Page 4 of A Duchess to Fight For
He was tall and handsome, with impeccable manners. He was intelligent and interesting. Percy thought he also had good taste in women.
Jack told her he saw her across the ballroom and knew he had to ask her to dance. Immediately. She was tall, willowy and animated. Her smile travelled across the space between them. Her dark hair and dark eyes gave her an exotic look. At first, he tried to figure out why he felt the pull but said he gave up trying to figure it out. He was drawn to her, and nothing was going to change that.
Louisa was attracted to him. It was a nice feeling that he was also interested in her. When they weren’t dancing their two dances, they stood near the wall of the ballroom and talked. They ate the midnight dinner together and took refreshments together. She wanted to get to know him better. And it seemed he wanted to get to know her better as well.
When Jack visited during calling hours, he told her stories about growing up in Salisbury. He described the countryside as green, rolling hills with a lake that matched the colour of the sky on a clear, sunny day.
He and the stable master built a course of increasingly difficult jumps. He spent hours working with his horses until each mastered the course.
Jack worked on the estate and in the village, helping to build a well in the village closer to the livestock and sheep. He helped prepare roots and plants for the healer. They made so many different plant remedies that he put the extra in pouches. Salisbury’s healer took the extras to surrounding villages.
Louisa loved hearing Jack’s stories. Although they were both only children, she spent much of her time alone. Her upbringing was different.
“I gathered up a pile of small rocks and laid them out on the ground in large squares to make room in the house. That’s when I left openings in the walls for doors and even made the dining room larger than the parlour. It was laid out just like our house.
“Then I’d walk from room to room, making sure I went through the doorways. I would sit down in the parlour. That’s when I would scold myself for not remembering to bring out the cups and saucers so I could have a tea party.”
Jack laughed. “That was clever of you. You mentioned that you read a great deal since you were a child. Did you read outside? I enjoyed spreading out a blanket and reading in the sun on a warm, cloudless day.”
Louisa smiled. “I loved that sometimes I woke up later with a book in hand, and I wouldn’t remember how I fell asleep. Reading is by far the best solitary activity. It saved me from boredom my entire childhood.”
In truth, there were very few entertaining stories Louisa could tell from her childhood. There were no children in the house. All the servants’ children lived in the village.
She had no cousins to visit or to visit her, and she never went to London until she was fifteen.
Every day, her mother required her to dress in dresses of pink, yellow, and white. If she played outdoors, she couldn’t do anything that would cause her dress to get dirty.
When her parents were in London, her governess, Darcy, would allow her to dress more casually. She could go to the barn and play with the dogs and pick flowers in the meadow.
As a special treat, she and her governess would walk to the village and walk up and down the main street looking in the windows of the cobbler, the seamstress, the baker.
Darcy would buy her a piece of chocolate. It tasted so much better in the bakery in the village than it did on a plate offered at teatime.
Back on the main street, Louisa would watch the barefoot children her age kick a ball between them, laughing. She longed to take off her shoes and stockings and play with them.
Darcy would take her hand and say, “Come. It’s time to go back.” They would walk back, Louisa dragging her feet.
The village seemed so magical. It was another world where there was a bakery and laughing children at play. So different from her life. Her quiet, regimented life that didn’t allow her to go around spontaneously deciding what she wanted to do next.
Louisa spent hours dreaming of running away from home. She would take a large cloth and put bread and cheese in it.
She would pack a nice dress, but she would ride with breeches. Once she got to London, she would go to the park and meet girls her age, and one would offer to take her in.
Then, she would grow up with a friend her age who liked to play with dolls, play patty-cake, race and explore wooded areas. She longed to go into the woods and see what it was like in there.
After she was settled with her new family, she would write to Mother and Father to let them know where she was living. She would ask them to visit on weekends. To visit her because she was sure she would miss them and they would miss her.
Then her plan would crumble. She would not be able to get to London by herself. She didn’t know the way. She didn’t have any money. She couldn’t stay in an inn by herself. Would one dress be enough when she got to London?
What if she didn’t make a friend at the park? Where would she stay? And on and on until she realized she was stuck at her country estate.
Time went slowly. Laughter and joy were scarce. Most of her gifts were books, which she loved, but which represented one of the few approved activities she had.
Going to London at the age of fifteen was the most exciting time of her life. Every single day was a joy.
Sometimes Louisa wondered if London would be such a joy if Percy weren’t in her life. From the moment she met him, they laughed and understood each other. It was the most important relationship she had.
After dance lessons, Percy somehow started coming over every day for tea. Louisa looked forward to that time every day. He would make her laugh. He would make her think. He was so relaxed like he was part of the family.
