was easy to see who the man had been.
Pierce nodded, and she could feel the tension that came to his arms.
“Do you think he knew it was me?” she wondered out loud. “I thought his voice sounded familiar, but I didn’t realize it was him.”
Pierce shrugged. “Is there a reason why he would seek you out?”
Indeed, there was, wasn’t there? Caroline swallowed hard, thinking back to the moment Coleridge had all but elbowed Kearsley out of the way. Had he known it was her? Would he tell her father what he had discovered? Had she made the one mistake that would now force her to reveal all that she had done?
“Caroline,” Pierce growled, a warning in his voice as he said her name. His gaze had narrowed as she’d been lost in her thoughts, and she could tell that something was bothering him. “Why would he seek you out?”
Inhaling a deep breath, Caroline lifted her chin. “Because he wants to marry me.”
Chapter Forty
Something Foolish
Shock slammed into Pierce at her words and, for a long moment, he could do little else but stare at her. Eventually, one simple word found its way to the forefront of his mind, but it resonated with all that he felt. “No.”
Her brows drew down in a frown. “Well, he does. He’s been speaking to my father, and as you can imagine, my father is delighted with the idea.” Her words were agony, and yet, he grasped on to the thought that her features looked tense, displeased.
“What I mean,” he snapped, “is that you will not marry him.” His hands pulled her flush against him, forcing her up onto the tips of her toes as he all but lifted her off the ground.
A gasp escaped her lips as her hands grasped his arms, seeking to steady her. “Of course, I will not marry him,” she panted, her breath coming fast and her hands trembling. “How can you think that? Have you forgotten the man he is?”
Pierce froze. Indeed, it would seem that he had…if only for a moment. The second the words had left her mouth, he’d only seen Coleridge as his rival for her affections, a man threatening Pierce’s claim on the woman in his arms. Only, he didn’t have a claim on her, did he? He had yet to reveal all that he longed for when he looked at her.
“You’re not marrying him?” he ground out, fighting to suppress the panic that assailed him at the thought of her and Coleridge married. For many reasons, it would be a disaster, a tragedy, and he would fight to keep it from coming to pass.
Staring at him, she shook her head. “How can you think I would?” She swallowed, and a deep sadness came to her eyes before she lifted her hands and pushed away from him. “Is that how you see me?” she whispered then, all but removing his rigid arms from around her waist.
Pierce fought the urge to pull her back against him, the need to feel her overwhelming his thoughts. “Then why were you in Hyde Park with him that day?” The image had burned itself into his mind, and it had tortured him relentlessly, causing him many sleepless nights.
Caroline exhaled an exasperated breath. “Because my parents were delighted with his attention toward me. Because refusing him would have meant to take a stand and…” She swallowed and her gaze dropped to her gloved fingers. “I wasn’t quite ready to give up on everything I’d worked for so hard these past years.” Her head remained lowered, but her eyes rose to look up at him. “I needed time to think.”
“About his proposal?”
Caroline scoffed, her eyes now narrowed in anger. “Did you even hear a word I said? Why are you asking me the same thing over and over again?” Her shoulders drew back, and her hands flew up to settle on her waist. “No, not about his proposal, about how best to proceed.” She fixed him with an angry glare. “All of a sudden, I knew the man he was, and yet, no one else did. Everybody treated him as though he were a true gentleman and I felt sickened inside. And so I thought, why not use the time with him to my advantage?”
Pierce frowned, and a cold shiver ran down his back at the thought of what his little mouse might have done now. “What did you do?” He took a step closer, his gaze fixed on hers. “Whenever you talk