any ask for an explanation—’ his tone clearly implied that there were few who would dare ask the Earl of Blackstone for an explanation concerning any of his actions! ‘then I will suggest that you are my widowed and impoverished cousin—so many young women were left widowed after Waterloo. That you are newly arrived from the country on the morning coach, with the intention of staying with me at Blackstone House whilst I arrange a modest household for you in London.’
‘Without clothes or a maid?’ Caro scorned.
Dominic shrugged unconcernedly. ‘An impoverished widow cannot afford to employ a maid until I arrange for one, and your trunk will be delivered later today.’
She eyed him impatiently. ‘Does the Earl of Blackstone even have a widowed and impoverished cousin?’
‘No.’
‘Do you have any cousins?’
‘No.’
She eyed him quizzically. ‘Any family at all?’
‘Not a single one.’
Caro could not even imagine a life without her two sisters in it. Admittedly she had put a distance between them now, but it had been done in the knowledge that she could return to them as soon as Gabriel Faulkner had been convinced by Diana that none of the Copeland sisters had any intention of ever marrying him.
‘Do not waste any of your pity on me.’ Dominic’s tone was laden with warning as he obviously saw that emotion in her expression. ‘Having witnessed the complications that so often attend having close family members, I have come to regard my own lack of them as being more of a blessing rather than a deprivation.’
Could that really be true? Caro wondered with a frown. Could Dominic really prefer a life derelict of all family ties? A solitary life that allowed for only a few close friends, such as Lord Thorne?
She was given no more time to dwell on that subject or any other as the coach came to a halt, a glance outside revealing a large town house in an obviously fashionable district of London. Mayfair, perhaps. Or St James’s? Whatever its location, Blackstone House was a much grander house than any she had ever seen before.
Shoreley Hall was a rambling red-bricked house that had been erected for the first Earl of Westbourne in the sixteenth century. It had been built upon haphazardly by succeeding earls until it now resembled nothing more than a rambling monstrosity surrounded by several thousand acres of rich farmland.
In contrast, Dominic Vaughn’s home was of a mellow cream colour, four storeys high, with gardens all around covered in an abundance of brightly coloured spring flowers, the whole surrounded by a high black wrought-iron fence.
‘Caro?’
She had been so intent on the beauty of Blackstone House, so in awe of its grandeur, that she had not noticed that one of the grooms had opened the door and folded down the steps, and was now waiting for her to alight. ‘Thank you.’ She accepted the aid of the young man’s hand as she stepped down on to the pavement, Dominic’s obvious wealth making her more than ever aware of her own drab and unfashionable appearance.
Vanity, her sister Diana would have called it. And she would have been right. But that did not make Caro feel it any less!
Again, she was allowed no more time for protest as Dominic took a firm hold of her arm to pull her along beside him as he ascended the steps up to the front of the house. The door opened before they reached the top step—despite it being barely past dawn—by a footman in full livery. If he was in the least surprised to see his employer accompanied by a drably clothed young woman he introduced as his cousin, Mrs Morton, then the man did not show it.
The inside of Blackstone House was even grander than the outside, if that were possible—the floor of the entrance hall a beautiful mottled green-and-cream marble, with four alabaster pillars either side leading to the wide staircase and up to a gallery that surrounded the whole of the first floor. High above them, suspended from a domed and windowed ceiling, a beautiful crystal chandelier glittered and shone in the sunlight. Caro had every expectation that the rest of Dominic’s home would be just as beautiful.
‘Would you take Mrs Morton up to the Green Suite, Simpson?’ Dominic ignored Caro’s awestruck expression as he turned to address the butler who had now appeared in the entrance hall. ‘And provide her with whatever refreshment she requires.’ He turned away with the obvious intention of passing her into the care of the servants.
‘My lord!’
He was frowning slightly as he turned. ‘What is it now?’
She nervously ran the tip of her tongue across her lips before answering him. ‘I—you recall my trunk will not be arriving until later today …’
Dominic’s frown deepened at this further delay. ‘I am sure that Simpson will be only too happy to provide you with anything that you require.’ He nodded abruptly to the attending butler before turning on his heel and striding down the hallway to where his study was situated at the back of the house.
Dominic needed time in which to think. Time, now that both he and Caro were safely ensconced in Blackstone House, in which to try to make some sense of everything that had occurred during these past few hours.
And unfortunately, he recognised darkly, he was unable to think in the least bit clearly whilst in Caro Morton’s company …
It was Caro’s indignation at the abruptness of Dominic’s departure that helped her through the next few minutes, as she was shown up to a suite of rooms on the first floor, that indignation not in the least mollified by the delightful private sitting room that adjoined the spacious bedchamber. Both rooms were decorated in a warm green and cream—the reason it was named the Green Suite, no doubt!—with cream furniture in the sitting room and a matching four-poster in the bedchamber, the latter surrounded by the same beautiful cream-brocade curtains that hung at the huge windows overlooking the front of the house and the square beyond.
Yes, it was all incredibly beautiful, she acknowledged once she had been left alone with warm water in which to wash, and a maid had delivered a pot of fresh tea to revive her flagging spirits. But the beauty of her surroundings did not change the fact that she should not be here.
Running away to London and posing as Caro Morton in order to avoid her guardian’s marriage proposal was one thing, but chancing the possibility of ever being found out as Lady Caroline Copeland was something else entirely, and had certainly never entered into any of her hastily made plans.
It was not a part of her plans now, either. Just because Dominic had chosen to bring her here, supposedly for her own protection, did not mean that she had to remain. As such, she would escape at the first opportunity—
‘I would seriously advise against it …’
Caro was so surprised to hear the softness of Dominic’s voice behind her that she almost dropped the cup she had been nursing in her hands. As it was, some of the hot tea tipped and spilled over her fingers as she turned to find him lounging in the open doorway of the sitting room. ‘Advise against what, may I ask?’ she demanded crossly even as she placed the cup back in its saucer before inspecting her scalded fingers.
‘What have you done now?’ The concern could be heard in the deep timbre of Dominic Vaughn’s voice as he threw something down on a chair before striding across the bedchamber towards her.
