Ruin Me Please (17 page)

All the men in the room
cleared their throats to cover their uncomfortable
sni
ck
er
s
.

“Obviously you did not impress me
well
enough to make the effort.” 
She pivoted quic
k
ly and stalked away,
her
slippers
tapping
angrily down the hall.

Durham visibly winced.

Poppy and Chloe
stood with their mouths gaping
wide
open. 
B
oth a
westruck with the set down
Freya issued
,
giggl
ing
helplessly
behind their hands
.  

A
s
she
turned to
leave,
Poppy could
n’
t help but outwardly laugh, which she hurriedly muffled by slapping her hand over her mouth. 
“You will have to excuse us gentlemen
.
” 
She coughed,
her brow raised
as
she looked at Parker
. 
“W
ill we see you all at di
n
ner?”

“Of course
,” Parker
said with a gleam in his eye
. “Do enjoy yourselves ladies.”

A tingling
sensation
started at her scalp, working its way down her neck causing Poppy to
turn slowly
catching
Hawksley
’s eye
.
 

A glimmer of amusement apparent, Declan gave a slight nod of acknowledgment.  His gaze growing more intent
, never had he found a woman so striking.  Fresh faced misses were not in keeping with his usual style. 
Nevertheless,
her lively humor and serene
self-possession intrigued him.

Her gaze locked with his
,
sparks flared and sizzled. 
A
ttempt
ing
to quell the fluttery se
n
sation that had developed in her stomach
,
Poppy
spun around and
sailed into the hall her heart racing
.  She dragged in another breath and fought to steady her dizzy head. 
She ran
her fi
n
gers down her skir
t to steady their shakiness and made her way sedately
to the sitting room.

***

“I have to admit, I am impressed
,
Durham
,
”
Seymour said
with feigned approval
.  “She
says plenty
f
or someone who does
n’
t
speak
.
”

Durham growled in irritation.

***

Poppy and Chloe
barely made it to the
nearest settee
before they burst out with ra
u
cous laughte
r.  Falling together, they
held their sides as t
ears
stream
ed
down
their cheeks.

“P-p-priceless,”
Poppy sputtered
, trying
to catch her breath
and
wip
ing
tears from her eyes
with the back of her hand.  She gasped.
“Did you s-s-
see the look on Durham’s face?” 
She hooted
with laughter.

“Well done, Freya,”
Chloe agreed ho
ld
ing
her
stomach as she
laughed even harder.  “Goodness!”

Seemingly o
blivious to her two friends,
Freya paced
back and forth , her spine stiff with
agitation
.
“The nerve of the man.”  S
he harrumphed.  “
We have not spoken more than a few words of greeting lately
and he presumes to know all about me?
” 
She growled with
clenched fists, her face
flushed a deep red. 
Her
chestnut eyes
,
one of her best features
, were
r
ight now glorious.  T
he color
a
m
plified to a deep,
dark
chocolate due to her immense anger. 

“Well I say
,
Brava!  Brava!
”  Poppy encouragingly inform
ed
Freya of what she saw.  “
I wish you had stayed to s
ee Lord Durham’s face
.
”  She chuckled.
 
“
His mouth was
open
so wi
de he could have caught a trout.
  I have never s
een him look so flustered
. 
You were brilliant.  He i
s a
lways so s
elf-assured; it is nice to see him fall down a rung. 
Downright
entertaining
,” s
he
said, drawing
in a breath.  “
Well
,
he dese
rved everything you gave him.
 
Don’t you dare
apol
o
gize?
”

“Serves him right
,” Chloe
chimed in
. 
“Here, here!”

Comfortably enthroned in her chair before the window, Adele worked diligently on her latest pillowcase.  She shook her head
with
her eyes twinkling
and
a smile on her face
. 
“
Ma
n trouble so soon?”

Poppy’s head flew
up;
she had not realized her aunt was in the room.

