He eyed her reprovingly, as he had whenever she had pulled a mischievous prank as a child. "Come now, Miss Brie, I've known you since you were a babe. I can tell when something's afoot. You've been acting like a skittish colt lately, and that young lord hasn't been much better. He's right taken with you. I'd wager a year's salary there's something between you two."
It was Brie's turn to look embarrassed. "That doesn't mean that he wants to marry me," she said in a small voice, her fingers nervously twisting a button of her spencer. "Or that I want to marry him."
John shrugged. "Well, now, he's a fine man, Miss Brie. Reminds me of a horse I once knew. Strong, proud animal. Wild as the devil himself. Wouldn't let anyone near him, till one day, this little girl came along and broke him to the bit, gently as you please. Surprised us all. Remember that, Miss Brie?"
Brie flushed, recalling the incident. When she was ten or so, her father had bought a new stallion that no one dared to ride. Against Sir William's express orders, Brie had climbed on the animal's back and proceeded to tame him. Remembering
her father's reaction—rage mingled with pride in her skill—Brie laughed self-consciously. "Surprised? Papa was furious with me for riding him. But you can hardly compare Lord Stanton to a horse."
"I don't know about that," John shook his head slowly. "People aren't so different from horses. They need patience and understanding . . . a firm hand sometimes, a loose rein others. I'd think about it carefully, Miss Brie. Your father would have been proud to have Stanton for a son."
Brie did think about it, but she had none of John's confidence about her future. Nor could she objectively view her relationship with Dominic. She would toss restlessly in her bed each night until she fell asleep, and then she would dream of him. In her dreams, Dominic would take her in his arms and make love to her till she thought she would die of happiness, but once or twice her fantasies turned to nightmares, filled with hatred and fear. Brie would wake, gasping for breath, still feeling the strangling pressure of strong fingers around her throat. It left her with a sense of foreboding that she found hard to understand and even harder to dispel.
Brie's relationship with Dominic was the subject of concern in yet another quarter, for Caroline was still determined to bring her cousin and the rakish Lord Stanton together.
Caroline had never learned precisely what had happened the night Dominic stayed at Greenwood—and she had wisely refrained from asking Brie about it—but she could tell something was different. Brie had positively glowed the next morning, and Lord Stanton had smiled at her in a way that was unmistakably intimate, his cool gaze softening whenever he looked at her. Caroline, who was no stranger to courting rituals since she had grown up with three older sisters, had no trouble recognizing the possessive interest in his eyes.
She spent several days contemplating what else could be done to further Brie's cause, but she was still dwelling on the vexing problem at the end of the week—even when she was supposed to be playing chess with Julian.
"The devil take it, Caroline, can't you keep your mind on the game?" Julian demanded as he neatly checkmated her defenseless queen.
Startled, Caroline looked up from the chessboard. "I beg your pardon, Julian. I suppose I am worried about Brie."
"Yes?"
"I . . . I think she is in love with your friend, Lord Stanton."
"That doesn't surprise me. Dominic can charm the birds out of the trees if he puts his mind to it."
Caroline eyed Julian curiously. He didn't seem disturbed to have a rival for Brie's affection, for he was casually rearranging the playing pieces. "But I thought you were in love with Brie," she said doubtfully.
A smile curved his lips. "I was, once. A strong case of calflove, I've come to realize. Luckily Brie had the good sense to turn me down."
"Then you wouldn't mind if Brie married Lord Stanton?"
Julian shot her a disapproving glance. "This is hardly a suitable subject for us to be discussing, don't you think?"
"I don't see why not. We are her friends, and I for one am concerned for her happiness. Lord Stanton is said to be a rake and a womanizer and—"
"You aren't even supposed to know of such things."
"Well, I do! And I think it's horrid that girls are supposed to be blind to what goes on around them."
Julian tried to repress a grin at her sudden earnestness. "I expect the gossip about Dominic is greatly exaggerated. He just doesn't care what people say about him."
"Then you ought to help me."
"Help you? Help you do what?"
"Why, help me help them make a match of it, of course." When Julian laughed out loud, Caroline glared. "I don't see what you find so amusing."
"Caroline," Julian said patiently as he attempted to control his humor, "Dominic wouldn't thank me for interfering in his affairs, or you either for that matter."
"But we must do something!"
"I've already warned him not to trifle with Brie. If I say any more on the subject, I'll have to back up my words with pistols at dawn." When Caroline's eyes widened, Julian leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides, I'm not sure that we would be doing Brie a favor. Dominic has the devil's own temper at times, not to mention a tongue that can let blood faster than a rapier. Before this, I had always thought him too cold-hearted to fall in love."
"Then you think he returns her regard?"