Free Caroline and the Captain: A Regency Novella by Maggi Andersen Page B

he rode away and left me there. It took me ages to compose myself enough to go home.” The fear that followed caused nightmares for years.
    “Why didn’t you tell your father?” he asked incredulously. He slid across and drew her into his arms, his big hand softly stroking her head.  “He would have had him thrown into Newgate.”
    “I was too ashamed to tell Father. And I was afraid. Only George knew.” The relief of confessing it to Nicholas was so profound, her body shuddered and she could scarcely breathe. “And there was another reason too.”
    “Tell me, sweetheart,” Nicholas said softly.
    “My father as you know, was part of the East India Company and we spent my early childhood in Madras in India. I had a sister, Emily, she was two years younger than me. She died when a cholera epidemic swept through the part of India where we were living. I was sent back to England with my nanny to stay with an aunt, and later, enrolled in a boarding school in Surrey. My parents returned home and bought Mirrington Manor and all their dreams rested upon me.” She turned to him. “So you see, Nicholas, I couldn’t inflict more pain on them.”
    “ My God . You poor, poor girl,” he murmured.
    She buried her face into his shirt and broke into heart-wrenching sobs. She couldn’t stop for the life of her. “Post said if I told my father he would come back and murder us all. He’d set fire to the house. I believed him.”
    Nicholas tensed against her. “The devil! I’ll find him, and when I do…!”
    Caroline looked up at Nicholas through a misty veil of tears. She drew in a breath at his steely expression. He looked very frightening. This was the side of him that saw combat. He’d been so gentle and reasonable with her, she’d forgotten how dangerous she thought him at first sight. She shivered. She would not like to be his enemy. But at the same time a calmness enveloped her and her limbs went limp. He would protect her.
    “I believed I could never marry. But George was my friend. It’s hard to describe, but he’d never tried to kiss me…or anything. After our marriage was arranged, I told him some of what had happened. He was furious and went to London to employ a Bow Street Runner to find Post.”
    “When did George do this?”
    “Earlier this year, but to my knowledge, nothing came of it.”
    “What if the runner had found Post?” Nicholas stared into space. “And Post had come here to stop George from pursuing it further.”
    Caroline shuddered. “Could he have been here that day and killed George?”
    “Makes sense, doesn’t it.” Nicholas gently moved her aside and rose. “We’ll have dinner, and then you must retire, you are exhausted. I have work to do in the office. We will find out more tomorrow when the magistrate arrives.”
    They picked at the meal barely speaking. He seemed deep in thought. Caroline watched him over the table. The way his long fingers held the wineglass. His every movement had grace. She wanted to reach out and take his hand in hers. But she had no right.
    Rising from the table after dinner, Caroline rubbed her arms. “I don’t want to be alone.”
    Nicholas turned to stare at her. “What do you mean, sweetheart?”
    “Not…for that.” Caroline’s face heated. “It’s just that I feel safer when you’re nearby.”
    His eyes caught and held hers. “How near?”
    “Could you sleep in my bedchamber?”
    “You want me to share your bed?”
    She twisted her hands in her lap, and nodded, unable to say the words.
    “All right.” He smiled. “You’ll be safe with me. I’m not in business of forcing ladies to my will.”
    “I know that, Nicholas,” she said humbly. It was surprising that in such a short time she trusted this man. She would trust him with her life come to that. She would have liked him to hold her and perhaps to kiss her, but nothing more. She gasped realizing with a shiver of panic that she could not endure anything more. She should not