“Val,” she said just as his mouth took hers briefly and he pressed against her, just as she pulled away.
“Why did you come here?” He asked her quietly.
Caroline swallowed and then moved from him. They were still together in the dark. “I think I know who my sister was seeing. The one she was so secretive about.”
“Who?” He asked trying to compose himself.
“Charles Lyttleton.”
“Lyttleton? How did they meet?”
“I don’t know. But when I last saw Charles, when he asked me to marry him, he said something about my sister being flighty but that I was what was needed in a wife.”
“He was just talking. You said yourself he wasn’t serious about the marriage. The entire conversation was prattle.”
“Perhaps but he has a reputation with women,” she began and then saw Val’s dark face. “So, I’ve heard,” she added.
“There are a lot of men in London with a reputation,” he surmised.
“Do you? Have one?” She asked him.
In the dark he smiled but then grew serious. “Yes. The wrong kind.”
“What is the wrong kind?” She wondered.
“Let’s see. I’m the second son of an earl who works for a living. I’m the one that the women gossip behind their fans at parties but would never do anything with because I’m not really a gentleman.”
“Not really a gentleman?” She echoed him.
“I work you see. I sully my hands and actually do something that the government pays me for. Imagine that.” He said.
“Admirable.” She told him.
“Is it?”
“Of course. What should you do? Sit at home reading The Times all day long?”
“Perhaps.” He said. “Many men in my class don’t work. They consider it beneath them.”
“Well it’s not. And they’re just lucky. A stroke of luck and by birth they can live a life of ease. But you can’t and my father doesn’t. So, where’s the shame?” She wondered.
“Very true. And your Mr. Davies must work as well.”
Caroline flushed. “He’s not mine. He’s an investor is all.”
“If he asked you to walk out with him at Regents Park, would you?” He asked suddenly.
“He wouldn’t,” Caroline shook her head.
“If you gave him any sort of encouragement, he would,” he told her.
“This is an absurd conversation.” She shook her head. “And I don’t walk out with gentleman. It’s not proper.”
“You’ve walked out with me.”
“I didn’t!”
“Well not intentionally. But at the park in the dinosaur court and dinner. And I seem to recall you came to my lodging.”