Page 3 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman (The Marlow Family Secrets #3)

With nothing to do with her arms, Caro adjusted her sitting position, raising her knees within the skirt of her dress and hugging her legs, as she tried to slow her breathing and her heartbeat.

‘Mama is not ready for me to leave the nest, we are all growing up too fast.’

Drew raised his eyebrows for a moment as he pulled George on to his lap and ruffled his hair. ‘And I snatched Mary from her nest.’

‘She does not hold that against you. You are giving her grandchildren. It is an exchange. I will just be a loss.’

‘Shall I tell her to stop henpecking and let you fledge?’ Drew joked.

‘Papa spoke to her. He knows I cannot live on his estate, there is nothing for me to do there.’

‘Of course you cannot, if you wish to sow wild oats?’ Drew said.

‘That is not my style anyway,’ Robbie answered .

At Robbie’s age, Drew had been wild, playing with danger, fighting everyone and everything.

Drew’s lips parted in a smile. ‘So your brother told me.’

‘Harry?’ Rob asked.

‘Harry,’ Drew confirmed.

They both laughed for a moment, as George climbed over his father, too restless to sit.

Caro did not understand what was funny.

When she first came here, and saw Robbie, he had been a jolly eighteen-year-old youth.

As a man he seemed more serious than most men his age.

His male cousins, of a similar age, showed no interest in the children, they kept to their own group.

Robbie never stood with them. However, Harry, Mary’s second-in-age brother did.

He must be nineteen. Obviously, from Drew’s and Rob’s laughter, Rob found his brother amusing for some reason.

‘Well, you may tell Harry to mind his own business, not mine,’ Rob said with a smile.

‘But younger brothers are born to be a thorn in the side. Mary and I are working on one for George solely for that purpose.’

‘I have never been a thorn in John’s.’

‘You have never had a chance, he wins any fight with one of his domineering glances. He has a way of making a man feel as small as a mouse.’

‘I ignore those looks,’ Rob said.

‘I do not risk those looks. I never give him cause to deploy that look on me,’ Drew joked, and another laugh was shared.

George clambered over his father’s shoulder and tumbled down.

Robbie leaned forward, reaching out a hand to slow George’s fall.

Instinctively, Caro leaned away from Robbie .

Robbie did not move back, he crawled forward and tickled George’s tummy.

George giggled. ‘No, Uncle Bobbie! No!’

When Robbie stopped tickling him, George crawled to Caro, escaping, still giggling. Robbie’s gaze, and Drew’s, followed George.

A blush burned in Caro’s cheeks, as the rhythm of her heartbeat gathered pace. She pulled George onto her lap and hugged him, perhaps a little too tightly, but it helped relieve her nerves.

‘I am sorry I did not see you yesterday, Caroline,’ Robbie said.

He was being polite, nothing else, but her senses recoiled. He must know she had avoided him.

‘Caro,’ Drew prompted, when she did not answer – as though she were a child to be corrected.

Her gaze lifted to Robbie’s eyes. They were blue, but a darker, greyer blue than Mary’s.

Caro had not been this close to him to notice the colour before.

He smiled a smile that made him seem approachable. But even though he behaved with good manners, her nerves still screamed at the idea of being too close to him.

Perhaps her problems stemmed from Albert disliking her talking to or dancing with other men – that had always been an excuse for him to raise his hand and strike her. Or perhaps it was the knowledge of the harm a man could inflict.

Robbie rested a palm on the rug, leaning sideways. His shirtsleeves were rolled up and she could see his forearms were covered in dark hair.

George broke free from her embrace. ‘Papa, I need the pot,’ he declared with extreme urgency. He always waited until the last moment.

‘I will take you.’ Caro moved to rise .

Drew pressed a hand on her shoulder. ‘Stay here, Caro, I shall take him.’ He rose, winking at her with his head turned so Robbie would not see.

Her mean brother was deliberately making her endure Robbie’s company. Drew’s attitude towards her ‘ flighty nature ’ was to stubbornly ignore her fear of situations, he thought it would help her overcome the terror she felt.

‘I will do my best not to discompose you when I stay at Drew’s,’ Robbie said.

Caro’s gaze spun back to Robbie. Every one of her nerve endings howling. ‘I… I…’ Her arms gathered up her knees, hugging her legs, clinging to herself. She felt as if she were in the midst of a swirling sea.

A man’s laugh boomed behind them. Caro unfurled and rose instantly. She could not do this. Uncertain where she was going, she just walked in a direction that was away from everyone.

‘Caroline.’ Her name was spoken quietly. ‘Caroline.’ Robbie had followed.

She glanced back, her gaze apologising. It was not his fault. He had done nothing wrong. ‘Forgive me,’ she said, then she broke into a run, letting her body do what it had longed to do for hours – flee.