Page 5 of The Widowed Earl’s Second Chance (Regency Hearts Entwined)

Chapter 5

A tall, slim girl with black hair wearing a dark green dress almost collapsed against the settee, breathing heavily. She looked rather flustered. Louise grabbed onto the ladder before she lost her footing, but the ladder still wobbled a little. She waited for a moment until her heart slowed down and wasn’t threatening to jump out of her chest.

“Oh!” The girl looked up, her hand pressed to her chest as she breathed heavily. “Forgive me, I had no idea anyone was in here.”

“It’s fine. We weren’t doing anything untoward.” Louise made sure that her skirts weren’t under her feet as she climbed down again. “Are you all right? You look rather out of sorts.”

The girl looked embarrassed. She couldn’t have been any older than seventeen or eighteen. And she looked scared. Louise recognized the expression; she had seen it before on those who had entered Society for the first time and felt overwhelmed.

“Well, I…” The girl bit her lip and glanced back toward the door. “It’s just silly, that’s all.”

“Not if it’s clearly causing you distress.” Dusting herself down, Louise approached her. There was something about the girl that drew her in, and she didn’t think she could walk away now if she could. “What’s happened?”

“I…” The girl sighed. “It’s just so frustrating. I’ve got a couple of young men harassing me.”

Louise stopped.

“Harassing you?”

“They say that they want to get to know me more, and I politely told them that maybe some other time. But they didn’t listen. Now, they keep following me around and won’t leave me alone.” She shook her head. “I want to go back to my brother or father and tell them what’s going on, but that means going by the two of them, and they keep getting in the way.”

Louise had encountered someone like this before. They were pains who thought they could get any woman they wanted with some persistence. It was almost like the openly imposing attitude was the most attractive one. Louise had put a stop to it before, but she didn’t think telling the girl to hit them in the face with her fan was a good idea.

“This is meant to be my first ball,” the girl went on. “I don’t want it to be ruined like this.”

Louise looked at Bethany, who nodded and joined them.

“I can go and fetch your father for you if you would like my lady?” Bethany suggested. “I can be quick.”

Before the girl could respond, the door opened, and two tall, slim men came into the room. They were both dark-haired, looking very similar in features. Brothers, certainly. Twins, maybe? They even had identical sneers on their faces, which were now fixed on the girl.

“Come on, Lady Lara,” one of them said as he stepped toward her. “You don’t need to behave in such a manner. We only want to get better acquainted with you.”

Lady Lara stepped away from them.

“I am perfectly aware of what you two want, and I’m not interested. I’ve made that clear.”

“But we are interested, and we’ve made that clear.” The second young man moved to block her way to the door. “All we want to do is talk.”

“I highly doubt that, considering I’ve told you that I don’t want to be around either of you at all!” Lady Lara snapped back. “You’re just choosing not to listen, and that is not my fault.”

“Well, how about we all listen now?” The first lad reached for her. “You give us each a kiss, and then we’ll walk away and leave you alone. How does that sound?”

“No!” Lady Lara slapped his hands away. “Absolutely not!”

“Leave her alone!” Louise moved quickly to stand between the two of them. She glowered at both young men. “She said that she didn’t want that, and you’re going to be respectful and listen. Or did that lesson pass you by when you were children?”

The first man looked surprised that there was someone else getting involved, while the second man snorted rudely.

“Get lost, old maid. This has nothing to do with you.”

“Nothing to do with me? You think I’m meant to sit around and let you harass the poor girl when she’s said very loudly that she wants nothing to do with either of you?” Louise pointed her finger at each of them. “That’s just disgusting behavior. How you two are allowed to carry on like this and think it’s acceptable is beyond me. Women are allowed to turn men down, and that has to be respected.”

“She’s been making eyes at us all evening,” the second lad said, sounding like he was whining. “She can’t turn us down now.”

“I have not!” Lady Lara cried, but Louise held up a hand to silence her.

“It doesn’t matter what you think did or did not happen. The point is she’s making it clear that she doesn’t want this, and you’re causing a scene by harassing her. If this is how the young ones behave nowadays, you shouldn’t be let out of the house.”

The first gentleman sneered at her.

“And what do you know? You’re too old to be considered anything by either of us, Lady Louise. We know all about you and how undesirable you are.”

Louise stiffened, but she was not going to be dragged into that. They wanted to get a rise out of her, and she would not let it happen. She drew herself up to her full height and fixed them with a glare.

“It doesn’t matter what you think of me, the least you can do is respect Lady Lara. She’s said no, and she’s clearly trying to put space between you. How about you cut your losses over something you’re not going to get and find someone else to pester? Because you’ll not get what you want here.”

