Page 26 of The Duke’s Replacement Bride (The Wild Brides #6)

C aroline did her best to hold on to what her husband had told her. That he preferred her best, out of all of her sisters. That he was glad she was the one he was married to. That he didn’t wish he could have had Prudence.

She wanted it to be the truth. She wanted to believe it.

But it was so difficult, with Prudence around the house all the time, to forget what it had been like when the two of them had lived under one roof. She had never resented Prudence for it, of course, nor did she resent her sister now. But insecurity was something else.

It took root deeply one day when she walked into the library and saw the two of them sharing a laugh over a book.

There was no reason they shouldn’t, of course, but something about it struck her in an unpleasant way.

Prudence was not a reader. What was she doing, bent over a book, sharing what looked like a private laugh?

The next moment, though, she understood she had misread things entirely. “I don’t know how you can read all this,” Prudence said, pushing the book back at Levi. “It looks terribly dull to me.”

“It’s not at all. It’s fascinating. You really ought to give it a try.”

Prudence laughed. “No thank you.”

“You don’t like to read history?”

“I do not.”

“What do you like to read, then?”

“You want Caroline for that,” Prudence said, glancing at Caroline over Levi’s shoulder. Levi turned and nodded a greeting to her as well. “She’s the one who’s likely as not to read all of these books. Me, I’ll never get through a third of them.”

“It’s a good thing to be able to read,” Levi said.

“I didn’t say I couldn’t read, I said that I didn’t .”

“Well, you ought to cultivate the practice. If you don’t, how will you ever learn anything about the world?”

“That must be a joke. Do you think the only way to learn about the world is from books?” Prudence laughed.

“I learn by living . I learn by getting out and doing things. Everything I know comes from experience, and I couldn’t possibly be any happier about that.

Books are fine as a hobby, but if you want to understand the world, you need to live in it. ”

“And you’re the expert on that?”

“Among other things.” Prudence crossed her arms. “I would say that my experiences have taught me well. I did manage to hide from you two and evade capture for a prolonged amount of time.”

She was right about that. “I wouldn’t brag too much about it, though,” Caroline said. “A lot of that was luck, Prudence. Anything might have happened to you.”

“But nothing did And now I’m in a much better situation than I had before,” she said. “You couldn’t find something like that in a book. I had to solve that problem on my own, and I was capable of it because of the wisdom that comes from living life.”

Caroline remained in the corner. Though she knew it would be all right to approach and join the conversation, she found herself hesitant to do so.

It was just that it was so easy for Prudence to talk to people.

She had always been this way. She had always been the most social of the three sisters.

Arabella was good at taking charge of a situation, and she managed herself well in social settings because of it.

But Prudence was the gregarious one. She was the one who could always make people laugh.

She was the one that everyone wanted to be around.

And then there was Caroline. Caroline was the wallflower of the three.

She always had been. What was strange was that Levi didn’t seem to see her that way.

He had made it clear to her now that he saw something else in her.

That when he looked at her, he didn’t see someone he was willing to simply allow his gaze to pass over.

He appreciated her in a way no one else really had before.

He had told her that he was glad to have married her. That he was glad Prudence had left, because that choice had enabled him to turn his attention to Caroline. He had told Caroline that she was the only one of the sisters that he would have wanted to be with.

When he had said it, she had believed it was the truth. She still wanted to believe it was the truth.

But how could she?

No, she wanted Prudence to enjoy herself. She was glad Prudence seemed to be enjoying her time in the library. It wasn’t jealousy, this thing she was feeling...was it?

Caroline explored the depths of her feelings.

It came to her that perhaps she was jealous.

She was jealous of the easy way Prudence was able to banter with Levi.

She was jealous of how naturally they could talk to each other, and how Prudence didn’t need to think about what she was saying.

It was effortless. She was charming and funny and easy to be around.

She felt a mix of pride in Prudence and insecurity that she couldn’t be the same way.

The trouble was that Levi seemed really to be enjoying himself with Prudence.

Caroline liked that the two of them were getting along, but she had always wondered, deep down, if Levi considered what it would be like to be married to Prudence instead of to her.

Maybe today was answering that question for him.

Maybe he saw what fun a life with Prudence would have been.

She turned to leave the room, not certain she belonged here, even though this was her own husband and her own house. It was painful to wonder whether she was the outsider in her own home.

Prudence gave a charming smile. “I ought to go,” she said. “I should leave the two of you alone. And besides, Bridget and I are planning a picnic.”

“Did you want company on your picnic?” Levi asked. “I’m sure Caroline and I would be more than happy to join you if so.”

“No, I’m afraid this picnic is just for the two of us,” Prudence said with a bewitching smile. “You two stay here and enjoy all the books.”

She turned on the ball of her foot and practically danced out of the room.

“She’s something,” Levi said, watching her go.

Caroline wondered what he thought she was. “She’s always been a charmer,” she said. “Even when our family was poor, it seemed likely that Prudence would be the one of us to marry because she’s so outgoing and wins the heart of everyone she meets.”

“Yes, I can see how you would think so,” Levi murmured. “She is engaging. I’m grateful now that I’m having the chance to get to know her a little bit better. I’m glad the fact that we didn’t marry hasn’t meant that we don’t get to be in one another’s lives at all.”

Caroline nodded, her heart sinking.

It wasn’t Prudence’s fault. Prudence wasn’t to blame for the fact that Caroline and Levi seemed to have such a difficult time getting comfortable with one another. Even now, when things had finally started to get good, every interaction felt loaded.

