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A few minutes later Caroline had her paper bird in her hand arid was regarding the rosebushes from the other side. "You are in dire need of pruning," she said aloud. Someone had once told her that flowers responded well to conversation, and she had always taken the advice to heart. It wasn't difficult to talk to flowers when one had guardians like hers. The flowers inevitably compared quite favorably.
She planted her hands on her hips, cocked her head, and perused her surroundings. Mr. Ravens-croft wasn't the sort to boot her out while she was tidying his garden, was he? And Lord knew, the garden needed tidying. Aside from the rosebushes, there was honeysuckle that needed to be cut back, hedges that ought to be trimmed, and a lovely purple flowering bush she didn't know the name of that she was convinced would do better in full sun.
Clearly this garden needed her.
Her decision made, Caroline marched back into the house and introduced herself to the housekeeper, who, interestingly enough, didn't look the least bit surprised by her presence. Mrs. Mickle was quite enthusiastic about Caroline's plans for the garden, and she helped her to locate a pair of work gloves, shovel, and some long-handled shears.
She attacked the rosebushes with great enthusiasm and vigor, snipping here and trimming there, chattering to herself-and the flowers-all the while.
"Here you are. You will be much happier without"-snip-"this branch, and I'm sure you'll do better if you're thi
After a while, however, the shears grew heavy, and Caroline decided to put them down on the grass while she dug up the purple flowering plant and moved it to a su
But then she saw some other lovely flowering plants. These were dotted with pink and white blossoms, but they looked as if they ought to be producing more blooms. The garden could be a delightful riot of color if someone would only care for it properly. "Those should also get more sun," she said aloud. And so she dug up some more holes. And then some more, just for good measure.
"That ought to do it." With a satisfied exhale, she went over to the purple flowering bush that had initially captivated her and started to dig it up.
Blake had gone to bed in a bad mood and had woken up the next morning feeling even worse. This assignment-his last assignment, if he had anything to say about it-had turned into a fiasco. A nightmare. A walking disaster with blue-green eyes.
Why had Prewitt's stupid son chosen that night to attack Caroline Trent? Why did she have to go off ru
She was a constant temptation, and an aching reminder of all that had been stolen from him. Cheerful, i
Blake stomped out of his bedroom, his expression black.
"Ever cheerful, I see."
He looked up to see James standing at the end of the hall. "Do you lurk in dark corners, just waiting to bedevil me?" he growled.
James laughed. "I have far more important people to bedevil than you, Ravenscroft. I was just on my way down to breakfast."
"I've been thinking about her."
"I'm not surprised."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
James shrugged, his expression beyond i
Blake's hand descended heavily on his friend's shoulder. "Tell me," he ordered.
"Merely," James replied, removing Blake's hand and letting it drop, "that you look at her a certain way."
"Don't be stupid."
"I've many bad qualities, but stupidity has never been among them."
"You're insane."
James ignored his comment. "She seems like a nice girl. Perhaps you should get to know her better."
Blake turned on him in fury. "She isn't the sort one gets to know better/' he roared, sneering the last word. "Miss Trent is a lady."
"I never said she wasn't. My my, what did you think I was implying?"
"Riverdale," Blake warned.
James just waved his hand in the air. "I was merely thinking that it has been quite some time
since you've courted a female, and as she's conveniently right here at Seacrest Manor-"
"I have no romantic interest in Caroline," Blake bit out. "And even if I did, you know that I will never marry."
"Never is a very strong word. Even I don't go around saying I will never marry, and Lord knows I have more reason to avoid the institution than you do."
"Don't start, Riverdale," Blake warned.
James stared him hard in the eye. "Marabelle is dead."
"Do you think I don't know that? Do you think I don't remember that every single bloody day of my life?"
"Maybe if s time you stopped remembering that every single bloody day. It's been five years, Blake. Almost six. Stop doing penance for a crime you didn't commit."
"The hell I didn't! I .should have stopped her. I knew it was dangerous. I knew she shouldn't-"
"Marabelle had a mind of her own," James said with surprising gentleness. "You couldn't have stopped her. She made her own decisions. She always did."
"I swore to protect her," Blake said in a low voice.
"When?" James asked flippantly. "I don't recall attending a wedding between the two of you."
In half a second Blake had him pi
"Marabelle isn't here. Caroline is."
Blake abruptly let him go. "God help us."
"We have to keep her at Seacrest Manor until she's free of Prewitt's guardianship," James said, rubbing his shoulder where Blake had grabbed him. "It's the very least we can do after you abducted her and tied her to the bedpost. Tied her to the bedpost, eh? I should have liked to have seen that."
Blake glared at him with a ferocity that could have felled a tiger.
"And beside that," James added, "she may very well prove useful."
"I don't want to use a woman. Last time we did that in the name of the War Office she ended up dead."
"For the love of God, Ravenscroft, what will happen to her here at Seacrest Manor? No one knows she's in residence, and if s not as if we're going to send her out on missions. She'll be fine. Certainly safer than if we turned her out on her own."
"She'd do better if we packed her off to one of my relatives," Blake grumbled.
"Oh, and how are you going to explain that? Someone is going to wonder how you came to be in possession of Oliver Prewitt's ward, and then any hope we have of secrecy will be destroyed."
Blake grunted in irritation. James was right. He couldn't let his co