again. What was Caroline doing here with that man? Why were they holding hands? Why was she turning away from him, Pierce, to seek refuge with…with…?
“You’re frightening me,” Charlaine whispered before she stepped around him and he could feel her brown eyes seeking his.
Still, Pierce could not have looked at her if his life had depended on it. His gaze was locked on Caroline as she followed Coleridge back up the path, Sarah trailing faithfully behind them. A moment before they turned the corner and were lost from sight, the man glanced over his shoulder at him, and a triumphant smile came to his face that turned the blood in Pierce’s veins into ice.
Instantly, his body jerked forward, determined to pursue them.
“No!” Charlaine exclaimed, both palms flattened against his chest as she pushed him back. “Talk to me! What’s wrong?”
Blinking, Pierce belatedly took note of the deep concern on her face. “I’m sorry, but I need to—”
“Who was that man?” Charlaine demanded, and he could see a shiver dance down her back. “His smile was false.” Her eyes searched his. “Is he the man everyone has been whispering about?” Her hands grasped his. “Tell me!”
Pierce swallowed, not in the least surprised that she’d become aware of the agitated whispers that were currently coursing through his household. “Yes,” he gritted out, his limbs still humming with the need to move, to go after them. Still, a more rational voice whispered that nothing he did in anger would lead to anything good.
That voice sounded suspiciously like Caroline!
“Why was she with him?” Charlaine thought out loud, her gaze distant as it swept over the empty space where Caroline and Coleridge had stood only a moment before. “Does she know?”
Pierce nodded, overwhelmed at how easily Caroline had upended his world. Everything he thought he knew had been called into question, and he could not bear it.
Not where she was concerned!
“She looked sad,” Charlaine remarked as her hand once more slipped through the crook of his arm and gave it a gentle tug to make him look at her. “She looked frightened.”
Pierce swallowed as he stared into Charlaine’s deep brown eyes. Still, what he saw was Caroline as he’d seen her only a few moments ago. Only now, he saw her in a different light. He saw the slight quiver in her jaw, the hurt in her eyes, the tension in her posture. Had he misread the situation?
“I’ll take you home,” he mumbled as he led Charlaine back the way they’d come. “There’s something…I need to look in to.”
Beside him, Charlaine chuckled. “You should tell her you love her.” She smiled up at him. “You’ll feel better, I promise.”
Squeezing her hand, Pierce nodded. “I’m glad you’re here,” he told her, grateful for her outspoken manner, especially here in a world where it had become second nature to people to lie through their teeth.
Perhaps he truly ought to speak to Caroline now rather than later. After all, he did love her, did he not? She was always on his mind whether he wanted her there or not. Even a single glimpse of her set his blood on fire and nearly drove him mad with longing. He loved her all but dauntless smile and that utterly adoring way she always peeked over the rim of her spectacles. He loved her strength and her compassion, her fearlessness and her backbone.
He loved her.
It was a truth he’d run from for quite some time.
But no more.
Chapter Thirty-One
A Wedding Celebration
Pembroke Hall was a beautiful estate, bright and glistening in the soft afternoon sun as carriages rolled up to the wide entrance and guests eagerly filed inside, curious to see the newly wedded couple. Whispers abounded about their hastened marriage in Scotland and, as far as Caroline knew, even a few invitations had been declined. However, as an American, Lord Pembroke had been considered peculiar from the start and many deemed this newest development a simply foreign peculiarity.
Not that Rebecca and her new husband cared at all.
As far as Caroline could tell, they were in seventh heaven, luminous smiles painted on their faces, their eyes shining brighter than the sun itself. They were so obviously smitten, so in love with each other, that Caroline felt her heart ache at the sight. Oh, what she wouldn’t give!
Not long ago, Caroline had dared to hope that perhaps she might find love after all, that perhaps marriage could be something different than the restricting cage she’d always thought it to be. Now, however, all seemed