Before either man could respond with another cutting remark, another young man came into the room. He was younger, closer to Lady Lara’s age, and the colorings and facial features were exactly the same as hers. Was this her brother?

“Archie!” Lady Lara sounded relieved. “They won’t leave me alone!”

Archie looked from one man to another, and his eyes narrowed.

“What do you think you’re doing with my sister?”

“Your sister promised us a kiss,” the first gentleman said with a snigger. “We’re just collecting what she promised.”

Lady Lara gasped.

“Absolutely not! I would never do that.”

“And I believe her,” Archie said sharply. “Didn’t I see you harassing another one of the ladies in the ballroom? You only stopped because her father came along and forced you away. Haven’t you got anything better to do instead of pestering the girls?”

The second young man stepped toward him.

“What’s wrong with having a bit of fun, Simmons? No harm in that.”

“There is when the ladies in question want nothing to do with it.” Archie squared his shoulders. “Now, you don’t want me to cause a scene by starting a fight with you, do you? We’re all perfectly aware that you two are on the cusp of a scandal with another young lady, and you can’t afford to have a repeat performance, can you?”

Louise watched as the two interlopers bristled. Archie Simmons was the younger one of the three, but he was clearly bigger than them. And he looked like he could take on the two of them. Louise wouldn’t be surprised if he tried.

For a moment, she thought that a fight really was going to happen, but then the two lads slouched toward the door. Archie stepped aside and let them out, both of the young men scowling at him. Louise wasn’t expecting them to go that easily.

“Thank God for that!” Lady Lara heaved a sigh of relief. “I thought they were never going to leave me alone.”

“Are you all right, Lara?” Archie asked.

“I will be.” Lady Lara gave Louise a small smile. “This lady was kind enough to defend me as well.”

“I don’t think I did much,” Louise protested. “From the look of it, they weren’t going to listen to me anyway.”

“But you did something,” Lady Lara insisted. She bit her lip, wringing her hands. “I don’t know what Father’s going to say about this, though. If he hears about those two…”

“He’ll be as upset as I am,” Archie said darkly. “You were accosted and harassed. That’s not your fault.”

“Even so…”

“Father’s not going to be upset that you were being chased by them, Lara. You know that.”

Louise could see that Lady Lara was close to tears. She put her arms around the girl’s shoulders.

“Come and sit down, my lady. You need a moment to calm down.” She led the other woman to the settee and sat her down. “Bethany, would you get a glass of water for Lady Lara, please?”

“Thank you,” Lady Lara whispered. “I feel like a fool now.”

“You weren’t doing anything wrong. It was them, and there’s nothing wrong with feeling guilty. It’s a natural response.”

“But…”

“They’re just pathetic little boys who don’t know how to grow up properly. They’ll be dealt with by their respective parents, who I’m sure wish to avoid a scandal if this isn’t the first time they’ve done this.”

“It’s certainly not the first time,” Archie said bitterly. “If what I’ve witnessed and what I’ve heard are anything to go by. One of my friends said that their fathers are talking about sending them away to distant relatives if they can’t behave themselves. They’re both an embarrassment.”

“So much for having a good first time in Society,” Lady Lara muttered. “Now it feels like it’s one of the worst times.”

“Oh, don’t think like that. I’m sure you can improve your evening.” Louise paused as Bethany appeared before them, holding out a glass of water to Lady Lara. “Bethany, would you find Lady Lara’s father? I think he should be aware of his daughter’s whereabouts.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“He’s the Earl of Chesterfield,” Archie said, slumping onto a chair across from them. “And he’s not going to be best-pleased hearing about this.”

Louise froze. Had she heard him correctly? These are Chesterfield’s children? How had she not made the connection? Her mouth went dry. Glancing at her, Bethany spoke quickly for her mistress.

“I’m sure I can find him. I’ll be right back. Are you staying with them, my lady?”

“I am,” Louise squeaked and coughed when Archie raised his eyebrows. “I’ll stay with them and make sure they’re all right.”

Bethany curtsied and hurried from the room, leaving Louise to wonder how she was going to get through this without making a fool of herself again.

***

“Excuse me, Lord Chesterfield?”

Charles turned, exasperated that someone was stopping him from looking for his daughter. Lara was nowhere to be found. There were just too many people.

But then he stopped himself from snapping when he saw who it was getting his attention. The auburn-haired maid who had been with Lady Louise, and Lady Louise was nowhere in sight. Charles cleared his throat and gave her a nod of his head.

“I am Chesterfield. Is there something wrong?”

“Something occurred in the library, my lord. It requires your presence.”

Charles frowned. That sounded too cryptic for his liking.

“If something’s occurred, shouldn’t you speak to the host or hostess about it?”

“But it involves your children, my lord. I think you should be present.”

