Page 50 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman (The Marlow Family Secrets #3)

When Rob approached John’s town house, it was with a strong resolve.

He had come to participate in the picnic, and yet his aim was to speak to Caro and agree to announce their engagement.

It was the only way he could successfully defend her.

They might need to be engaged for years, it might stop them spending time alone, and yet he could not stand to be in the position he had been in last night.

He could not watch her with Kilbride and do nothing.

He had spent the night awake, itching to see her, and to hold her, to know she was safe.

He parked his curricle at the end of the long line of carriages waiting before the house, let a groom take the ribbons, and jumped down.

Inside the house, numerous members of his extended family mingled together, ready to depart, clothed for an autumn picnic. The rain that had fallen last night had left the ground damp, but the sun had come out, and in the sunshine the day was warm.

He spotted Caro in the far corner. She stood alone, looking through a window .

She was dressed in lemon yellow. The colour was bright, yet her expression was not. Her skin was pallid, and dark patches shadowed her eyes. She looked like the phantom he had not seen for a long time.

He made his way across the room, nodding his head and smiling at those he passed.

‘Robbie.’ His mother stopped him. ‘Good morning, I?—’

‘Forgive me, Mama, but I wish to speak to Caro for a moment before we leave.’ He walked on.

Caro seemed to be miles away in her thoughts. She had not turned from the window.

‘Caro.’

She turned.

He caught hold of her hand, bowed over it and kissed the back of her fingers. Then straightened and released her.

Sadness shone in her eyes and she did not smile.

‘You look as though you have not slept,’ he said.

She looked beyond his shoulder.

Rob glanced back, following her gaze. Drew was watching them.

He smiled at Drew, then looked back at Caro as a feeling of premonition sent a shiver through his nerves. Something felt wrong. But she must still be discombobulated after last evening. ‘I brought my curricle so you can ride with me.’

‘It is better I do not. Phillip has offered already and I accepted.’

Phillip… The name was a punch to Rob’s chest. ‘Why?’

‘Because we should not spend so much time together.’

‘The carriages are ready, and we are all here, so I propose we leave!’ Kate called across the room.

Dumbfounded, Rob nodded and turned away .

Instead of Caro, Rob took Jenny and Helen in his curricle, the two of them squeezed in beside him, smiling brightly, in their fashionable straw bonnets and scarlet wool cloaks.

As soon as the girls were settled, he signalled to the groom to let go of his horses.

He flicked the straps to start the animals walking and steered them around the line of carriages to take the lead.

He did not wish to hang about to see Caro with Phillip, and yet, it was Phillip’s curricle that followed behind him.

Why had she not wanted to ride with him? It would have been a perfect opportunity for them to talk. His family knew they were friends, they would not have thought it odd.

‘Are you jealous that Caroline is riding with Phillip? You keep looking back,’ Helen said.

‘You are always looking at her,’ Jenny added.

Rob’s jaw stiffened with an urgent desire to defend himself as he looked at his sisters.

‘We heard you danced with her,’ Jenny stated.

‘She conquered her discomfort in the summer. She dances now, not just with me,’ he answered, looking at the road ahead.

‘She is pretty, though, isn’t she,’ Helen added. ‘Papa said he thinks she has caught your eye.’

‘And who did he say this to?’ Discomfort twisted in Rob’s stomach. Why was his father talking about them? Was that why she refused to ride with him?

‘To Mama, in their rooms, but I overheard.’

‘And you thought it wise to repeat it?’

‘Only to you, and Helen, no one else. Do you like her?’

Yes, a lot. ‘Jenny. You are not to say anything to anyone and you may tell Papa, if you dare to admit you were eavesdropping, that Caroline and I are friends. We became friends in the summer when I stayed with Mary. There is nothing more. ’

‘Except that she is entirely different, and Mary says that is down to you. And Papa says you are acting oddly.’

‘It is still only friendship, and you will embarrass her if you share this.’

‘I heard Cousin Frederick talking and saying you were acting oddly too,’ Helen said.

‘And you would take his word for that?’ He had no interest in the opinion of his arrogant cousin.

Inferior . That horrible word rattled through his brain.

‘I am acting as I act.’ He glanced at Helen and Jenny.

‘No more talk of this, and if you hear anyone else say anything about me, please tell them to stop and mind their own business.’

Less than an hour ago, he had hoped to announce his engagement.