In Caroline’s fantasies, a marriage was a safe and easy place.

She had a husband who would kiss her without thinking about it, who would take her in his arms and brush the hair back from her face, who would tell her she was beautiful.

And she felt free to do the same to him.

She put her hands on her husband’s shoulders when she found him reading in the library, or tousled his hair. She asked him how his day had been.

As much as she was growing to enjoy Levi, she had never felt that kind of freedom with him. Her sister seemed to have come by that feeling naturally, without even having to try.

It hurt her to realize that Levi had noticed the same thing.

That he was so aware of the charms Prudence possessed.

She couldn’t help wondering if Levi was comparing the two of them in his mind.

She believed what he told her; he was glad she was the one he’d married.

That moment had been so genuine, and she truly didn’t believe he’d lied about it.

But she did wonder whether Levi wished she had more of her sister’s attributes.

Surely he did. Anybody would wish that. Her parents had always wanted her to be more like one of her sisters — either responsible like Arabella or gregarious like Prudence.

She was the type they had never wanted. Nobody wanted a quiet, unassuming middle sister who brought nothing to any social interaction and needed to be cared for.

Levi would say that wasn’t true. Didn’t he always compliment her on her strength and her wit?

But that was before he had seen her side-by-side with Prudence. Maybe now his perspective has changed.

She cleared her throat. “What book was it that the two of you are looking at?”

“Oh, she came in here asking me to show her some of my favorites,” Levi said. “The truth is, I think she was just trying to get on my good side.”

“Did that work?”

“It did. Things could easily have been awkward between your sister and myself, given our past. But I don’t think they’re going to be. I enjoy her company.”

“I’m glad,” Caroline said. And it was the truth. Things would undoubtedly be worse for everyone involved if there were ongoing tension between Prudence and Levi. That would’ve been a bad thing for all of them.

She left the library and went up to the conservatory, hoping to escape her thoughts.

Once she had reached that room, she closed the door and bolted it behind her.

She wanted to be alone. The idea of having any visitors right now was difficult to stomach.

Even though a part of her longed for Levi to come up after her, to sense that something was wrong and try to put it to rights, she knew she needed some space from him.

She went to the window instead and looked out over the grounds.

There were Prudence and Bridget. They had spread a blanket on the lawn and were unpacking a series of cheeses and breads for their picnic.

Caroline wasn’t unhappy that she hadn’t been asked to join them.

She understood what her sister had been doing.

Prudence would have wanted to get herself and Bridget out of the house in hopes of giving Caroline some time alone with her husband.

Prudence might be self-centered sometimes, but she could be remarkably thoughtful when it came to her sisters.

Caroline had no doubt that she had seen the way their presence in the house was driving a wedge between their hosts.

Perhaps there was something to be gained by studying her sister.

Maybe Caroline could learn something about how Prudence managed to be so confident and how she managed to win the affection of everyone around her.

If Caroline could master those skills, she wouldn’t have to doubt herself so much when it came to her husband.

She could move through her house with more confidence and capture and hold Levi’s attention.

Maybe the reason he held himself back from kissing her, even now that they were growing closer, was that he simply wasn’t interested in her in that way. Maybe he could never see her the way men saw Prudence.

Maybe no man ever could. Maybe Caroline’s family had always been right about her. She was fortunate to be married to a man who wanted to be married to her in return, but even now, wasn’t there something unusual about their marriage? They were fond of one another, but was this love?

She was pulled out of her thoughts by a knock at the door.

“Not now,” she called, wondering if Levi had come after all.

“Begging your pardon, Caroline,” a voice said. Caroline recognized it as belonging to Bethany. “His Grace sent me up with a tea tray for you. Would you like me to leave it in the hall?”

Caroline relented and went to the door to let Bethany come inside. It had been kind of Levi to make the effort. He must’ve noticed that she was feeling a bit unhappy when she had left him.

Bethany came in and placed the tray on the table by the window. “Is everything all right?” She moved to stand beside Caroline. “I noticed that your sister and your cousin are picnicking on the lawn and wondered why you had decided not to join them.”

Caroline gave a sigh. “Bethany, I fear that my light will always be dim in my sister’s presence,” she said. “I would never want Prudence to be any less than she is. I love her, I admire her, and I am so very proud of her. But being around her reminds me of the way I felt growing up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was always the least of my sisters. I was always the one who is admired the least and had the least expected of me. My mother and father never thought that I would marry. I’m sure they still think I only managed to do so because Prudence ran away.

I try to believe that the duke would have chosen me willingly.

But the truth is, he never had a choice, and we all know that. ”

“His Grace adores you, Caroline,” Bethany said. “Anyone can see that.”

“I want to believe that’s true. But just look at my sister out there. She makes people love her without even trying. And I could never do that.”

Bethany poured the tea and pressed a cup of it into Caroline’s hands. “Drink this,” she said firmly. “You’ll feel better.”

Caroline sipped the tea, and to her surprise, she did feel slightly better. Bethany was right. Things between her and her husband were as good as they had ever been. She couldn’t complain about that. And she had to hope that they would only get better as time went on.

As for Prudence, it was a joy and a blessing to be able to spend time with her sister. That was the part that Caroline would try to focus on. And if having her family around reminded her of what it had been like to grow up in that family, that was simply a price Caroline was willing to pay.