Page 90 of A Duchess to Fight For
Chapter 23
The next day during calling hours, Percy had a banking appointment. He hadn’t called on Louisa for so long that he regularly scheduled appointments during that time. He found he got a lot done during that part of the day.
Harold called. “Come in My Lord,” Louisa said, getting an empty teacup. “How do you take your tea?”
When Harold sat back with his tea, he asked Louisa, “How are you today? Have your nerves settled down since last evening?”
“Yes, thank you. Barton St John has interest in making me his wife by whatever means he can. We usually do a good job of keeping him at bay, but I slipped and didn’t tell you not to let him cut in.” She shrugged. “Now you know.”
“What a relief. Please tell me you will continue to go to the balls and other ton activities.”
Louisa grinned. “I will. The plan to keep Barton away worked well except for last night. I’m not going to hide in my bedchamber because Barton is out there.”
“Good for you. Now that I know, I will keep my eyes on you all night. And that won’t be a hardship.”
Louisa smiled and blushed.
*****
“Hello, Louisa,” Percy said with a bow.
“Hello,” Louisa curtsied then turned to say something to Emma.
‘This isn’t going to be easy,’ Percy thought.
Cecil walked up and stood next to Emma. He whispered hello to her, his lips close to her ear. She looked up at him.
Cecil looked around and assessed what was going on. He wanted to roll his eyes but said, “Percy, nice to see you again. I’ve missed having you around during the balls.”
Louisa jumped in, “Cecil, that’s because he has been entertaining Nora.”
Cecil turned to Percy. “Ah, you’ve finally figured out that Louisa doesn’t want to be entertained by you, so you’ve moved on to Nora. Good man.”
Emma gasped, “Cecil.”
“What? You’re going to chastise me for telling the truth?”
Percy stopped gritting his teeth long enough to say, “Maybe we should change the subject. I was in the card room last night. I didn’t win by the way. Did I miss anything?”
Cecil said, “You didn’t hear?”
“Hear what, Cecil?”
“Barton had Louisa on the dance floor by the hands. She couldn’t tug them away. If Kent hadn’t intervened, we don’t know what would have happened.
Percy turned to Louisa, “Is that true? Are you all right?”
Louisa look at him, “Yes, thank you.”
“I don’t understand. We had a system to keep him away. One he couldn’t get around.”
Cecil said, “We have a friend, Harold Newton. He danced with Louisa before any of us could think to tell him about Barton. I blame myself.”
Louisa looked at Cecil, “Oh, Cecil, don’t blame yourself. There were five of us, and none of us remembered.”
“Now you know. If you dance with anyone else, make sure someone tells your dance partner there are no cut-ins allowed.”
Kent came into the conversation. “You would have remembered if you were here last night.”
