My Darling Caroline Read Online Free PDF Page A

Miramont, her new home on the Weymerth estate, Caroline knew she was living a nightmare.
    Before her stood a massive building surrounded by unbelievable disarray. It was three stories in height and constructed out of old, gray brick. Trees had been planted around the house to frame the approach from the road, but there were no flowers or plants, much less landscaping. A dozen stone steps led to the huge front door, but they were so covered with weeds and dead vegetation she could barely find a suitable path on which to walk.
    Sighing and lifting her skirts, she started climbing them, and although she stepped carefully, by the time she reached the top her satin wedding slippers were covered with grass and mud.
    Brent followed her, speaking hesitantly. “I’ve been working on the stables and the inside for the last three weeks so you wouldn’t be so completely shocked when you arrived, Caroline. I’ll soon begin out here.”
    She smiled reassuringly. “I’m sure it’s fine.” Then she walked through the tall oaken door and knew she had never made a more erroneous statement in her life. The inside was much worse—stripped bare, deserted, and smelling as if it hadn’t been cleaned in centuries.
    Caroline looked around, feeling awkward and unsure in only her husband’s presence. He must have noticed it, for he relaxed a little as he moved to stand beside her.
    “I’ll walk you around so you’ll become more comfortable with your surroundings,” he said quietly. “Then we’ll talk.”
    She nodded and glanced up to his face. Wisps of dark blond hair curled around his ears, lightly touching his collar, and his mouth, soft and full, slowly turned up in a smile.
    He looked amazingly different from their initial meeting, and his attractiveness caught her a little off guard. His hair had been trimmed, his skin had become bronzed from days in the sun, and his body had filled out as he’d apparently decided to eat.
    He’d surprised her, too, when he appeared at their wedding dressed in navy superfine. She was almost afraid he would be casually clothed, bored to tears, for she certainly wasn’t ignorant of her husband’s regard for her and their marriage. She hadn’t seen the earl since the day they’d met, as he was apparently more concerned with returning his home to its former magnificence than visiting his betrothed, and truthfully, she couldn’t have cared any less. She knew he’d been away for several months, and his home had been neglected, so spending his free time restoring Miramont gave him an excellent excuse to stay away, she supposed.
    But to his credit, he had been a gentleman throughout their wedding ceremony, and for that she was relieved. With her sisters all present, she had been certain he would spend the entire time gawking at them, unaware of her existence. But he hadn’t really appeared to notice them, at least not as beautiful women, and had kept his attention focused solely on her from the time she walked down the aisle to the time he solidified the agreement by kissing her gently on the lips at the end of the ceremony.
    And now, gazing at the hardness of his jaw in contrast with the smoothness of his skin sent a shiver through her body. She could feel the warmth of his large, muscular form penetrating her own, and the knowledge that he would be this close to her for an uncertain period of time truly disturbed her. He was the most…masculine nobleman she had ever seen in her life, and in looks alone, he put all of her sisters’ husbands to shame.
    Caroline drew a determined breath, gave him a shaky smile, and lowered her gaze from the penetrating directness of his to finally take in her surroundings.
    Slowly she walked across the entrance hall, concluding that she indeed had her work cut out for her, for it was a filthy, dust-covered mess. The ceiling extended upward as high as the building itself, and the floor, made of a pale peach marble, spread out before her as the only lovely thing to