Caroline heard the door of the breakfast room open and looked up to see her older brother William enter the room.
She leapt from her chair and greeted him with a hug. He had been back in England for a number of months, but the Saunders family members still greeted him the same way they had the first time he set foot back in the house after five years away in France.
“Lovely to see you. Did you bring Hattie with you?” she said.
“No. She was out late at the soup kitchen last night and is still sleeping. I thought I might come over and see you before you head off to Derbyshire,” he replied. He held up a tiny pair of blue baby booties and smiled as he looked at them. “And Mama has presented me with yet another pair of knitted boots for the baby.”
Will’s recent marriage to charity worker, Harriet Wright, had been followed quickly with the news that they were expecting their first child. Adelaide Saunders had already finished a number of baby garments for her long-awaited first grandchild.
Her tall, dark-haired, brother took a seat at the breakfast table, and Caroline resumed her seat. “It was nice of you to come and see me,” she said.
Knowing Will, there would be more to the purpose of his visit than just saying goodbye to his sister.
Caroline waited for Will to take his first sip of coffee before posing the obvious question. “Papa tells me you know Lord Newhall from your time in France after the peace. I am assuming you have come to tell me he is not a bad chap after all and that I should be nice to him. Would that be the sum of it?”
Will put down his cup. “Yes, that is exactly why I am here. I understand from Francis that you and Newhall have been at loggerheads for some time, and I have come to simply ask you to attempt a fresh start.”
“Why?”
“Because Julian Palmer is a good man. He has done a great service to his country and even if you do not particularly like him, he deserves your respect,” replied Will.
Will was not one for bandying about his words. He was more direct than other men. Life living as a secret agent during the reign of Napoleon had changed him. So too had the death of his first wife. Caroline knew she could not be as flippant with Will as she could be with Francis.
She wanted to tell him that few men deserved respect. That men were tiresome creatures at best. But she wasn’t a fool. Will would give those sentiments short shrift.
“Alright. I will be polite and respectful to him while I am a guest in his home. It is not as if I am planning to marry him. In fact, I am hoping to remain a spinster for quite some time to come,” she replied.
Will huffed in obvious frustration. “Don’t act like a silly miss, Caroline. Marriage is a wonderful thing. I have loved and lost, and by God’s grace I have found love again. Promise me you will go to Newhall Castle with at least an open mind, if not an open heart.”
“I don’t know about the open heart. Lord Newhall doesn’t strike me as a man capable of much emotion,” she replied, hurt by his words.
“And there you are very much mistaken. I was with Newhall in Paris when he received word of his father’s death. Believe me, Caroline, he was utterly crushed. Don’t judge others by your own cold indifference, you run the risk of one day falling in love with someone who only values you for your beauty. It would break my heart to see that happen. You deserve more,” he said. Will downed the last of his coffee and rose from the table.
Caroline remained in her seat, staring at her rapidly cooling toast. Her parents worried that their daughter was a heartless tease. And the brother she had missed for all those years thought her cold and indifferent to love.
They stood in judgment of her, yet none of them had any understanding as to why she had become the Ice Queen.
None of them knew how desperately lonely she was.