little? He pleaded with me to be his duchess. I simply shook my head and told him that I was sorry.” Madeline shook her head woefully. “I explained that even though his parents and my own dear family wished it of us and all of London expected it of us, I could not in good faith marry him, because…” She again paused for suspenseful effect, sighing delicately.
The girls waited expectantly for her to finish. Every eye in the room was riveted to Madeline’s revelation.
“Because…Because I am hopelessly in love with another!” Madeline finished her little speech with a flourish of her hands, and satisfied with the girls’ reaction, she reclined gracefully on the sofa, as she was showered with frantic questions.
“Oh Madeline!”
“In love with whom?”
“Who is he?”
Madeline dissolved into excited giggles and exclaimed blissfully, “Oliver Parkridge! Our engagement will be announced this weekend!”
The girls’ attention was instantly diverted from Madeline’s refusal of the Duke of Woodborough to her engagement to Oliver Parkridge, which was exactly what Madeline had planned.
Caroline glanced at Emma, wondering if she accepted Madeline’s fabricated story as easily as the other girls did. Was it just because Caroline knew the truth that she could see through Madeline’s false and staged performance? She didn’t think so. Madeline seemed to truly believe the story she told, which is what made her so convincing to the others, she supposed.
Emma raised an eyebrow sardonically, and Caroline nodded. Her sister knew exactly what was going on.
It was a relief to Caroline that the remainder of the afternoon continued without any further remarks from Madeline. She had a feeling Madeline’s sudden interest in her had to do with her visit from the duke, although she wasn’t sure how she could even know about it. Caroline herself was still struggling to take in the enormity of the situation.
Somehow, she had agreed to form a secret alliance with the dashing Duke of Woodborough.
The idea was quite outrageous. At first, she had been stunned by his proposal that they pretend to be courting to dissuade any other overtures of marriage. It was scandalous. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense, in a crazy sort of way.
It would help her get through this Season at least, without becoming entangled in a courtship that had no future. Her grandmother had been so positive that Caroline would make a brilliant match and undo the disgrace that Katherine had caused with her elopement. Caroline feared any gentleman becoming interested in her, because she had no idea how to extricate herself from a courtship without telling her grandmother the truth. That Caroline could never do. The last thing she wished to do was to cause another scandal and embarrass her grandmother. She simply could not marry anyone. However, the expectations of marriage from Olivia, who had been so good to her and Emma, were a constant source of worry. So she had devised a plan to discourage suitors by acting extremely intellectual and dull and being a terrific bluestocking. It made her feel depressed.
Although, sometimes it seemed that she had been depressed for a long time. Since her mother died. Since Stephen left. Since her father died. The entire burden had been upon Caroline to support the family during her father’s lengthy illness. She had taken over some of her father’s work at the university, through the help of his friends. They had kindly allowed Caroline to do research for some of the professors and rewrite some articles. She was an excellent proofreader, and they had relied upon her talents. After he died last fall, she had secured a position as a governess to a family in Sussex. She was still searching for a position for Emma when the grandmother she hadn’t known existed rescued them. She did not have to work as a governess. She no longer had to worry about money. She was now a lady of leisure. Yet her problems were still there.
The duke’s secret arrangement offered her a slight reprieve. For a little while, she could enjoy her new life and all it had to offer, but only for a little while. Then she and the duke would break off and end their supposed courtship and she would be expected to marry once again. Maybe by then she would have another solution. In the meantime, she and Alex would help each other. She didn’t want to marry him, and he didn’t want to marry her. It was perfect. As he said, they could be good friends. Although she had to institute the no-kissing rule. There was no need to get involved that way! She had to admit she was tempted though. Alex had something about him that drew her to him. She couldn’t explain it, but the feeling was almost hypnotic.
At the end of Lady Weatherby’s party, while they were saying their farewells, Caroline, Emma, and Olivia happened to be following behind Lady Maxwell and Madeline as they made their way to the carriages out front.
At that moment Lady Weatherby’s high-pitched voice rang out, “Olivia, dear, I forgot to ask you, was that the Duke of Woodborough’s carriage I saw in front of your house yesterday afternoon?”
Her blue skirts swirling, Madeline whipped around to stare at them, her eyes wide in astonishment, as did Lady Maxwell, her sour and pinched face looking ridiculously surprised.
Olivia smiled and responded matter-of-factly, betraying nothing, as if the Duke of Woodborough visited her on a regular basis. “Why, yes, it was! Such a charming young man. He was just paying me a friendly call.”
Madeline’s hard blue eyes raked over Caroline, an undisguised look of malice on her pretty face. Caroline was quite taken aback by the unbridled hostility that emanated from the petite blonde. It left her with the uneasy feeling that by becoming involved with the duke, however innocently on her part, she had somehow made an enemy of Madeline Maxwell.
CHAPTER 6
Although not quite as large an event as the Maxwells’ ball the previous week, there were still a considerable number of people in attendance at Lord and Lady Talbot’s, for they were well known for their lavish entertaining, and each of their affairs was looked forward to with great anticipation. The opening dance at the Talbots’ ball that night was not the traditional quadrille, but a waltz, and the chattering voices in the ballroom hushed in astonishment as Alexander Woodward, the handsome and elusive Duke of Woodborough, escorted the little known Caroline Armstrong out to the dance floor.
The duke looked more striking than usual in his tailored black superfine evening clothes and crisp white shirt, which set off the clean lines of his incredibly handsome face. His dark black hair gleamed. He was impossibly masculine and had a very commanding presence. Caroline was stunning in a low-cut jade green silk gown that cinched in her narrow waist with a wide green bow in the back. Her honey-gold hair had been piled into soft ringlets on the top of her head and held together with pale jade ribbons that cascaded down her back.
The hushed crowd stared openly at the handsome couple on the dance floor, and even the most cynical socialite was intrigued by this latest development. The gossips were still wagging their tongues over Madeline Maxwell’s outrageous rejection of the duke only last week and then her sudden announcement at Lady Howard’s dinner party of her engagement to Oliver Parkridge.
Now this strange occurrence!
Everyone knew that the duke rarely attended Season balls, and it was rarer still for him to actually dance at one. Now he was dancing with Caroline Armstrong. Was this simply to put on a brave face after Madeline Maxwell spurned him? Or was this a new romance?
And here was the late Earl of Glenwood’s lovely granddaughter, the product of that scandalous tutor elopement and the one all the young men were calling a bluestocking, on the arm of
