Ruin Me Please (14 page)

F
eeling out of control was new to her. 
She
did not
understand what was wrong with her.
 
She had been around dozens of attractive
men
.
 
Why Parker and Peyton’s friends were some of the m
ost sought after men in England, w
hat was so different about this one?

A sudden pounding in her head threatened to overtake her. 
Heavens!
 
She paced
res
t
lessly and
began to panic
again
.  Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Poppy stopped pacing
talking aloud
, “
I
can
not think about this right now.
”

She paced some more.  Back and forth, back and forth knowing she would be
able to think
if
s
h
e was more relaxed. 
She rang for her
maid
.

After a soft scratch, Holly
entered the room, then curtsied.  “Yes, m’lady?”

“
I
believe I will have a bath.  I
believe lavender is in order,
Holly
,” she
said
rubbing
her forehead.

“Are y
ou feeling a headache coming on,
Miss Poppy?” 
Holly
asked with concern.  “I can have Mr
s. Hastings send up a tisane?”

Her brow puckered in a frown.
“No
Holly
,
I’m
just
a little overwhelmed
that is all.
”
  She rubbed her fore
head again.
“Just quite a bit to do that is all.”

The bat
hing room,
built for the
twin
s
’
particular use
was s
ituated between their rooms
and
a
ccessible through both of t
heir dressing rooms.  Bright with
gleaming white marble
cov
e
r
ing the floor, l
arge
cabinets
filled with
additional linens and
fragrant
cakes of soap.  It held a copper tub lined with linen
and now
f
illed with lavende
r along and
frothing bubbles.

Poppy submerged herself all the way up to her n
eck
.  The soothing scent eased her di
s
tressed spirits.  Lifting herself, she leaned her head back and inhaled.  The heat of the bath r
e
laxed her tense muscles. The
rising
steam curled the tendrils of hair that escaped at her nape.  Excitement
coursed throughout her body when she started
to analyze the encounter she had in her garden.  Tapping her fingers rhythmically on the lip of the
tub,
she replayed their convers
a
tion in her mind.  ‘Shall I compare thee to a
summer’s
day?
’  Poppy snorted.  He has surely been blessed with a silver tongue to go along with his
otherworldly
, masculine beauty.  He had to
w
ered over her. 
She thought of
how she had to strain
her neck to look him in the eyes, g
o
r
geous emerald green eyes. 
His large rough hands, the memory of his ungloved hand holding hers sent shivers down her spine
.
Sighing, she submerged her head under the water to clear her mind
, coming up sputterin
g
she wiped the bubbles from her face
with a gi
g
gle
.

After drying
off,
she was sitting at her vanity when Piper walked
in
unannounced
.  “
Are you alright? 
Holly said you had a headache.
”

Poppy frowned for a moment,
then responded with only
one word,
“Hawksley
.
” 
She
met her twins gaze
in
the mirror.

“
What about Hawksley?
”  Her head tilted as she looked at Poppy.  “He is extremely handsome.”   Glancing in the mirror, she picked up th
e brush on the vanity and ran
it thr
ough Poppy’s long golden hair.

“Yes he is.” 
Poppy’s worried expression concerned Piper.
“Something happ
ened when we were in the garden, before you arrived.
” 
She
gaze
d
restlessly about the room. 
“I
don’t know what to call it.  It was like lightening course
d throughout my whole body.”

“Did he touch you?”

“No, nothing like that
,
” Poppy struggled for words.  “He’s magnificent
—
more than pe
r
fect.”

“
I doubt that
,
” Piper
retorted, throwing
in a bit of reality.  “W
ell
I can tell you that he is equally intrigued
.
”
S
he
raised
one of her brows.  “He mention
ed your encounter quite a few times
during the course of
breakfast.”

Poppy
grinned.  “
He’s is exactly what we talked about.  He is the complete opp
osite of a fribble
, he is a—man,”
she said finally.

“
I think you will be interested to know
h
e even charmed Auntie Adele.
  Had her eating right out of his hand as if it were made of candy.
” Piper’s brows rose high on her forehead.  “And you know how hard that is to do.”

