Ruin Me Please (23 page)

“Cut chase, Poppy.” 
His e
yes narrowed
with a d
isgruntled
look
.  “Declan already told me that you witnes
s
ed the dis
h
a
---d
isa
greement between
Freya and myself
.
”
H
e looked
pee
v
ish.

“Is there anything that I can do to help ease your spirits?” 
s
he asked g
enuinely co
n
cerned.

He avoided
the question
with a mocking tilt to his chin.
“Would you like me to serve you?  This veal looks scrumptious
.
”
  H
is
brow
rose
.
“
Would you care for some of these
creamed peas
?
”

“That would be lovely, thank you
,
”
Poppy answered.  “You know, I have it on good a
u
thority that Freya would be open to your suit
,
” she
whispered behind her napkin.

“
I
beg your pardon?
”
h
e blurted
, nearly
dropping the
serving fork.  His eyes goggled;
glancing
around to make sure no one witnessed his outburst.

“
Durham,
I am just letting you know
that you
deeply
hurt
one of
my dearest friend
s
.  That is all
,
”
s
he said with
a small frown
. 
“Friend to
friend, of
course
.”

Durham gulped and stammered
, “
Uh, yes
…I think I understand…of course.
”
S
omewhat
flustered. 
“Uh, thank you.” 
He shot a look
at Freya
,
who just happened to be looking
back at him.

Freya stiffened and turned back to listen
intently
to Parker.

“I swear my intention was not to hurt Freya.  Promise you will not say anything
.
  Swear to me
,
”
Durham pleaded
as he glanced around once more
to make sure no one else could hear
.
“I love her
.
”

Poppy gaped
in amazement
.
“Is there truth in what you
are
say
ing,
Durham?”  The words burst
out of her mouth, unable to stop her
stare
.
“You really love her?”
s
he whi
s
pered
behind her hand
.

“Poppy,” Durham whispered
solemnly
.  “I think I have loved her for a very long time.”   

“But that is wonderful news!”  Poppy beamed.  “Well then, what are you waitin
g for?  And why are you arguing with her?
”  Poppy inquired.

Durham didn’t answer.
 

And
Poppy didn’t press the issue further.

“I believe
I know how
you can help redeem yourself.”

“What?”  Durham looked desperate.  “I’ll do anything.”

“Good
.
”
Poppy smirked.  “I could really use some help with
a festival at
Auntie Adele’s s
chool.”

With a dee
p frown, “Do I have a choice?”

“You said
anything
.”  Poppy
sat back with a
grin.

Supper was over so Poppy took
full
advantage of the lull in the conver
sation,
stood
and
smooth
ed
the
wrinkle
s
in her skirt.  “Ladies
,
let us allow the gentlemen their port and cigars.
” 
She gestured
towards the door.
 
“
We will see you in the drawing room in a little while.”

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;

And therefore is winged cupid painted blind.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

*William Shakespeare

A
fter the glass
es
filled and the cigars lit
,
Parker
sat back and quiet
ly watched his friends through
narrowed e
yes.
 

“What the hell is going on in my house?” 
H
is glare encompassed
everyone in the room
.  “We have not even enjoyed a full day of
each other’s
company as of yet and there is
already
some unde
r
lying drama taking place.”

Durham stared at him.

“First
it looked like Freya was c
rying.”  He glanced across at Durham.

“
A blush spread across Poppy’s face
every five seconds
.
”
He
quirk
ed
his brow at D
e
clan and
shook
his head
.

“
And
to top off this issue you are apparently having with Freya,
Durham,
you have some kind of a rage, depression thing going on
.
”
Parker
stared
at him with a confused look on his face
waving his hands in the air
.  “We are not leaving this room until I get some answers
.
  I cannot
.
I repeat
,
cannot allow
a bunch of lunatics
free rein of my
house
.
  This is not a bawdy house.  If you are unable to control your
urge
s
you might want to consider
spending your summer
els
e
where
.”  His tone
was
enough to cause
any
normal
ma
le
to quake in his boots.

“I am respons
ible for
three innocent maidens,” he continued
, holding up three of his fingers for emphasis.  “
Their parents entrusted the
m to my
care for just a short little while
.
”
  H
e
held
his fingers together to
emphasize t
he length of time.  “They believe me to be a man of honor
, a
man of sound mind
, a
m
an who has a well-run household.
 
I
consider myself
a man of
all these
attributes
,
as well.” 
He took a
deep
bre
ath
, then continued in the same easy manner as before
.  “The
se same
parents
who handed over their daughters
to my care, these same lo
v
ing and devoted mothers and fathers will not hesitate to
string me up if anything untoward were to happen to their sweet, innocent little girls
while they were under my protection
.
”

No one said a word; each had a look of chastisement on their faces.

H
e
stared
at each of the men
as he took a deep draw on his cheroot
.
“
In turn,
I will string up anyone that hurts even a hair on one of
my
sweet, innocent little sisters.”  His brows were dark
brown
slashes across his furrowed
forehead.  He crushed
his c
heroot
almost violently in the ashtray
.
“S
o, someone better start talking and it better be good.
”
H
e crossed his arms
over his chest
.
  “I trust I have made my point quite clear?”

“I am innocent
.
”
Seymour grinned wickedly
, holding ups his hands in surrender for a s
e
cond
.  “W
ell, a
t least for the moment.” 
He took a long draw on his cigar and blew
a ring of smoke in the air.
“
Anyway,
I have never been
one to
seduc
e
virgins.” 
He turned his eyes t
o
wards
Declan
.
“I’
m
here
just
for the show.  Besides, I have been unable to find a willing mai
d
servant yet
.
”
H
is white even teeth show
ed
with his wide grin.  “You have obviously trained your household staff well.” 
He s
tr
etched his arms above his head.
“I am impressed
, Ashford.
  I never expected to be
this e
n
tertained.”

“Seymour, this is not the time or the place for your humor,” Parker
said without the
blink of an eye.

Declan looked at Parker
and
s
wallowed
his port in one gulp
. 
Standing, he
walked
to the French windows
.
“You know I would not do anything to hurt your sister or our frien
d
ship
.
” 
He took a relaxing
draw on his cheroot.

“I know you would never do anything to
intentionally
hurt my sister, however, s
he is an innocent
.
”
Then
Parker
asked
,
“Can I trust you with her?”

“Absolutely
,
” Declan said
, taking a grateful sip of his port
hoping he was speaking the truth. 

“And you
,
Durham?”  Parker waited for a reply.

Durham
glared
at Parker
for several seconds, but
finally replied
,
“
I’m
working on it.” 
He took
a large swallow of his port.  “Mind your own damn business
,
” Durham grumbled.

“Since all of these shenanigans are taking place in
my
home,
I am minding my own
damn business
,
”
Parker said
his mouth pulled in a thin line.
“Now
, we
have left the ladies
alone
long enough.  S
o can we all agree to behave?”

They all nodded their heads in agreement and dully responded
with the tone of
repr
i
manded
school
boys
,
“Yes
,
Parker
.
”