look at her. “What happened? Why are you so afraid to love him?”
Caroline closed her eyes as her father’s voice once more echoed in her head. “I know that…I myself created this persona,” she said, then looked at her cousin as she gestured to her attire, her hairdo as well as her spectacles—spare ones as Pierce was still in possession of her other pair. “I wanted to be invisible. I thought it was the only way I could do what I needed to do.” She inhaled a deep breath. “But now…”
“Now, you want him to see you,” Rebecca finished for her.
Caroline nodded, her lips pressing together to hold back the tears that threatened as her heart finally admitted what it wanted, what it longed for, what it needed to find happiness.
“What makes you think he doesn’t see you?” Rebecca asked, a small grin teasing her lips. “I must say the way he pulled you into his arms looked very telling.”
“He didn’t,” Caroline pointed out, not quite certain why as her face began to heat. “I lost my balance and I fell…forward and…”
“That doesn’t matter,” Rebecca insisted with a snort. “He held on to you as though he never wanted to let go. Did you not notice the possessive look in his eyes?” Like Pierce had done the day before, Rebecca snatched the spectacles from Caroline’s nose. “These truly must hinder your eyesight for I noticed it hiding halfway across the room.” Her brows rose. “So did Zach.”
Caroline wanted the earth to open and swallow her whole. “Why did you watch us? Have you never heard of privacy?”
“Then you should have conducted your conversation in the library…or perhaps a bedchamber,” Rebecca teased, a devilish spark lighting up her green eyes, “and not in the foyer. Anyone could have stumbled upon you there. Fortunately for you, it was a beautiful day and people did not wish to remain indoors.”
“Then what were you two doing there?” Caroline demanded, determined to shift the focus off herself.
Rebecca grinned. “Well, quite frankly, we were on our way to seek out a…more private setting when we stumbled upon the two of you.”
Caroline’s jaw dropped. “It was your wedding celebration,” she pointed out breathlessly, “and you thought it the right moment to sneak off and…and…”
Rebecca laughed. “You look quite mortified, dear cousin. But now enough about me! Why the blazes do you think Markham does not care for you?”
“How can you think he does?” Caroline huffed out.
“How can I not?” Rebecca retorted. “After everything you told me, it seems fairly obvious.” Her gaze narrowed. “I think you thought so as well, but not anymore. What happened?”
Caroline shook her head at her cousin. “Did you not see them together?”
“Them?”
“That raven-haired beauty!” Caroline spat, hating how jealous she sounded.
Rebecca frowned, then her eyes widened in understanding. “Oh, you mean Charlaine Palmer?”
“You know her? Well, of course, you’d know her. After all, he’s friends with your husband.” She shot to her feet, overwhelmed by a most disturbing thought. “I hope you like her for it looks as though you’ll be seeing a lot of her in the future.” Then she spun on her heel and marched off.
Or tried to if Rebecca’s hand had not grabbed her arm, keeping her where she was. “Look at me,” her cousin ordered as she pulled her back, her hands grasping Caroline’s.
Inhaling a deep breath, Caroline forced her eyes up, afraid to see pity in her cousin’s gaze.
Warmth and understanding clung to Rebecca’s face as she smiled at her. “She’s his ward.”
“What?”
“An old friend of his died recently,” her cousin went on, “and he begged Markham to look after his sister-in-law. A terrible sickness took all of her family, and now she’s alone in the world.”
“B-But…” Caroline stammered, feeling torn between relief, doubt and a horrible feeling of guilt for thinking ill of a young woman who’d suffered such heartache.
“He’s known her since she was a child,” Rebecca went on. “I’ve seen the way he looks at her as well as the way she looks at him. There’s nothing romantic between them. Believe me. If he loves her, he loves her the same way I love you.” Rebecca’s hands wrapped tightly around hers. “Like a sister.”
For a long moment, Caroline simply stared at her cousin, tears brimming in her eyes. “I love you, too.”
“I know,” Rebecca replied, a deep smile on her face and wetness glistening in her eyes. “But do you love him?”
A large tear spilled over and ran down her cheek. “I’m afraid so.”
Rebecca