Now that got his attention. Charles felt his chest squeezing. What had happened to Archie and Lara? He tried not to let the panic build.

“What…what happened?”

“I think you should come and talk to them yourself, my lord. My mistress is with them right now.”

“Lady Louise?”

“Yes.” The maid blinked. “Do you know her, my lord?”

“I…well…” Charles coughed. “You could say that. Now, the library, did you say?”

Giving him a curious look, the maid led Charles through the house to the library. Archie and Lara were there, along with Lady Louise. She was sitting beside his daughter, an arm around her shoulders as Lara hunched over. Archie was sitting on the edge of another chair, looking like he wanted to have a fight with someone. He shot to his feet when he saw Charles enter.

“Father!”

Charles went straight to Lara, crouching before her to see her holding a glass of water and wearing a miserable expression. She looked close to tears.

“Lara?”

“I…forgive me, Father.” Lara used a handkerchief to dab at her eyes. “I didn’t mean to break down like this.”

“What on earth happened?” Charles brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “Has it gotten too much for you?”

“She was being pestered by a couple of gentlemen,” Lady Louise explained, her voice quiet and soft. “We managed to get them to leave, but apparently, they’ve been pursuing her for most of the evening.”

How had he not noticed this? Charles couldn’t believe that this had slipped by him when he had been watching his children. He felt a bubbling of anger rising up in his gut.

“Who are they?” he demanded. “I want to know.”

“Please, Father,” Lara begged, “don’t do this now.”

“Why not? They were harassing my daughter!”

“I don’t want a scene now. I just want to go home.” Lara swallowed. “I think I’ve done enough tonight, Father. Please, can we go?”

Charles wanted to find out the names of the boys who had harassed his daughter—they couldn’t be allowed to walk away without any repercussions—but then Lady Louise spoke again.

“I think it’s best that you do, my lord. Lady Lara is upset, and causing more upset now is going to make things worse.”

“Make things worse?” Charles stared at her. “My daughter…”

“Lady Louise is right, Father,” Archie said suddenly. His arms were folded, and he was scowling at Charles. “Much as I hate it, Lara is our priority. We need to take her out if she’s upset.”

“And what about those two brigands who tried it on with her?”

“I’ll speak to Lady Brighton about them,” Lady Louise replied. “You focus on your children, my lord.”

Charles wanted to tell Lady Louise that this was about his children, his family, and he should be the one who confronted the brats. But he could see that Lara was still in distress, and she needed to get away. He couldn’t leave her like that.

Forcing back his anger, he took the glass from his daughter and put it aside before gently hugging her.

“All right. We’ll take you home. Won’t we, Archie?”

Archie didn’t respond, but he did growl something under his breath. Lady Louise gave him a nod.

“That would be for the best, my lord. Your daughter needs you the most.”

Charles didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure he could answer without snapping. Being this close to Lady Louise in this situation wasn’t helping at all. He was getting distracted by her beauty when Charles should have been focusing on his daughter instead. Grasping Lara’s hands, he urged her to stand up.

“All right. I’ll ask for our carriage to be brought up to the house, and we can leave.”

“Thank you, Father.” Lara leaned into him. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean…”

“You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. You’ve just had a shock, that’s all.” Charles kissed her head and nodded at Archie. “You ask for our carriage, Archie. I’ll take Lara out the front.”

“Yes, Father.”

Archie left the room, and as the door closed, Lara turned to Lady Louise, who had also risen to her feet.

“Thank you, Lady Louise. I appreciate you helping me.”

“I didn’t really do much…”

“I think you did.” Lara reached out and grasped Lady Louise’s hand. “You helped me a lot.”

Charles watched as Lady Louise tried to figure out what to say, her mouth opening and closing. Then she managed a smile and shrugged.

“I just try to do what I can,” she said in a tone that suggested she wasn’t entirely sure of herself. “No woman should have to go through that.”

Why did Charles get the feeling that she had experienced something similar? He managed a smile at her as well.

“I’m glad that you were present, my lady. If anything had happened…”

“Father,” Lara cut him off. “I think it’s best that you don’t go any further with that. Why don’t you come and visit us tomorrow?”

Lady Louise looked surprised. Charles stared at his daughter.

“You’re already inviting people over, Lara?”

“Why not? I think it’s only fair that we thank her for her kindness.” Lara kept her smile on Lady Louise. “What do you think, Lady Louise? Do you want to come and visit tomorrow?”

Charles watched as Lady Louise tried to find a response and realized that he was finding himself hoping that she would turn up.

That brought him up short. What was wrong with him? Why was he suddenly wanting Lady Louise around him? That was not something he should be thinking about right now.

So why was he hoping that she would say yes and turn up tomorrow?