Ruin Me Please (21 page)

“What makes you think I would have more than a passing care for Lord Durham?”  Freya replied not quite meeting Poppy
’
s eyes.  Poppy could see that the falsehood weighted heavily on her heart as her shoulders slumped
.

“Perhaps because of the daggers that are shooting back and forth between the two of you o
r perhaps your outburst in the
B
illiards
room this afternoon.
”
  Poppy looked deep into her friends eyes.  “Or…
”
she paused,
“perhaps because I overheard the two of you arguing in th
e hall?”  Poppy’s brow
furrowed in concern
as the color drained out of Freya’s face
.
“You know you can trust me.  I hate seeing you like this.”

“I am absolutely mortified
.
  You heard us talking?”  She groaned in embarrassment.  “I thought no one else was about.”

“Uh, well if you call what the two of you were doing talking, then yes.  Hawksley did too.  He was on the stairs when I was coming to dinner.”  Poppy’s cheeks brightened just a little
as she thought of
their
own
encounter
.

“Why are you blushing?” 
Momentarily distracted from her own plight
by the color flooding Poppy’s face
, she looked
clos
er. 
“Oh my goodness, s
omething has happened between you and
the duke.
”

Poppy grew more flustered with Freya’s scrutiny.
“Quit trying to change the subject.  We were talking about you and Durham.  What is going on with the two of y
ou?  Passion that strong is not
not
h
ing
.”

“I am so sorry
,
Poppy
.
”  She bit her lower lip to stifle her cries.
 
“
I cannot believe I have allowed
Lord Durham to provoke me
so
.
  Please tell me I
am not ruining your house party
with the added dramatics
.” 
She looked
defeated.
“I should have told you an
d
Ch
loe as soon as the sit
u
ation
occurred but it was all so rash and I felt so stupid afterwards
.
”
Freya sobbed.  “I was devastated!
”  She cried.
 
“
Durham took advantage of me and it meant nothing to
him, n
ot
h
ing
at all,” s
he covered
her face, h
er voice muffled as she talked
into her hands
,
“I had danced with him at a few of the balls last season.  I knew what kind of reputation he had but…” 
She looked
pleadingly at Poppy.  “
You
know what goes around isn’t always true
.
 
All
I
could
think
about was the r
u
mor
s
about
Parker…
”
her voice
trail
ed
off
with a p
iteous
look in her eyes
. 

To Poppy’s dismay, tears began falling down Freya’s cheek. 
Sh
e dabbed at her tears with a
lace handkerchief
as she
turn
ed towards the wall forcing
a smile
.
“I will be fine.  He is just one man out of many, right?”

“I am
beyond
livid
, but I
cannot believe you would think my concern would be over a
house part
y
.
  I am thinking of you
.
”   Poppy’s eyes grew wide.  “I can
not believe that I did not know.
” 
She s
queez
ed
Freya’s hand.  “How did I not know?” 
She tried
to think of all the balls and par
ties during the S
eason.  “Was I
just not being very observant?
”  Poppy questioned wo
r
riedly
.  “
I feel so selfish.
”  T
hen
she paused for a moment. 
“Wait a minute
, what
do you mean by
took advantage of you
?
” 
It took all of her will to control the pitch of her voice as she
pract
i
cally shrieked
her
fist
s
clench
ed
in anger.  “I will kill him
.”  She
squeezed her fists together, her nails leaving half-moon prints in her palms
.
 
“
No, I will get Parker to kill him.
”  She unclenched her fists and tapped her chin.
 
“
Wait, I will get Parker, Peyton, Declan and Sey
mour to kill him.
”
By the time she was done, she was breathing hard.
“Well, Seymour may not want to mess up his cr
a
vat but the rest of them would probably do it
.
  What do you think?” 
Her eyes were
wide;
her
bottom lip
caught
b
e
tween her teeth.  “
As a matter-of-fact,
I
’
ll go right now…”

Freya reached out and grabbed Poppy by her wrists. 
“No…no…no,”
With her
voice laced with humor
,
Freya interrupted
.
“It is not your fault Pop
py,”
Freya consoled
with her usual calm manner.  “Please don’t have him killed.  That would definitely ruin your l
ovely house party.” 

