Her Sudden Groom (Groom Series, BOOK 1) Read online

Relieved the problem had rectified itself, Alex led Caroline out the door and down the hall, all the while scheming in his mind how he’d go about winning her over.

  Chapter 5

  In his estimation, Alex had two weeks to woo Caroline enough to accept his proposal. That wasn’t very long at all. It had been long enough for his friend, Andrew. But Andrew was Andrew and Alex was Alex. In short, they were complete opposites in nearly every way.

  Alex chuckled. Two years ago when he’d last seen Lady Olivia, Andrew had told him she’d actually proposed to him. Too bad his friend refused her offer due to his feelings for Brooke. That would have eliminated the situation Alex was currently in quite nicely. He looked over at Caroline. She didn’t seem a bad sort at all. He even rather liked her. She’d certainly gotten his attention when she’d dropped that stack of books on the floor. He just didn’t know if he could charm her into marriage in such a short time.

  Andrew was coming to Watson Estate tomorrow to look at Alex’s stallions. Perhaps he would swallow his pride and ask for some ideas on how to win a wife in such a short time. That seemed a good idea, actually. Andrew had done most of his wooing of Brooke at Watson Estate during a house party his mother had hosted. The pair had visited the conservatory only three days before they’d gotten married. If showing Caroline the conservatory translated into a hasty marriage, he’d give her a tour tonight.

  “Alex,” Caroline whispered, tugging on his sleeve.

  “Yes?”

  “We’ve passed the dining room.” She glanced at him briefly then to the wall he’d almost walked them into.

  “Right you are,” he agreed, steering her back around. “I just thought we’d walk around a bit, in order to give the others some time to catch up.” He hated lying, but what else could he say? Sorry, Caroline, I was too busy thinking of how to get you to marry me so I don’t have to marry your horrid cousin, and I forgot to turn in to the dining room? That statement wouldn’t be met with much excitement, he was certain of it.

  Walking into the dining room, Alex blinked. He’d become accustomed to small tables that were big enough only for the number of people eating. Inside this room was a table that was no less than twenty-four feet long. There were enough chairs to seat at least twenty guests. Yet, there were only five place settings out, and they were placed in such a way there was no confusion as to where each of them were expected to sit. At one end of the table, there were three settings. One on the end, and one on either side. Clear on the other end of the table were two other place settings set out. Side by side.

  He glanced at Caroline, and she shrugged.

  A moment later, Marcus and his pair of females came in. “I thought the two of you could sit down there so not to bore Olivia with your talk.”

  Alex was almost moved to kiss the man’s feet in thanksgiving. Almost. He didn’t give a hang about boring Lady Olivia with details of science. He was more relieved he wouldn’t be tortured with whatever tales she wanted to impart on him. Andrew had once commented having Lady Olivia as a mealtime companion was enough to drive a man to suicide, or at least give him nightmares. Luckily he’d never had the experience himself; however, he didn’t doubt his friend’s words.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Caroline said, setting her goblet down, “perhaps you should solicit members to the Society at some of your other organizations.”

  “Good idea,” he said, quickly dismissing her suggestion. Not that it wasn’t a good one. It was. He just didn’t care about that just now.

  She put her fork down and turned her beautiful blue eyes to him. “Why is it I get the impression you’re not taking this seriously?”

  “I am,” he lied again. “I just don’t think of it as a priority just now.”

  “And what would be a priority to you?”

  “Above increasing membership to the Society of Biological Matters?”

  “Yes.” She picked her fork up and delicately poked one her turnips.

  “The trees in my orangery,” he said honestly. “Say, do you like orangeries?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve only been in one once when I was visiting a friend of Marcus’. But it’s been a long time.”

  “I’ll have to show you mine,” he said with a wide grin.

  “Really?” There was no mistaking the excitement in her voice.

  “Really.” Alex took a swallow of his drink. “I wanted to grow orange and citrus trees a few years ago, so I talked my father into splitting the conservatory in two and letting me grow citrus trees on one side.”

