The Secret of Castlegate Manor (16 page)

"That would be very kind."

They remained in the garden, enjoying the onset of evening. Caroline felt wicked, knowing the two women expected it would be one of their last days together. She wished she could spare them the sadness of a parting that would end as soon as they returned from London.

Yet, as she was forced to play her part, she stayed with them until Lady Aberly declared that her fatigue required her to retire. They walked upstairs together. Lavenia paused at Caroline's bedchamber.

Impulsively, she put her arms around Caroline for an embrace. "It will not be the same in London without you. You seem almost a sister to me now."

"As do you."

Alone in her room, Caroline went about the task of packing her belongings for a very short trip.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Geoffrey left at sunrise the following morning to purchase passage for Caroline's trip. He returned that evening holding a package that Lady Aberly and Lavenia were to assume held Caroline's passage to India. She was to leave the next afternoon.

"So soon?" Lavenia protested.

"Are you not ready to leave for London?" Caroline asked with some concern.

"Oh, yes. Mother and I can both be ready to leave on the morrow to bid you good-bye. Still, I hoped you would not sail for a few more days."

Caroline shook her head. "The sooner you are in London, the safer you will be from Lord Humphrey. When I am gone, he may turn his efforts toward you."

"That would be frightful. I should die if anything prevented my marrying Henry as planned." Lavenia declared.

"Then we shall have to be very careful that does not happen."

Caroline spent a restless night in a state of nerves, fearful that some detail in the ploy had been overlooked. In the morning, the footman loaded her bags onto the coach. John Coachman, now recovered from his injury, helped them aboard.

As they rolled onto the drive that led from the great estate, Caroline cast a glance from the curtained window of the coach. She caught sight of Geoffrey, watching discreetly from the distance of the stable path and her heart warmed with assurance.

She was not alone in this mad scheme. Geoffrey would follow to make his clandestine arrival in Bristol. He had already arranged for the porter to rescue her from the ship. Then, after an overnight stay in the city, they would hire a coach to take them back to Bath, where Nottington was to meet them and assure them that Lady Aberly and Lavenia had traveled on to London.

She sat back in the plush seat and tried to relax. She had a great deal of traveling to do and it would not do to exhaust herself when she had barely begun.

The weary hours crept by. Caroline's tension mounted when they finally arrived at the bustling port in Bristol.

The footman helped them from the carriage. Caroline found the ship, a tall passenger line already bustling with porters. While the men gathered her traveling bags, she lingered with Lady Aberly and Lavenia.

"I do so hate good-byes. I hope you will come back to us as soon as you can," Lavenia said.

Lady Aberly dabbed at her eyes. "We shall miss you, dearie."

Caroline hugged them each in turn, her conscience pricking her with accusations of dishonesty. If she were really leaving, she would share their same deep regret. The knowledge that it was all a ruse made it difficult to pretend grief.

As she boarded the ship, she paused and pulled a red rose from her reticule to carry in her hand, the signal to the porter of her identity.

Excited groups of chatting passengers trod along the gangplank. Caroline joined them, turning to wave at Lavenia and Lady Aberly as the huge white ship rose close above her. Her heart beat madly. If there were any mistake, could she indeed find herself on her way to India? What then? The possibility was too frightening to contemplate.

Members of the crew greeted the passengers as they stepped aboard. Caroline held her rose in prominent view. One young man with black hair and dark eyes waved in recognition. She sighed with relief when he made his way toward her.

In a low voice he confided, "If you will follow me, Miss, I can show you your escape."

Caroline followed him onto the ship and down a narrow flight of stairs. The musty smell of the air made her long to climb back up to the deck.

He paused before a small cabin. "Slip in here, Miss, and change quick into the porter's outfit. Be sure and put your hair under the cap. No one will know you when you slip back down the gangplank."

Caroline stepped into the cramped room and saw the white shirt and trousers lying across the narrow bed. She shuddered as the porter closed the door and waited for her in the hall.

The idea of appearing in public in mens' clothes appalled her. Of all the deception she had waged so far, this seemed far the most risky and scandalous. She wondered what Lady Eleanor would have thought of the turn her well-meant plan had taken.

However, as she seemed to have little choice, Caroline slipped out of her gray muslin traveling dress and into the ship whites. She adjusted her cap in front of a small cracked mirror and, when she felt satisfied that not a strand of long chestnut hair had escaped, she opened the door to find the young man still awaiting her emergence.

"I believe I am ready."

He grinned as he gave her a quick perusal that set her cheeks aflame. "I must say, Miss, I have never seen a more attractive sailor. If you keep your head down, though, I do believe you will pass unnoticed."

"What about my reticule?" she asked, glancing down at her hand baggage that now carried her gray muslin traveling dress.

"Just take it down like you are taking it to a passenger. The gentleman what hired me said you should keep walking until you were told to get in a carriage."

She followed the porter back on deck. The gangplank was nearly devoid of passengers, the ship nearly ready to sail. Lady Aberly and Lavenia peered intently up at the rail, trying to catch a last glimpse of Caroline.

Caroline kept her head down as she disembarked. She walked past the line of well-wishers, so close to Lady Aberly and Lavenia that she would have laughed at the subterfuge had she not been so terrified of being discovered.

A footman stopped her as she wove her way behind the crowd to the waiting carriages. "This way if you please."