Poppy chuckled.

Freya started
to ex
plain,
“It happened at the Elmbridge Ball, well a
ctually, a
little before then really…”

“Wai
t.
”
Poppy
held up her hand
. 
“
Chloe should be here for this as well.”  Turning t
o
wards the other group, Poppy caught Chloe’s eye
and discreetly waved her over.

Chloe practically ran across the room to join
them
. 
“Oh
, thank goodness.
” 
She
slumped,
fann
ing
herself
dramatically
.  “If I had to discuss what colors best suit Lord Seymour for one more moment I would have had an apoplexy.  I vow I have never spoken to someone who thinks more highly of himself
.
 
So v
ery tiring indeed
.
”
S
he
crossed
her eyes.  “Puce? 
What utter nonsense.
 
Honestly,
the man has no taste
.
  How is he so popular with all the
women
?  I know he is an attractive man
,
but…
” noticing
the quiet, she
turned a speculative look
at both girls, a feeling of unease surfaced
.
“This looks
grave.  What is the matter?” she said,
with a faintly questioning note in her voice
,
listen
ing
without further inte
r
ruption.

After moving
to a semi-private area of the room
,
Freya rested
against Poppy’s
side
for a moment.   Taking
a deep f
ortifying breath she
began her story again
,
“At the Elmbridge Ball, Durham and I were waltzing.  Remember how hot it was that evening?”  A smile flickered.  “We stepped outside for just a moment to cool ourselves and then he kissed me
.”
 
She placed
an imploring hand on Chloe’s arm
. 
“
I did not intend for anything to happen, honest.”  Freya hes
i
tated
.
“
It was so wonderful and so terrible all at the same time
.
”  She sniffed. 
“Then the next thing I know, I walk in on him kissing
Collette
! 
Collette
of
all people
?
”
H
er
hands flailed hel
p
lessly.
“Every
gentleman
and
I use that term loosely, has kissed
Collette
.  I was com
pletely mo
r
tified.
”

A look of satisfaction crossed her face
for a brief moment.
“I confronted him later in the ballroom and do you know wha
t he did?” s
he asked.  “He laughed at me
.
”  She closed her eyes.
 
“
N
o, n
ot just laughed at me, but he laughed at me in front of all of his friends
.
” 
She rubbed
the bridge of her nose.  “I know I was the laughing stock of every
gentleman’s
club in London that night.” 
She shook
her head
.
“
I was so
mad
I threw my lemonade on him and stomped out
.
”  Anger glint
ed
in her eyes
.
“He has not
talked to me since.”  She shrugged
.
“
No flowers, no notes of apology, nothing
.
”

“What a beast,” Poppy threw out.

“I canno
t believe we missed all of this,
” Chloe exclai
med, sharing a look with Poppy.

“You were both home.  Poppy you were sick and Chloe I think your Aunt Hettie was fee
l
ing ill as well
,
”
s
he explained.  “Remember when everyone had the flu?”

“I am so sorry we were not there for you
.
”
Poppy hugged her friend close.  “
What a
wretch
.
  I have known Durham practically forever
.
  He has never seemed the reckless sort.  I would never believe that he would play fast and loose
with an innocent girl.
”

“I am just hurt and
more than
a little embarrassed
,
”
Freya replied.  “I was optimistic
he was going to propose.
”
S
he rolled
her eyes comically.  “Goes to show you what
a green girl I truly
am.”

“I could kick myself
,
” Chloe said through gritted teeth.  “The one ball I miss
, out of the entire
season
,
this happen
s
to one of my best friends
.
” 
Her eyes were s
hooting daggers at Durham from across the room.  “Hopefully he will have the devil of a headache in the mor
n
ing.  He is downing that brandy like lemonade
.
”  Giggling,
she grabbed Freya’s hand and squeezed.  “It would serve him right
.
”

“I will
do my best to
find out from Declan what they discussed, agreed?”  Poppy said s
e
riously.  “May
be he found out more of
what is wrong with Durham.”