“How did he manage that?”  Her curiosity piqued, it was tough to get Auntie Adele to like you.

“He did nothing.”  Piper chuckled
.
“Auntie just kept talking about how she loved big strong men and sheep.”

“Sheep?” 
Poppy’s eyes widened.

Piper waived her hand dismissively. 
“Don’t ask me.” 
She
giggled.  “Auntie must
know something
that we are not privy too
.”

“How odd
.
”
They both laughed in agreement.
Moving towards the
adjoining door, Piper said, “Maybe you will be a
ble to tame a rake after all.”
 
She gave her twin
a measuring stare. 

“Oh pooh
!
”   Poppy laughed.  “Leave me alone
.
  You’re just trying to fluster me.”  Her blue eyes almost dreamy as a warm heat sufficed he
r cheeks.

“It looks like
I won’t have to try too hard.”
             

Love com
e
forth like
a sunshine
after rain, but lust’s effect

Is tempest after sun; Love’s gentle spring doth

Always fresh remain, lust’s winter comes ere summer

Half be done; Love surfeit’s not, Lust like a glutton dies, Love is all truth.

Venus and Adonis

*William Shakespeare

             
P
oppy sat on her window seat
,
the air infused with honeysuckle, listen
ing
to the chirping birds
while she
worked at
sort
ing
the
muddle
of t
houghts
running through her head
.
 
Georgie
snu
g
gled
comfortably
in her lap
was
oblivious to her agitation,
enjoying the restle
ss scratching b
e
hind his ears.

Anxious for
Chloe and Freya’s
easy friendship and comfort she waited
impatiently f
or their arrival.
  She pressed a hand to her stomach to calm the apprehensive flutter there
drawing in an
unsteady breath.  If this is what love felt like, then she was not sure she wanted to conti
n
ue down this path. 

She sat for another quarter hour until she final heard
the crunch of carriage wheels on the
pebble
drive.  Forgoing formality and good manners, she
rushed down the stairs, her bare
feet
slapping
on the stairs
until she reached the bottom and threw h
er arms around Chloe and Freya almost knocking
them over
. 
S
he
then
kissed
them soundly on their chee
ks with a loud smacking noise.

“I have been counting
down
the days
, the hours, even the minutes until I was able
to see you both
.”

Not to be
overlooked
, Poppy’s ever present canine, Georgie, jumped and barked for a
t
tention at their feet.

“See it is unanimous, even Georgie missed you
.
”

“Poppy, you
are as silly as ever
,
” Chloe
said
.
“
But
I
must confess, I have
missed you te
r
ribly
, too
.” 
Chloe looked down and spied
Poppy’s unshod toes peeking out from the edge of her gown.  With h
u
mor in her
voice,
she
ex
claimed, “For
heaven’s
sakes, Poppy
.
  Wh
at have you done with
your shoes?”

Poppy jokingly replied
, “I was too excited to put them on. 
I
have
been listening for the crunch of your
carriage wheels all afternoon and when the sound finally intruded on my mela
n
choly,
I could not bear to wait even one more second to see you
.
”
She
hugged
her
frie
nds tigh
t
ly
once again, sinking into the
warmth of their
embrace
.

Declan
ducked into an alcove at the sound of feet racing down the stairs and
watched
from the shadows
as Poppy greeted her friends in the foyer. 
Chloe and Poppy were
a lot alike
, a
t least in spi
r
it
it seemed
.  That
was
where the resemblance ended. 
Where Poppy was light to darkness,
breathtakingly lovely, Chloe was sin to redemption.  A
mass
of f
laming red hair
crowned her head
,
average
height
but
with
a
figure to die for
and a natural sensuality that flowed from her every pore.
  T
h
e Botticelli came to mind.  
He knew her father to hold a distant Scottish title, so that is probably where it came from.  She was definitely not
your
typical milk and w
a
ter miss.

Freya on the other hand seemed a little more reserved
, but she was equally as s
tunning.  Tall and willowy
,
she stood
far
above Poppy.