‘ It is better we do not, Rob .’ The words themselves would not be concerning if she had only decided to be cautious, but the tone of her voice and the look of sadness in her eyes had disturbed him. What if someone in his family had said something to her?

‘Harry was supposed to be meeting us at Windsor,’ Helen said.

‘But Papa stopped his allowance this month, and so he said he could not afford to travel. Did you know?’ Jenny asked.

‘Papa is constantly stopping his allowance,’ Rob answered. When Rob had been at college, he frequently bailed his brother out of debts because Harry had no allowance and continued to spend.

‘He broke into his master’s room last week for a dare and hung the master’s underwear from the window.’

‘That is something Harry would do,’ Rob answered.

The subject of conversation continued to be Harry, as Rob led the procession of carriages that stretched like a ribbon through the Berkshire countryside .

It was easy to spot the flat meadow by the Thames where Kate had planned for them to eat their picnic, because there were two dozen servants there, and they had set out marquees and tables.

The great castle stood on the hill above them, as he stopped the phaeton, and looked back to see Caro smiling towards Phillip as he steered his horses onto the meadow grass.

Rob looked away before Caro saw him watching. He did not want it to appear as though it bothered him. But if inferior was a word that cut, jealousy was an emotion that snarled like a rabid beast.

‘Robbie!’ As he helped his sisters climb down, a high voice screamed his name. Jemima. Who came racing towards him. Georgiana ran too, their feet flattening the long grass.

‘Jemima!’ He mimicked her squeal, caught her up and twirled her around once, then set her on her feet. He was their favourite brother, he knew, because John had been too distant for years and Harry rarely gave them any attention, and his young brothers could not be looked up to.

He rested a hand on Georgiana’s shoulder as Jemima clung to his other hand and joined the family group with all his younger sisters.

Caro walked that way too, with her hand on Phillip’s arm. She joined Kate and John, who were standing with his parents, and Mary and Drew, all holding their youngest children.

Rob would have walked to another group, but Jemima pulled him towards their parents’.

His heart tugged him that way anyway.

‘Uncle Bobbie!’ George cried, raising his arms.

Paul stood beside John, watching George, with his arms wrapped about his father’s trouser leg as John’s arms were filled with David.

‘George!’ Rob called back, mimicking his nephew’s voice, with a smile on his lips. He let go of Jemima’s hand and took George from Drew. ‘You are suitably excited, I see, and ready to tire your mama and papa out.’

George grinned. ‘Tumble.’

‘In a moment. Let me say good day to everyone first.’

‘Good day, Mary, Papa, John.’ He swallowed.

‘Phillip.’ Caro, he had already spoken to, so he did not say good day to her, and any other words stuck in his throat.

He was intensely aware that Caro’s fingers still rested on Phillip’s arm.

It made it impossible to speak dispassionately.

Yet, he knew his expression asked why she had not chosen to travel with him.

There was no answer in her eyes. He faced a bland smile.

‘Uncle Bobbie, tumble,’ George begged again.

‘It is Uncle Robbie not Bobbie,’ Paul corrected, looking up at George with his father’s pale blue assessing eyes, as though George’s childish behaviour were odd. For a three-year-old, sometimes he sounded thirty. He was the heir to a dukedom, though, and already being schooled.

Still, inferior was not a word Rob would have George feel. ‘I am Bobbie to George, Paul, and I think I always shall be.’ He tussled Paul’s hair, because Paul ought to be a boy before he became a duke.

George tugged at Rob’s ear. ‘Tumble.’

‘Are you going to show your cousins how you can hit a ball with the bat today? You will have to hope your papa, or grandpapa, or one of your great uncles has brought a bat and ball.’

‘Uncle John has.’ George nodded.

‘Then we are in luck.’ Rob looked down at Paul. ‘Now, if George and I are to play tumble, I think we should play on the blankets, and if anyone else wishes to play then they may come with us.’ The offer was put to Paul, but it was David and Jemima who came .

He moved to a blanket well away from Caro. It was best to stay out of her way until they might speak alone.

The men set up a game of cricket and because George wanted to play, all the young children joined the game. So, it became a game of fathers holding the hands of their children and helping them bat then picking the little ones up and running with them, while the older children ran for themselves.

Rob helped George hit the ball, hauled him off his feet and ran with him. George had the giggles from then on, and their wicket was hit on the next bat.