Page 14 of The Duke’s Replacement Bride (The Wild Brides #6)

“ T he seamstress is here,” Bethany said.

Caroline looked back from the window. She had been staring out over the grounds and brooding for the past hour, and she had the strange sensation that she was returning to reality after some time away from it. The room seemed a little too bright. “What did you say?”

“The seamstress,” Bethany repeated. “She’s here to take your measurements for the gowns you’re to have for this season’s balls. You engaged her services a week ago.”

“That’s right.” Caroline had nearly forgotten, in the wake of all the information about Prudence, that things like balls were even happening.

She had entirely forgotten this appointment with the seamstress.

It felt inappropriate to keep it, knowing that her sister might be anywhere, that she might be in danger.

But what Levi had said was true. Wherever Prudence was, she had been there for weeks now, which meant this wasn’t urgent.

They needed to find her, but they didn’t need to stop everything.

It was probably important that they didn’t stop everything, in fact.

Appearing at this ball was a way to signal to the ton that all was well, which would help to protect Prudence’s reputation for the day she was found.

She couldn’t erase the gnawing of guilt in the pit of her stomach about that fact, nor did she want to.

She wanted to feel these consequences for the fact that she hadn’t insisted on making contact with Prudence, that she had accepted the easy explanation for her continued absence without proof.

She’d never forgive herself for that, and she prayed that she would discover Prudence was all right—she didn’t know how she would go on if that wasn’t the case.

But for now, there was nothing to be gained by avoiding her appointment with the seamstress. She rose from the window seat and nodded to Bethany to show the woman into the room.

“Your Grace.” The woman who entered the room was plump and matronly, but she wore a warm smile that immediately put Caroline at ease and made her feel comforted, as if none of her worries could possibly be as bad as they seemed.

“It’s an honor to meet you—such a pleasure to be outfitting you for the season’s events.

I have samples of fabrics we could use to make your gowns—we can see which ones favor your coloring, and then you can choose your favorites.

I’ll take your measurements, and then I’ll send over some things in the latest styles that fit. ”

“Thank you,” Caroline said. The woman’s positive energy really was a welcome distraction from her troubles. “I’m afraid I don’t know your name.”

“You may call me Madam Bennett,” the woman said with a smile. “It’s such a privilege to come and make clothing for a duchess.”

“No, the pleasure is mine, really,” Caroline said.

“I’m grateful to you for taking the time.

” As wonderful as it was to have something to take her mind off her worries, she thought that going into town and doing this in a shop might have been too much for her.

“It was very thoughtful of you to come all the way out here to Mowbray Manor to meet with me.”

“Oh, the rewards will be entirely mine once the rest of London sees you wear these things,” Madam Bennett assured her. “You must promise me that you will tell anyone who asks who made your gowns.”

“Of course I will,” Caroline said warmly. “And I’ll tell them, too, what a pleasure it was doing business with you, and how you went out of your way to provide for me.”

“Well, really, I had to,” Madam Bennett said, pulling out her tape measure.

“It’s quite lucky enough that you’re going to be attending balls this season at all.

I don’t think anyone had any serious expectation that you would be seen out of the house.

And shopping …well, that was far too much to expect. ”

“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I go to the shops?” Caroline asked. “I mean to say—I didn’t wish to go there, and I am very grateful to you for coming here, but how could you have known that was how I would feel about it?”

“Well, given the state of things between yourself and the duke, I simply didn’t imagine that you’d want to go into town, or that you would even be given the opportunity to do so,” Madam Bennett said.

“Hold your arms out—yes, like that.” She ran the measure from Caroline’s wrist to her shoulder and made a mark in her book.

“I would have thought he’d keep you locked up in the house, truth be told. ”

Caroline couldn’t have been more shocked if Madam Bennett had asked her outright whether she needed any more men’s clothing for her trips into town. “I…I don’t think I know what you mean,” she managed. “Why would my husband lock me in the house?”

“Oh, forgive me. I don’t mean to overstep,” Madam Bennett said, though she didn’t look remotely abashed. “It was just that I’d heard the two of you were not getting along well as of late.”

“You had?” Where was this gossip coming from?

“Well, you know how the people of London like to talk,” Madam Bennett said. “I won’t speak ill of His Grace, of course, but there are those who say that he is a rake. They say your sister was engaged to marry him, and when she fled, he took you as his wife in her place.”

“That much is no secret,” Caroline said.

“Indeed. But they say that you have never relished your marriage, and that you resent him for his rakish ways. They say he disappears from the house for hours and days at a time. I heard a rumor that you were plotting to run away as well, to follow your sister.”

“It doesn’t behoove you to spread rumors,” Caroline said severely, no longer certain she liked Madam Bennett so well as she had thought. “You are here to take my measurements, not to gossip.”

