The Rake's Rebellious Lady by Anne Herries Page B

calmly laid her trump card, taking the trick. ‘I must ask him about it when I next see him…if I ever do.’ She sighed.
    ‘Well done,’ Freddie said, as she collected her cards and laid a small club. ‘A gentleman perhaps paying for hismisdeeds. However, there were many other escapades that might not be so admirable as that fight, as I understand it.’
    ‘You must tell us,’ Caroline cried, taking the next hand with a nine of clubs. ‘I have heard he was a gambler and…well, perhaps I should not say.’ She glanced at Julia and then down at her cards.
    ‘No, perhaps not,’ Freddie said.
    ‘I think we should change the subject, Freddie,’ George observed with amusement. ‘It is Julia’s birthday dance this weekend. I trust you will be there, Miss Holbrook—and you, Freddie?’
    The subject was successfully turned and they applied themselves to the cards. When everyone began to drift into the dining room, several other young people joined them at their table, and the conversation became very animated. Someone mentioned the balloon ascension and somehow the party grew to three carriages, to include Mr Bellingham and his niece Julia.
    * * *
    After supper, Caroline suggested to Julia that they should join forces against the gentlemen at cards, an idea that was taken up with pleasure. Luck must have been with them, for they won two games to one and enjoyed the feeling very much. Despite her shyness, Julia had true character, gathered no doubt from the long hours she had spent playing cards with her formidable grandmother, and she could be ruthless when it came to taking a trick.
    Caroline asked Julia if she would care to go shopping with her the next morning. An arrangement was made to meet, and they parted on good terms.
    Caroline was feeling very pleased with herself as she joined her mother, who had consented to accompany themthat evening. However, her smile faded as Aunt Louisa came up to them, looking very satisfied with herself.
    ‘I am pleased to see that you have taken my advice,’ she said, her smug tone making Caroline itch to quarrel with her. ‘I observed Sir Frederick’s manner towards you this evening. I think he is taken with you. If you continue as you are, I am certain that he will come up to scratch before the Season is done.’
    ‘I am not sure that you are right, Aunt,’ Caroline said, containing her irritation with commendable control. Her aunt’s comments made her uncomfortable, for she had certainly not set her cap at Sir Frederick. Indeed, until recently she had not been sure that she liked him. She had now revised her opinion and was secretly afraid that she was beginning to like him rather a lot, which only made her cross. She certainly would not wish him to think that she was angling for a proposal! ‘We are becoming better acquainted, but there is nothing to show an attachment on either side.’
    ‘You must listen to your aunt, Caroline,’ Marianne Holbrook said nervously. She had sensed the friction between them and it made her uneasy, because she knew that her sister would lecture her on her daughter’s faults when they were alone. Of course Caroline was a trifle headstrong and wilful, but she was also kind and thoughtful and her mother did not wish to be lectured on the subject. ‘I am sure she knows best.’
    ‘Yes, Mama, of course,’ Caroline said, though her face was set like thunder. ‘I dare say my aunt knows much more than I on a great number of things—but perhaps on this I may be allowed to judge for myself.’
    ‘You are a stubborn, ungrateful girl,’ her aunt said. ‘Well, I shall not argue with you, Caroline, but you will see that I am right soon enough.’
    * * *
    Caroline’s dreams were peaceful enough, though when she woke she did so with a start. She had been dreaming of a room filled with gentlemen playing cards, and a deadly game was taking place between two men, one of whom was Sir Frederick. The reason it had caused her to shiver upon waking was