Page 45 of The Duke In My Bed (The Heirs’ Club of Scoundrels #1)

Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.

Louisa didn’t know how much longer she could pretend she was having fun.

She wasn’t. The music was loud, the room crowded, and the constant roar from chatter and laughter had her wanting to look for Mrs. Colthrust and Gwen and tell them she was ready to go home.

That this madness of parties would go on for another two weeks was almost more than she could bear to think about.

As far as she was concerned, the Season was much too long.

Surely a month of parties and balls night after night should be the most anyone had to endure.

She enjoyed dancing, conversing with people, and the glass of champagne she had each evening, but she was ready to return to her life of spending the evenings at home with her sisters, playing games, working on her stitchery, or reading.

And she knew that Bonnie, Sybil, and Lillian were missing her and Gwen, too.

She thanked the young man she’d danced with and bade him good-bye on the dance floor, having to insist she didn’t need him to help her find Mrs. Colthrust.

“Miss Prim?”

Louisa turned to see a tall, portly gentleman she didn’t recognize standing beside her.

“Good evening,” he said. “I don’t know if you remember me, but we met at the first ball of the Season. I’m Mr. Alfred Hopscotch.”

“I met many people that first evening,” she said, knowing she had no memory of being introduced to him. “Thank you for reminding me of your name.”

“We didn’t have the opportunity to talk. The party was a crush, and everyone wanted to meet you for obvious reasons.” He ran his hand down the ends of his neckcloth and said, “I wonder if it might be possible for me to have a few moments of your time tonight?”

She looked around the room, hoping to spot Gwen or Mrs. Colthrust. “I was just trying to find my sister and chaperone.”

“I promise I won’t take much of your time,” he said. “I am a personal attendant to the Prince, and he has asked me to discuss something with you privately.”

“Are you sure it’s me?” she asked, thinking if the man attended the Prince, then he must have mistaken her for someone else.

“Quite sure. Do you mind if we step over to the side of the room and away from the dance floor?”

“All right,” she said, curious as to what the man wanted to discuss with her.

He led her over to a corner near a large urn.

He looked around as if to make certain that no one was close enough to hear him and said, “What I have to say is of a most private nature to the Prince. At his request, I must ask that you keep anything I say to you in the strictest confidence. He wants assurances that what I say to you will go no further.”

Louisa looked suspiciously at the man, still not convinced he had the right person. “All right,” she said, and continued to stare at him. “But pardon me if I find it improbable that the Prince has sent you to a ball to talk to me.”

He smiled reassuringly. “When the Prince told me this afternoon to approach you, I suppose I could have waited and visited with you at your home tomorrow. But when the Prince asks me to do something, I don’t usually tarry.”

“Perhaps you should tell me what it is, then.”

“The Prince knows the Duke of Drakestone vowed to your brother that he would marry you and that His Grace has not made good on that promise.”

“I believe everyone in London knows that, Mr. Hopscotch.”

“The Prince has tried to impress upon the duke how critical it is that he keep his word and marry you, but the Prince has seen no progress in that direction.”

“I had no idea this matter would even cross the Prince’s mind. Surely he has more important things to concern himself with than a personal matter between me and the duke.”

“What the dukes do and say is always important to the Prince. He feels strongly that the Duke of Drakestone should uphold the long-standing honor of the dukes before him and live up to his word and marry you.”

The man paused and waited as if he expected her to say something, but she remained silent. She had stopped answering questions about the duke after the first week of the Season.

“Have you asked the duke to fulfill his vow and marry you?”

“Certainly not,” she said.

“The Prince would like for you to.”

Louisa’s eyebrows rose, and so did her ire. “Sir, I don’t know what to say to you or to the Prince other than it is by mutual consent that the duke and I do not wish to marry.”

“The Prince must ask you to reconsider. I am not at liberty to give you the particulars of why it’s necessary—the duke knows them, of course—but it is in the Prince’s and England’s best interests for your wedding to the duke to take place by the first day of June.”

This conversation was getting more bizarre by the moment. “I find it difficult to believe that whether or not the duke and I marry would have anything to do with England or the Prince, Mr. Hopscotch.”