“Yes, of course. Forgive me, Your Grace. It was just that I was surprised to see you looking…”

“Looking what?”

“Looking happy . I expected, even when I received this commission, that I would be coming here to serve a duchess who was unhappy with her lot. I see now that that is not the case. You look as if you are excited about the season’s events.”

“I must ask you not to spread any further rumors about my family,” Caroline said seriously. “These things are personal to us, and none of us wants to see them spread around.”

Madam Bennett raised her eyebrows, but she said nothing.

“You look as if you wished to speak.”

“But you asked me not to do so, Your Grace.”

“Say what you will, as long as you’re only saying it to me.”

“It’s just that I wonder whether you are completely sure of your family’s opinions on these tales and whether they are spread around,” Madam Bennett said. “Your desire for privacy in these matters may be something best discussed with them.”

She continued the measurements, saying no more, and Caroline didn’t ask. Her thoughts were in a spiral.

Madam Bennett had said nothing outright, but she had certainly implied that Caroline’s family wasn’t taking an interest in protecting family secrets. And there was only one way she could have come by such information.

Whatever she thinks she knows about me and Levi…someone in my family must have told her.

Between one thing and another, Caroline couldn’t help feeling deeply disappointed in her parents.

They had never been people she could rely on, but this was more than she’d ever expected from them.

They were, if nothing else, deeply image-conscious—could they really have risked the family reputation by spreading gossip about Levi?

If they did, they must not have realized the danger in what they were doing. Just like I don’t think they can possibly have realized the danger in allowing Prudence to go so long without being searched for. They don’t see what they’re doing when they do these things.

Arabella had always been the one to take care of the family. If she had still been around, she would never have allowed this to happen.

But Arabella had a family of her own to tend to now. Caroline was going to have to fend for herself.

It occurred to her later that she wasn’t as alone as she might have believed herself to be. There was someone else who could help, even though she was loath to ask him.

But he was already helping her with Prudence.

He had shown no hesitation in doing so. And he had been clear with her: she should have brought the problem before him right away instead of delaying.

So, as she took her seat opposite him at the dinner table, she decided that she would tell the truth in spite of herself.

“I think my mother might have told some tales about us,” she said.

Levi set his wine glass down and looked up. “What do you mean?”

“The seamstress told me some things,” Caroline explained.

“She said she had heard that I might be confined to my room. When I first heard that, I assumed she was talking about what happened in town—I assumed someone had told her that I had been going around in the clothing of a young man. But that wasn’t it. ”

Levi’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure that wasn’t it? It occurs to me that we were not as circumspect as we should have been in the club the other day. I removed your hat in front of everyone. I should not have done that. Anyone might have seen what happened and repeated it.”

“Well, that’s not what Madam Bennett was referring to,” Caroline said. “She said she’d heard a rumor that I was thinking of running away from you because you were such a rake.”

“What?” Levi frowned. “But you’re not, are you?”

“Certainly not. I don’t want to put everyone through the same anguish Prudence has.”

Levi smiled slightly. “And is that the only reason you aren’t running? There’s nothing else that makes you wish to stay with me?”

“Don’t be difficult right now. It isn’t the time,” she told him sharply. “The point is that someone is saying things about us, and I suspect my family.” She told him what Madam Bennett had said about consulting with her family.

Levi sat back and frowned. “That’s concerning, if it’s the truth.”

“And I’m afraid it might be,” she said. “They’ve already shown very clearly that their judgment is poor—look how badly they handled the situation with Prudence. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn they had done this too.”

“Why? How does it benefit them to say such things?”

“It doesn’t, of course. I’m not saying it would have been calculated. It would have been careless. My parents worry about reputation, but they aren’t clever in the way they worry about it. It would be very like them to start chattering and say more than they meant to.”

“Then something will have to be done,” Levi said firmly.

“You don’t mean to punish them, do you?” Had she made a mistake by telling him this? She didn’t want to think of him taking it out on her family. Even if they were disappointing her with their judgment, even if they had put Prudence in danger, there was nothing to be gained.

“We’ll have them over for dinner,” Levi said with a smile.

“What?” Caroline was nonplussed.

“Well, if they’re going to be talking about us to everyone they meet, they ought to have their facts right,” Levi said.

“We should allow them to see for themselves how well we are truly getting along, and then when they get the urge to talk, they will report the situation correctly.” He beamed at her. “How does that sound?”

“I—well, that sounds ideal, to tell you the truth,” she said. “I must say, you’ve hit upon a very good solution.”

“I’m a surprisingly good problem solver,” he laughed. “And I have to thank you for bringing this one straight to me instead of trying to solve it yourself, Caroline. I think you’ll see that the results will be very good indeed.”