  “Fascinating.”

  His fork stopped halfway to his mouth. Was she being sarcastic? It was hard to tell. He put his fork down and stared blankly at his plate. Before Caroline and Miss Green joined Marcus and him in the drawing room to wait for dinner, Marcus had offered this advice: talk to her about science, but not too much. Alex frowned. Why did Marcus have to be so cryptic?

  Testing Marcus’ brilliant advice just now, he turned to Caroline. “What are your interests?”

  She smiled at him. “You don’t have to make small talk, Alex. I’ve heard from many sources you don’t like to talk about anything except science.”

  Alex threw a scowl down at two of the three people at the end of the table. He’d bet Marcus and Lady Olivia were the ones who’d told her that. “I’m perfectly capable of talking of something besides science,” he declared, hoping he wouldn’t prove himself to be a liar.

  “All right.” Caroline put her cup down. “What are your other interests?”

  He blinked at her as he searched his mind. “History, pistols, and swords,” he said at last.

  “Pistols and swords?”

  “Yes, pistols and swords,” he confirmed with a scowl. After letting his mouth get away from his two years ago and challenging someone to a duel, only to have it promptly pointed out to the room that he’d die the next day due to his inability to successfully navigate either weapon, he’d made an attempt to fence while in London and spent at least three hours each week shooting at targets. That was all the time he could spare for such frivolous pursuits. But it was enough to claim them as interests. “Now that you’ve heard mine, you can tell me what you’re interested in.”

  She bit her lip. “Promise not to laugh?”

  “No,” he replied honestly. “But I’ll try.”

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. “I don’t know if I can tell you, then.”

  “Yes, you can. Just spit it out.”

  “I like games,” she blurted, exhaling a deep breath.

  “Games?” Why was that odd? A lot of people liked games. He wasn’t necessarily one of them, but he was acquainted with enough other people who liked them.

  She nodded enthusiastically. “I don’t think you understand. I love games.”

  “What kind of games?”

  “All games,” she answered, fingering the corners of her napkin. “Parlor games, board games, lawn games, even nursery games.”

  He stared at her. “You’d love my Aunt Carolina. She loves parlor games.”

  “She does?” Her eyes grew wide.

  “More than anything. I think charades is her absolute favorite.”

  “I love charades,” she chirped. “Do you?”

  “Not particularly.” He snorted. “Actually, I dislike the game so much that only last year I was able to get myself and several other family members exempt from playing it when I suggested we go off to my father’s study to talk about science. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out like I’d planned. Instead of discussing the fascinating facts I’d found about a couple of hedgehogs I’d been observing down by the pasture, they all wanted to talk about Paul and Liberty’s explosive marriage. Andrew claimed it still followed the guidelines, since we were discussing combustible elements: Paul and Liberty.” He scowled as she broke into peals of giggles. “What could you possibly find humorous about that?” he asked in mock agitation. From an outsider’s prospective it probably was humorous.

  “It’s
true,” she said between bursts of giggles.

  “What?”

  “That you cannot have a conversation without speaking of science,” she answered when she’d gathered her composure.

  Hell’s afire, she was right. He’d proved himself a liar in less than two minutes. “Sorry,” he murmured.

  “It’s quite all right. Shall we talk about the experiment now?” She pushed her plate away.

  “No. Why don’t you tell me what your favorite game is instead.” He flashed her what he hoped to be an encouraging grin.

  “Lawn chess.”

  “We’ve a set at Watson Estate.”

  Her eyes grew huge again. “Truly?”

  He nodded. “Would you like to come and play?”

  She twisted her lips. “I probably shouldn’t. With you being Olivia’s betrothed, it wouldn’t be right.”

  He tried not to scowl. He was not betrothed to Lady Olivia. All right, he was, but that wasn’t going to stick. He was going to marry Caroline, not Olivia. He couldn’t tell Caroline that though. If he did, he’d have to explain about his father’s mistake during a drunken stupor. That would not look very good to a potential bride. Nor would the idea of asking her to help jilt her cousin only because he didn’t want to marry her. Best to just keep quiet for now.

