he said, helping himself to stew.
“I have no time to sequester myself in my room,” she bit out. “My sister is missing. Were it not for your interference, I would still be in town trying to find her.”
“My interference.” He shook his head. “You would be the victim of some rake’s scheming had I not taken a hand in things, Caroline.”
“I had things under control.”
“I won’t discuss this further. Tell me about your sister instead. Have you any idea where she might have gone, if she isn’t with your aunt?”
Caroline was irked with him for changing the subject—it was dismissive and controlling of him to have done so.
Under other circumstances, she would have pointed that out and insisted upon a return to the topic at hand.
But he was right—they did need to focus their conversation on Prudence.
Finding her was more important than any debate between the two of them.
“I don’t know,” she confessed. “I wish I did, but I haven’t been able to think of anything. I don’t know where she might be. That she isn’t with Aunt Beatrice is…alarming. I was confident that she would be there.”
“And tell me, what made you think that your scouring of gentlemen’s clubs would be a helpful way to locate your missing sister? Do you really believe that you were likely to find her there?”
“If not her, then someone who had seen her recently,” Caroline said. “I still think that was probably the best chance. But you made me leave before I could get any information.”
“She really frequented places like that?”
“This is the kind of thing I would think you would take the time to find out about a person before proposing marriage to her,” Caroline said tartly. “You really knew nothing about my sister at all, did you?”
“Don’t throw stones. I daresay most people didn’t know that about her. Your parents?” He raised his eyebrows.
Caroline couldn’t deny it, of course. She had been the only one Prudence had ever told.
“All the more reason why I should be the one to go in search of her,” she said firmly.
“She trusts me more than she does anyone else, and she always has. She certainly won’t reveal herself if she catches wind that you are poking around.
You’re the reason she ran in the first place.
If she thinks you’re looking for her, she’ll go even further into hiding.
It has to be me. I might be the only person she’ll willingly reveal herself to. ”
Levi hesitated for a long moment, and Caroline fretted.
Even now, he might say no. He might tell her that she was being unwise, or even that she was being overly demanding.
He was perfectly capable of finding Prudence whether she wished to be found or not, he’d say.
He would simply have too much pride to admit that she was needed.
“All right,” he said.
Caroline frowned. “All right? All right what?”
“You’re asking for my permission to help in the search.”
“I’m not asking— ” She cut herself off. She would do herself no favors by antagonizing him. “Yes, that’s what I’m asking.”
“What you’re saying is true. You are likely the only one your sister wouldn’t run from, and that must be taken into account. I don’t know what this will look like. I don’t know what I’m comfortable allowing. But I will ensure that you have a role to play in the search, I can offer that much.”
It was, she knew, more than she had had any right to expect.
Even as Caroline felt with all her heart that the search for Prudence was both her responsibility and her right to carry out, she also knew that Levi had every right to restrain her from involvement in it.
He would not have been overstepping had he forced her to stay out of the search, no matter how unpleasant she would have found such a restriction.
“Thank you,” she said. “That does mean something to me, Levi, truly. I am grateful for your respect.”
“You must promise me that you won’t sneak out of the house again, as you did today.”
She hesitated.
“Caroline,” he said warningly. “I mean this.”
She nodded. “I understand,” she told him. “And I promise. It won’t happen again. Not the way it did today.”
“Not any way. If you want to go looking for her, if you get an idea of where she might be, you’re to tell me about it.
It’s as simple as that. I’ll help you look for her.
But if you make me feel as though I have to worry every moment about your well-being, if I become concerned that every time I don’t have my eyes on you it might mean you’re sneaking into some establishment of ill repute…
well, then I will have to confine you to your room.
I hope it isn’t your intention to make me do that, because I would prefer not to, but I won’t gamble with your safety, Caroline. ”
Caroline let out a slow breath, pondering. She couldn’t deny that he had already gone a long way toward cooperating with her. He had made compromises, and he’d been under no obligation to do so. The least she could do was to meet him halfway.
“All right,” she agreed. “I won’t sneak out again.”
She wouldn’t rid herself of the clothes that allowed her to pass as a man when needed. She would leave herself that option, just in case. But Levi had asked her to give him her word, and she would do that much. And to the best of her ability, she would even try to keep it.