Page 95 of A Much Maligned Miss

She tipped her head to one side. “Well, it was highly flattering, but I do not think it really looks all that much like me.”

He smiled, slowly shaking his head. “You’re wrong about that.”

“Really?” she asked skeptically.

“I told you, Bailey has had to use his imagination, but I have seen you like that.”

“You mean that night on the terrace?”

“And twice now since then,” he said mysteriously. Caroline frowned, but he did not elaborate. “Shall we take supper with the others tonight?” he asked, glancing over at the noisy bar. Barty Ewell and Ralph had now both joined the fray and there was a lot of lively conversation and laughter between them and the new barmaids.

“Effie seems in her element,” he commented, sinking down in his chair and resting his elbows on the armrests.

“Oh, yes she is.”

“Jeb perhaps less so,” was his rejoinder.

Caroline turned her head and saw Jeb’s back disappearing through the door to the passageway, leaving it to swing shut behind him. The set of his shoulders looked tense. “Yes, he does seem subdued today,” she agreed. “Effie introduced us all to the new staff and they seem a very capable bunch.” She lowered her voice. “One of them, Freda, the petite one with the chestnut hair, seems determined to flirt with Reg.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, and he’s turned very bashful around her. Seems to be giving her a wide berth.”

Gervaise looked thoughtful. “Perhaps you should give her a hint or two as to what he likes.” Caroline flashed him a disapproving look but chose to rise above this barb. He smothered a yawn. “What were your thoughts about supper tonight?” he repeated.

Caroline scanned his face, trying to determine his own feelings on the matter, but it was impossible to tell. “Perhaps we could dine out,” she suggested. “I had a delivery from Madame Durand’s this afternoon.”

He perked up at this. “Oh, yes? Which of the gowns arrived?”

“The red silk with the jet beads.”

His smile broadened. “That one is for opening night, and not before,” he answered, confirming her suspicions.

“You would not take me out in such an outfit?” she asked lightly.

“Not unless I wished to vigorously defend your honor,” he replied. “Which might prove somewhat exhausting away from home. At least here I have reinforcements. I could depend on Reg’s bulk to dissuade some of their number.”

So surprised was she to hear him refer to The Citadel as home that she initially missed his meaning. When it sank in, she spluttered. “You surely jest, Gervaise. I cannot imagine you having to fight off hordes of admirers on my account!”

“Ah, but you have not yet seen yourself in your new gown,” he pointed out.

“Neither have you!” Caroline countered, shaking her head at this piece of gallantry. “Such nonsense,” she scoffed though she was secretly thrilled by the idea. Certainly, no one in Penarth would ever imagine her in such a scenario!

38

As it turned out, there was a second outfit in the many boxes that had been carried into their impromptu dressing room. Gervaise discovered it later as he inspected his purchases. “Here is something else for you to wear,” he announced, carrying two boxes into their sitting room, where Caroline was clearing the smart little table and tucking in the four matching chairs.

It had been covered with a bunch of her sewing things which she was hurriedly putting away. “I’m afraid Remus has unwound some of my threads,” she said guiltily. “Entirely my fault as I used them for an inducement earlier. What is it?” she asked, eyeing the boxes with interest. “My new walking gown?”

“No. Why would I want you to don a walking gown to eat supper in our private rooms?”

Slotting away the last of the cotton reels, she whisked around and lifted the lid off the first box. She took one look and flashed a quick glance toward the hearth where Reg was busy laying the fire. “It looks like undergarments,” she said in a low voice.

“It is your new nightgown.”

“Oh. And this?” The second box was different from the first, the packaging of pale blue cardboard instead of cream.

“That is the dressing robe I bought you previously but did not wish for you to wear belowstairs.”