  “Sure it would. Tomorrow your cousin is going to Bath. Just come to Watson Estate while she’s there.”

  “I can’t,” she protested. “I’ve no chaperone.”

  “That’s not a problem,” he said dismissively. “My mother can act as your chaperone.”

  “Don’t you think you should ask her first?” Caroline’s lips twitched. “She may not wish to spend her day chaperoning a stranger, you know.”

  “She’ll do it,” he said offhandedly. Mother would chaperone the devil himself if it meant her son wouldn’t have to marry Lady Olivia. He had no idea why, nor did he care her reasons, but his mother detested Lady Olivia in the worst way.

  “Are you certain?”

  He cleared his throat. “Quite.”

  She clapped her hands together. “All right, you’ve convinced me. I’ll come.”

  “I had no idea I had such powerful influence,” he said dryly.

  “Well, you do. But we’ll have to talk of the experiment.” She leaned back to let a footman refill her glass. “Olivia will know where I’m going, and steam will spiral out of her ears if she thinks I’m going to see you for any reason other than science.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled. They’d talk about her experiment for the two minutes it took him to set up the chess board, but not a minute more. He had better things to do. One such thing being to woo her.

  “Are you two done?” Marcus asked, pushing to his feet.

  “Just finished,” Caroline answered.

  Alex glanced out the window at the end of the hall as the group left the dining room. “I’d better be off. It’s nearly dark.” He turned and said his goodbyes to Caroline, reminding her of their agreement for her to come play lawn chess tomorrow.

  ***

  Early the next morning, only twenty minutes past the hour that marked morning to be precise, Alex’s eyes sprang open as his body shot up from his bed. He ran his hand over his perspiring face and shoved his fingers through his hair. Scooting to the edge of his bed, he put his feet on the floor to remind himself he’d only had a nightmare.

  He put his hands on his back just above his waist and arched backward to stretch, his fingers touching the scars in remembrance of a lost innocence. He shook his head and brought his hands to his knees. As much as he wished for it, nobody could rewrite history, even if it would be to the benefit of a scared little girl.

  Nothing for it now. He shot to his feet and lit a candle before throwing on his dressing robe. Nightmares didn’t happen to him often, but when they did it was hard to get back to sleep. There was only one thing to do now: take a trip to the library to read up on one of his real experiments.

  Grabbing his candelabra, he left the room and headed to the library, mentally making a note to talk to Marcus privately in the next day or two. There was something about that awful night he needed to know.

  Chapter 6

  Caroline barely slept in anticipation of her afternoon with Alex. She squeezed her eyes shut tight. She should not be looking forward to such a thing. He was her cousin’s betrothed, for goodness’ sake. She had no business going to his house to play chess, let alone being so excited about it.

  Due in part to her deceased mother, Caroline’s love for lawn chess was so great she couldn’t have declined a game with Lucifer. She remembered being a little girl and her mother would take her to Ridge Water to play. Of course she’d been too young to know how to play by the rules, but she loved to watch people push their pieces around, nonetheless. Her mother was always happiest when they were playing lawn chess or looking out at the stars with a telescope.

  Caroline smiled. She’d loved her mother more than anyone in the world. She’d been such a happy person, even if the world seemed determined to kill her joy, usually in the form of her own husband. Caroline’s father was the vilest creature Caroline had ever met, and the less she thought of him, the better.

  She sailed down the stairs and went to the front door. She’d told Marcus she intended to go to Alex’s today. He hadn’t asked any questions except to confirm Alex’s mother would act as her chaperone. Other than confirming that, he didn’t seem to care what they’d be doing while she was there. His dismissive attitude surprised her a bit. He didn’t normally care about details on the whole, but she thought he might be interested since this time it involved a gentleman. Apparently not.

