"What have you done?" he bellowed.
A head popped out from behind a tree. "Mr. Ravenscroft?"
"What are you doing? This is a disaster. And you," he said to James, who hadn't made a sound, "stop laughing."
Caroline emerged from behind the tree, her dress liberally streaked with dirt. "I'm fixing your garden."
"You're fixing my- You're what? This doesn't look the least bit fixed to me."
"It's not going to look so wonderful until I finish with my work, but when I do-"
"Your work? All I see is a dozen holes."
'Two dozen."
"I shouldn't have said that, were I you," James commented from a safe distance.
Caroline stuck the end of her shovel in the dirt and leaned on it as she spoke to Blake. "Once you hear my explanation, I'm sure you will understand-"
"I understand nothing!"
"Yes." She sighed, "men usually don't."
Blake started looking around the garden, his head whipping frantically from side to side as he tried to assess the damage. "I'm going to have to call in an expert from London to repair what you've done. Good God, woman, you're going to cost me a bloody fortune."
"Don't be silly," she replied. "These holes will all be filled up by evening. I'm merely moving your flowering plants into the sun. They'll do much better. Except for that impatiens, of course," she added, pointing to the lovely pink and white flowers planted right next to the house. "Those thrive in the shade."
"I say, Ravenscroft," James said, "perhaps you ought to let her continue."
"They were getting too much sun," Caroline explained. "The buds were Burning off before they had a chance to bloom."
James turned to Blake and said, "It does sound as if she knows what she's doing."
"I don't care if she's earned a bloody doctorate in horticulture. She had no right to tear apart my garden."
Caroline planted her free hand on her hip. She was starting to get more than a little irritated with his attitude. "It's not as if you gave a care to the garden before I started my work here."
"And why would you think that?"
"Anyone with an ounce of gardening sense would have been appalled by the state of your rosebushes," she scoffed, "and the hedges are in dire need of trimming."
"You're not to touch my hedges," he warned.
"I wasn't planning on it. They've grown so high I couldn't possibly reach the top, anyway. I was going to ask you to do it."
Blake turned to James "Did I really agree to let her stay?"
James nodded.
"Damn."
"I was merely trying to be of help," she said, bristling at his insults.
He gaped at her, then gaped at the holes. "Help?"
"I thought it only polite to earn my keep."
"Earn your keep? It'd take you ten years to earn your keep after this damage!"
Caroline had been trying to keep her temper in check. In fact, she'd been mentally congratulating herself for remaining so level-headed and cheerful in the face of his anger.
No longer.
"You sir," she exploded, barely resisting the urge to swing the shovel at him, "are the rudest, most
ill-mannered man in all creation!"
He raised a brow. "Surely you can do better than that."
"I can," she growled, "but I'm in polite company."
"You don't mean Riverdale?" Blake said with a laugh as he flicked his head toward his grinning friend. "He's about the least polite company I know."
"However," the marquis cut in, "I would have to agree with the lady on her assessment of your character, Ravenscroft." He turned to Caroline. "He's a brute."
"God save me from the two of you," Blake muttered.
"The least you could do," Caroline said with a little sniff, "is thank me."
"Thank you!?"
"You're welcome," she said quickly. "Now then, would you like to assist me in moving these plants to their new locations?"
"No."
James stepped forward. "I would be delighted."
"You're too kind, my lord," she said with a sunny smile.
Blake scowled at his friend. "We've work to do, Riverdale."
"We do?"
"Important work," Blake practically roared.
"What could be more important than assisting a lady while she's working in the hot sun?"
Caroline turned to Blake with a questioning smile and mischievous eyes. "Yes, Mr. Ravenscroft, what could possibly be more important?"
Blake stared at her in utter disbelief. She was a guest in his home -a guest!- and not only had she dug up his garden, she was also scolding him like some recalcitrant schoolboy. And Riverdale, who was supposed to be his best friend, was standing by her side, grinning like an idiot.
"I've gone mad," he murmured. "I've gone mad, or you've gone mad, or perhaps the whole world has gone mad."
"My vote's on you," James quipped. "I'm quite sane, and Miss Trent shows no signs of derangement."
"I don't believe this. I just don't believe this." Blake threw up his arms as he strode away. "Dig up the entire garden! Add a new wing to the house! What do I matter? I just own the place."
Caroline turned to James with concern as Blake disappeared around the corner. "How angry do you suppose he is?"
"On a scale of one to ten?"
"Er... if you think his mood would fit on such a scale."
"It wouldn't."
She chewed on her lower lip. "I was afraid of that."
"But I wouldn't worry," James said with a reassuring wave of his hand. "He'll come around. Ravenscroft isn't used to having his life disrupted. He's a bit grumpy, but he's not entirely unreasonable."
"Are you certain of that?"
James recognized her question as rhetorical and took the shovel from her hands. "Here now," he said, "tell me what you need me to do."
Caroline gave him instructions to dig under the purple flowering plant and knelt down to watch his work. "Mind that you don't break the roots," she said. Then a moment later: "Why do you suppose he is always so angry with me?"
James didn't reply for a few moments, and the shovel stilled in his hands as he obviously pondered how to answer her question. "He's not angry with you," he finally said.
She gave a little laugh. "We were obviously not watching the same person just now."
"I mean it. He's not angry with you." He stepped on the edge of the shovel and pushed it further down in the dirt. "He's afraid of you."
Caroline started coughing so hard James had to whack her on the back. When she caught her breath she said, "I beg your pardon."
There was another long moment of silence, and then James said, "He was engaged once."
"I know."
"Do you know what happened?"
She shook her head. 'Just that she died."
"Blake loved her more than life itself."
Caroline swallowed, surprised by the squeezing pain in her heart elicited by James's statement.
"They'd known each other all their lives," he continued. "They worked together for the War Office."
"Oh, no," she said, her hand moving to her mouth.
"Marabelle was killed by a traitor. She'd gone out on a mission in Blake's place. He had a putrid throat or something of the sort." James paused to wipe a bit of sweat from his brow. "He forbade her to go, utterly forbade her, but she was never the sort to listen to ultimatums. She just laughed and told him she'd see him later in the evening."
Caroline swallowed, but the motion did little to ease the lump in her throat. "At least her family could take solace in the fact that she died for her country," she offered.
James shook his head. "They didn't know. They were told -everyone was told- that Marabelle had been killed in a hunting accident."