Freya sat so forcefully on the edge of her chair that
she knocked
the side table
causing it to rock
.  “Uh, do be careful with that Cloison
né vase,”
Poppy murmured dryly.
“I
t is obscenely valuable. 
You could
probably feed a whole vil
lage for a year with it, in fact,
I think it is worth more than my do
w
ry
.
” 
She once again grinned.

Freya giggled
glancing at Adele
.  “I cannot imagine where my
anger came from?” 
She said with
a
quizzical look in her eye
and a furrowed brow
.
  “I hadn’t even realized I was feeling that way.”

“There’s nothing wrong with passion
,
my dear,” Adele offered
, her tone was
mater-of-fact
.  “It makes life more stimulating.”

“Auntie, s
ay something soothing.” 
Poppy
looked at her
.

Adele’s eyes twinkled.  “Well, it is a fact.”  She shrugged.

“
He just made me so fighting mad.  I am simply mortified
at my display
.
” 
She glanced at Aunt Adele before turning back to
her friends.  “
How will I look the rest of the gentlemen in the eye at di
n
ner?” 
Freya’s
cheeks flushed
a
n even
bright
er
shade of red.
“I will never understand men.
  I absolut
e
ly mu
st take my dinner in my room.
”

Poppy
studied
her distraught
friend.  “Do
n’
t be ridiculous
.”  She gripped her hands t
o
gether with agitation.
 
“Absolutely not,
I refuse to allow you to hide in your room as if you had done something wrong
.
” 
Her eyes narrowed
.
 
“
Let Durham take dinner in his room!” 
She
shouted.  “I would not think anothe
r m
i
nute on it if I were you.”

“You were perfect,”
Chloe praised.
  “
You were simply marvelous.
” 

The sitting room door opened with Piper
and Miss Harris gliding in. 
Both
perfect exa
m
ple of how
ladies
should enter a room. 

“What is going on?
”  Miss Harris shot a glance at Poppy.
 
“
What are you girls up to?”  With nar
rowed eyes, she
grinned.  “I c
ould not even hear myself think.
  What is all the noise?  You girls are laughing in the sitting room and the gentlemen are
all in a tizzy
in the
B
illiard
s
room?”

With wide eyes
Poppy pasted an innocent
look
upon her face
.
“I am not aware of an
y
thing untoward,
Miss Har
ris.”  Poppy turned laughing
eyes to Freya.  “Perhaps you might gain more information about the volume from Freya?”
  Both Chloe and Poppy burst out laughing
once
again.  “She is the t
roublemaker t
o
night
,
Miss Harris.
”
  She informed through her laughter.

“Poppycock,
I cannot believe that for a moment
.
”  Miss Harris blinked.
  “I have never known Freya to be a troublemaker.”

Piper grinned.  “This is definitely going to be an enjoyable summer.”  Her eyes twinkl
ed
with mischief.  “I cannot wait until Agnes gets here next week
.
”

***

“What a mess, a
complete
and total
bumble-broth
.
”
Durham
slanted his friends a sharp glance
, he
groaned
loudly
as he loosened his cravat.
“Why didn’t any of you warn
me?  Not one of you said a word.
 
You are the worst sort of
friends
,
”
h
e whined
with an outraged glare
.   “
A
l
lowing me to walk into a trap,
I made a complete ass of myself.
” 
He laid
h
is
head on the edge of the
billiard
s
table
, banging it against the side a co
u
ple of times
.  “I am such an ass.
”

Declan
replied
drily
, “Well
, it
didn’t look like you needed our help to make a complete ass of yourself.”

“You did a fine job all by yourself
,
”
Seymour agreed
,
nodding his head.

“Please don’
t destroy
my B
illiards table.”  Parker interjected in between their
sarcastic comments.

Nodding solemnly
, Peyton
leaned on his cue.  “What is going on with you and Lady She
f
field?  There was a
little too much passion in her
speech
for mere acquaintances
.”