  The carriage ride to Bath was extremely uncomfortable. Olivia complained of her foot the entire time, except when she complained about marrying a dullard like Arid Alex, that is. Olivia knew full well where Caroline was going, and surprisingly didn’t seem to care. In fact, Olivia told Caroline it was excellent the two of them had similar tastes—it would benefit her after they were married. She’d worked it out in her head. Caroline could stay at Watson Estate and act as Olivia’s companion since she’d never find a gentleman willing to marry her. Then, when Olivia could take Arid Alex’s incessant science chatter no longer, she’d send Caroline in to listen to his nonsense.

  Caroline frowned. He really wasn’t so bad to talk to. Sure, he was known for talking about all subjects relating to science, but she’d learned in their short time together there was a lot more to him than that. And she couldn’t help herself for wanting to discover more, even if nothing could ever happen between them. He was Olivia’s intended, she firmly reminded herself once again.

  She looked down at the papers in her lap. She’d brought her notes with her today so they could discuss their experiment about gaining membership to the Society. She reread the first page. She’d come up with some really good ideas. Too bad he didn’t seem as interested in working on this as she was. Well, like the ever dutiful scientist she was, she would insist that they discuss their experiment today. She would not let him get away with dumping the whole thing on her.

  As the carriage rolled up the drive at Watson Estate, Caroline’s excitement rose. Today had the workings to be one of the best days of her life. Not only would she get to play lawn chess, she would also get to play it with Alex, and for some reason that made her much more excited than she thought possible.

  The carriage came to a stop, and from the window she could see Alex and another, larger gentleman talking. She blinked. Forget larger, he was massive. Almost like a giant marble statue. Yes, a marble statue with coal black hair. She’d heard enough gossip from Olivia’s lips to guess this had to be Lord Townson, Alex’s closest friend.

  The carriage door swung open, startling Caroline.

  “Coming down?” Alex asked, reaching a hand up to her.

  Caroline came to the door and took his hand. “Thank you,” she murmured after she’d descended. She looked at Alex and silently asked him with her eyes to introduce
her to his friend. Not that she had a hankering to meet nobility. Quite the opposite. She’d only even seen possibly half a dozen titled gentlemen in her life—and her uncle, Marcus, and Marcus’ friend, Lord Drakely, made up half of those. The reason she wanted to be introduced to Lord Townson was to help ease the tension that had fallen over the trio as they stood there together.

  “Allow me to introduce myself, seeing as Alex here is too enamored by you to make introductions,” Lord Townson said with a grin. “My name is Andrew Black, Earl of Townson.” He did a quick, low bow and came back up to meet her eyes.

  “Caroline Sinclair,” she said, doing the sloppiest curtsy she’d ever attempted. She didn’t do it intentionally; she’d just never actually done one before anyone of importance before. It was quite nerve-racking.

  Lord Townson didn’t seem to mind though. “Nice to meet you, Miss Sinclair.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, too, my lord,” she greeted with a smile. “I’d prefer it if you’d call Caroline.”

  “Caroline it is,” the earl said.

  “Andrew came by this morning to look at my new thoroughbred. He was just about to leave,” Alex informed her.

  “While he was here, did you talk to him about Biological Matters?”

  Lord Townson gave her a queer look and a choking sound came from Alex’s throat. “Yes, he talked to me,” Andrew said tightly. “And I’d suggest he not do so again.”

  Caroline’s eyes widened. She had no idea he’d be so opposed to joining the Society of Biological Matters. Mayhap Alex was right when he told her he wouldn’t be interested.

  Alex crossed his arms defensively. “That’s not—”

  “No more, Alex,” Lord Townson said in a warning tone. “I think I’m old enough to make those decisions for myself.” He turned to Caroline and his tone softened considerably. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Caroline. I sincerely hope to see more of you in the future.” He turned back to Alex and gave him a look she couldn’t see.

  Alex smiled and nodded at his friend. “Give my best to Brooke.”