Caroline followed him to a curtained hackney. He opened the door, and to her relief, she saw Geoffrey waiting inside. He smiled broadly at sight of her.

His eyes roved her trousered form. "This is a sight I never thought to see. You make even the meanest attire look attractive."

Caroline settled as far back on the seat as the carriage would allow. "This was certainly not my preference of what I would choose to wear. When will I have opportunity to become more myself?"

"I have arranged to stop at an inn on the outskirts of Bristol. You may pretend to be my servant and change in my room. I have reserved another chamber for my sister whom I said would be joining me, although I wish she were already my wife."

"I can think of nothing I would like more."

She began to relax as the carriage moved away from the harbor. All had gone as planned. Surely, she was now safe from discovery.

She allowed Geoffrey to hold her hand as they traveled along the busy streets to the outskirts of town where a small inn sat, looking lonely by comparison to the buildings along the crowded streets.

Caroline felt a resurgence of anxiety. Would her attire attract attention? She could not wait to be rid of it and, yet, if she were caught leaving Geoffrey's room after she changed, she would never forget the humiliation. It was all most unsuitable, and unfortunately, most unavoidable.

Her fears were relieved when the owner of the inn, a short balding man of middle age, barely gave them a glance. His attention was absorbed by a serving girl who had dropped and broken a favorite mug. Caroline pitied the girl who was receiving the rough edge of his tongue. At the same time, she was grateful that her own appearance got little notice.

Most of the guests were already in the dining room, leaving the halls empty. She slipped into Geoffrey's upstairs chamber and changed into her dress. Then, leaving the porter's uniform folded upon the bed, she peered into the hall where Geoffrey was quietly waiting.

He greeted her with a smile. "I must say, you look quite back to your usual radiance, and a suitable dinner partner. Shall we go down and procure our meal?"

Caroline met his approving gaze. "That would be most welcome. I must admit, I am famished."

"I must tell you we will be joined by a young lady I have met."

"A young lady?" Caroline froze on the steps, her hand on his arm."

He patted her hand. "Do not frown. I knew you were uncomfortable with the circumstance of being here with me without an abigail. I arranged with the local vicar for his daughter to act as your companion for the evening. She believes that you are my sister and that you are leaving school in Bristol to travel to my estate. I told her we would need her services for one evening only."

"It was kind of you to consider my reputation," Caroline replied.

The young lady who was to be her companion waited just inside the door of the inn. She was only a young girl, barely in her teens.

Geoffrey introduced them.

The girl's name was Ann. She curtsied, and made polite reply, before following them in to dine. The girl seemed quite uncertain of herself until Caroline asked kindly, "Do you help your father in his duties as vicar?"

"Oh, yes, my lady. My sisters and I take the soups that Mother makes to the sick in our parish."

Caroline smiled. "You and your sisters must be a true blessing to your parents."

Ann blushed and visibly relaxed.

They concluded a pleasant supper, then a walk in the back gardens of the inn. Geoffrey was careful to keep the conversation away from any subjects that would arouse Ann's curiosity as she followed behind them.

Caroline felt pleasantly tired when Geoffrey escorted them back to the bed chambers. After a chaste good-night at the door, Ann and Caroline entered their chambers while Geoffrey departed for his own room.

"Will you be quite comfortable here, away from home?" Caroline asked the young girl.

"Yes, my lady. It was ever so kind of your brother to let me take on such a pleasant job with a lady like yourself."

Caroline smiled at the compliment, pleased that the girl did not question her posture as a lady.

"You must be tired, Ann. I know I am quite fatigued, myself. You may take the small bedroom in the back and retire as soon as you desire."

The girl seemed relieved to find her evening was nearly at an end and that she would earn money badly needed by her family for this small service of keeping company with a lady.

"Then I will bid you good-night, Miss. Please call if there is anything I may do for you," Ann said.

Ann tucked herself away in the back room and blew out her candle. Caroline lay in the dark, savoring the opportunity to drop her guard.

She slept deeply, awakening to Ann's gentle touch on her shoulder. "Your brother says it is time to get ready, Miss."

Caroline could not, for a moment, remember how she came to be in the strange room. She stared at Ann until her memory of the day before flooded back.

"Thank you, Ann. I see that you are already dressed. You may go ahead to meet your father if he is here. I shall be out in a moment."

"Yes, my lady." Ann paused at the door and turned back to Caroline.

"I hope you enjoy your new home in Bath. It was a pleasure to meet you, my lady."

"It was a pleasure to meet you too, Ann."

After a light meal of tea and biscuit, Caroline and Geoffrey began the journey to Bath.

"I shall be so glad to get back to the estate. I have missed it," Caroline said.

"A traveling life is not for you?" Geoffrey asked.

"I should be content to settle at Castlegate Manor and never set foot from the estate."

"You really could be content there, could you not? What a blessing to have a wife who is pleased with her lot in life," Geoffrey mused.

She watched him and wondered if he were thinking of a personal experience. Tact would not allow her to question him about such a matter, so she waited for him to continue.

"Many of the girls I knew in India wanted a great deal more than a country home to keep them content," he explained.

"Perhaps I do not expect more because what you offer is far above what I ever expected to attain."

He leaned forward. "Do you know how hard you make it not to seize you in my arms and cover you with kisses, my sweet Caroline?"

She drew back and tried to look dismayed. "You must not say such things when we are alone, my lord."

He laughed heartily. "Would you prefer that I say them when we are in the presence of others?"