“It is of great importance to the Prince and to England. I am not here talking to you about this as a lark, Miss Prim. The consequences of not marrying the duke by the stated date will create a very serious matter in England.”

Very serious?

A flicker of unease prickled over her. “And you’ve talked to the duke about this?” she asked. “And stressed to him that he needs to marry me?”

“A number of times. I can’t impress upon you enough that this is a matter of great concern to the Prince. If you do not marry the duke by the first day of June, there will be great embarrassment and scandal to England and the Prince.”

She knew dukes were powerful and that many things went on behind closed doors concerning political matters, but she whispered, “I don’t see how that could be.”

She could understand how it might embarrass the Prince if he had made some kind of wager about the outcome of their marriage, as many gentlemen in London had, but how could it possibly affect England?

Suddenly something more pressing entered Louisa’s mind.

Now she knew why the duke had come to see her that night after their afternoon in the park.

He didn’t want to comfort her. He wanted to seduce her.

He knew she desired him. He may even know she loved him.

And Bray assumed once he had taken her innocence, she would feel obligated to marry him.

A pain gripped her stomach. He was trying to force her to marry him because the Prince wanted him to marry her. Heartache filled her. She had hoped that just maybe he wanted to marry her because he had some tender feelings for her, but now she knew that wasn’t true.

“So Miss Prim, can the Prince depend on you to do what is right and ask the duke to fulfill his obligation to your brother and marry you with all haste?”

“As you know, Mr. Hopscotch,” Louisa said stiffly, “it is difficult to force the duke to do anything he doesn’t want to do, but you can depend on me to talk to him about this and get the matter settled as quickly as possible.”

This time, the man smiled as if quite pleased with himself, and he ran his hand down the ends of his neckcloth again. “The Prince will not forget your consideration, Miss Prim,” he said, nodded, and then walked away as quietly as he’d come upon her.

“Who was that?” Mrs. Colthrust asked, coming up to Louisa.

“He said his name was Mr. Alfred Hopscotch.”

“Why were you over here in the corner with him?”

“We were just talking about the Prince,” she said as anger at Bray grew inside her.

“I’ve never heard of Mr. Hopscotch. Is he related to a title?”

“He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask.”

“Hmm, well, if you are interested, I can find out for you.”

“No, Mrs. Colthrust, I am most certainly not interested in Mr. Hopscotch.”

“Well, I might be,” she said, watching him walk away. “He’s not so dashing as some gentlemen, but he doesn’t have a bad look about him either. Did he happen to say whether or not he was married?”

“Of course not, and that was the furthest thing from my mind while we were talking,” Louisa said.

“Well, doesn’t matter right now anyway. I see he is already leaving. I’ll have to meet him another time, but I will make some inquiries about him. I’ve been looking for Gwen. Have you seen her recently?”

Louisa started scanning the ballroom. “No. The last time I saw her, she was dancing with Mr. Standish. That was several minutes ago.”

“Maybe she’s in the retiring room. I’ll check there and you look on the other side of the dance floor. Perhaps she’s standing in a corner by a large urn like you are.”

“Could we meet at the front door? I think I’m ready to go home.”

“I suppose we have been here long enough, but I don’t know how you and Gwen will ever find a husband if we continue to leave early each evening. Go, go. I’ll meet you at the front door.”

As soon as Louisa located Gwen, she was going to find Bray and let him know she now knew the truth of why he’d finally decided to comfort her.

A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. It was the door to the courtyard opening. Gwen walked inside. Louisa expected to see Mr. Standish come in right behind her, but Louisa’s feet halted and her stomach felt as if it fell to the floor. It was Bray who walked in after Gwen.

A soul-shattering pain ripped through Louisa.

Bray had been in the courtyard with her sister?

A feeling of betrayal washed over her. Her hands curled into fists.

Gwen turned back to Bray, and they spoke quietly before she hurried away.

Louisa didn’t know which emotion she felt strongest—anger, jealousy, or hurt that Bray would dare try to woo her sister.

She could forgive him for ignoring her for two years, for having no patience with the girls, even for keeping the Prince’s intentions from her, but she would not forgive him for pursuing her sister.

With single-minded purpose, she strode over to him, pinioned him with a glare, and in a frosty tone said, “How dare you take my sister out to the courtyard for a romantic interlude!”