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back several times since, of course, but the sight of two small boys bowling a hoop down the street as they arrived and their sister pleading with the nursemaid to be granted a turn too had brought him too vividly to mind for her to continue.
    It had been a lovely day. Bertrand had included his grandparents and the rest of the schoolroom party in the outing and they had sought permissions and brought a picnic, but she had known right from the expedition being mooted that it was her he especially wanted to address. He wanted to say something particular, something he couldn’t give tongue to in the stables in the early morning with her dressed in breeches and the men all around.
    ‘Keep visiting my folks, won’t you,’ he’d said, after the ancient stones had been clambered over, clothes dusted down, raised pies and cold chicken eaten and they had moved slightlyapart from the others. ‘They’ll need some life about the place once I’ve shipped out.’
    ‘Of course,’ Caroline had replied. ‘I would even if I didn’t want an excuse to keep escaping from home. And I’ll look after Rufus and see to his training for you as well.’
    ‘For us ,’ he’d corrected her. ‘And don’t forget to carry on with our betting account. Flood will put the money on and bank the winnings if Harry can’t.’ He’d coloured and fiddled with his gloves. ‘Caro, I know you’re only fourteen and I’m quite a bit older, but you’re the best friend a chap could have and I’ve always thought we might … That is, I’ve been rather hoping that in another couple of years we’d….’
    A well-spring of happiness had nearly unmanned her. ‘Oh yes, Bertrand. Yes, please. I’ve never wanted anything else.’
    He’d looked relieved. ‘That’s all right, then. I’ll sell out once we’ve seen off Boney. Don’t much fancy the army in peacetime. Those brats are making a hash of flying the kite, aren’t they? Shall we give them a hand?’
    Reviewing the conversation now, Caroline could see it lacked a certain something as far as romantic declarations went, but Bertrand Penfold had always been more at home with jokes than with deep feelings, and to a girl who had idolized him since he first put her up on a pony when she was an adventurous three-year-old and he a good-natured twelve, the unspoken understanding between them had been all she’d needed. Oh Bertrand, if only you hadn’t—
    ‘What the devil are you doing here alone?’
    Caroline’s eyes flew open. The children and their nursemaid were gone. Instead, Lord Rothwell towered in front of her, his eyebrows drawn together in a fearsome scowl. ‘I am not alone! I’m with my brother and Miss Taylor.’
    His lordship looked around in sarcastic disbelief. ‘Who are where exactly?’
    Caroline stood, furious with him for jerking her out of her memories. ‘Not that it is any of your business,’ she snapped, ‘but Harry and Louisa have applied to see the abbey ruins. I felt alittle fatigued so said I would wait here for them.’
    ‘You’ve been crying,’ he said abruptly.
    ‘ I have not !’ She turned away from him and sat down again, trembling. ‘Pray do not let me keep you from your promenade.’
    To her rage, she felt the bench shift under his weight. ‘I had the ruins in mind myself, but must also admit to feeling a little fatigued. I daresay it was the drive. I shall contemplate the scene for a while, the better to armour myself against any ghostly Franciscans.’
    ‘They were Benedictine monks, not Franciscans, and I wish you would have the goodness to armour yourself somewhere else.’
    ‘Oh no, this position suits me very well. But please do not feel obliged to make conversation. Handsome architecture of the sort I see before me is far better appreciated in silence.’
    ‘Insufferable,’ muttered Caroline.
    ‘How strange. That was always my sister’s opinion when constrained to accept a companion. You are out of luck. I have first-hand experience of the