The Rake's Rebellious Lady by Anne Herries

hoped to take a trip in a balloon himself very soon.
    ‘You will not do so, sir,’ Helen said, and looked shocked.
    ‘Oh, you lucky thing,’ Caroline said at almost the same moment. ‘I should love to go up in a balloon. It looked so exciting. Just think how wonderful it would be to float across the sky and look down on what is happening below.’
    ‘Do you not think that you might fall over the edge?’ a voice asked from behind her. She felt a tingle at the nape of her neck and turned to see the person she had somehow expected. ‘Or are you so intrepid that you would dare anything, Miss Holbrook?’
    Caroline looked into Sir Frederick’s dark eyes and saw the mockery there. ‘I believe I should like it of all things,’ she replied, challenging him. She had a feeling that he was trying to provoke her deliberately and, as before, she was aware that to let herself like him too much might be foolish. ‘I think it would be almost impossible to fall out unless one were very stupid, sir—unless it was to crash, of course, but I do not believe that happens so very often.’
    ‘I am certain it would not dare with you on board,’ Freddie said, much amused by her answer. He had been watching her from across the room, fascinated by the play of emotions on her expressive face, and he knew he was not the only one to think her exceptional. She was certainly a hit, for you could not go anywhere in society without hearing her name. If her artlessness were real, she was truly a pearl amongst women.
    ‘Now, be truthful, Miss Holbrook,’ he said and studied her face, trying to probe beneath the surface. She intrigued him. She must marry well, for she had no fortune, but her manner seemed to say that she would as lief take a nobody as a duke, which had added greatly to her popularity. Was that the real Caroline or just an act? ‘Would you truly wish for a balloon flight? I believe I could arrange it if you dare?’ His brows rose, answering her challenge with one of his own.
    ‘Do you really mean it?’ Caroline was ecstatic, her face alight with pleasure. ‘Oh, if only I could. My aunt would not approve, naturally, but perhaps she need not know exactly what I have been doing. We could arrange to drive out to Richmond…Mr Bellingham, too, perhaps?’
    ‘May I be one of this party?’ Mr Rivers asked. ‘If Helen and Henry came too, it would be quite respectable. A picnic in Richmond Park and a balloon ascension, too. I’m sure your aunt could not object—and she need not know the whole of it, of course.’
    Freddie groaned inwardly. He had made the suggestion idly, believing that Caroline would withdraw at the last moment, but from the expression of delight on her face it was clear that she was all for the excursion.
    ‘Oh, I should love that,’ Caroline declared with enthusiasm, ‘and if we are to go in a party, my aunt will not think it her duty to come with me. When shall you arrange it, sir?’
    ‘For next week,’ Freddie said, pulled in by some force stronger than his will. ‘On Thursday if it is fine. I shall call for you myself at ten in the morning, Miss Holbrook.’
    ‘Oh, thank you!’ Her eyes were glowing. ‘You are so kind, sir. I cannot thank you enough.’
    ‘I believe you may change your mind when it comes to it,’Freddie said. ‘But for now, will you do me the honour of becoming my partner at a game of whist?’
    ‘Yes, why not?’ Caroline said. She laid her hand on his arm, giving him a brilliant smile. Freddie almost blinked—he had the impression that the sun had just come out and it sent him a little dizzy. She was truly an enchantress, whatever else she might be. ‘Tell me, who are we to oppose?’
    ‘George and Julia,’ Freddie said. ‘She is very modest about her skill, and tells me she plays whist with her grandmother for peppermints.’
    ‘Oh, does she?’ Caroline nodded happily. ‘I used to play for humbugs with Nicolas. He usually won all the sweets from my jar—but I think