She had asked if her sisters had seen the other brothers but although Sara had mentioned seeing Jackson, and of course Lucas, earning a sound Meredith scolding for using their Christian names, there hadn’t been any mention of Hugh.
Then she’d had to sit tight while Meredith lectured them on decorum. Meredith had been adamant that they would rise above things and be sophisticated young ladies on this visit. Louisa heartily disagreed.
The only thing she wanted to rise above was her hand over her head so she could deal out another slap or two.
“I am not,” Sara had said hotly, “calling them Lord Ashbury, or Mr. Mayford… heavens.”
“Lord only knows what they’ll do with that kind of ego elevation,” Louisa had interjected fiercely.
“And besides, they are Lucas, Hugh and Jack to us! We’ve seen them in short pants and with bloody noses—”
“I get the picture… but we are ladies. They might be savage and uncouth natives, but we are not. We will address them as is proper because we are proper… they are simply beneficiaries of our manners.” Meredith had folded her hands on her lap in that annoyingly ladylike way of hers.
Louisa felt suddenly weary of the whole thing. She’d been living on nervous adrenaline all day, awaiting her moment of confrontation with Hugh Mayford, and the horrible man hadn’t even had the decency to turn up.
She hoped his mother rang a peal over his head for his rudeness.
“You are far too uptight,” Louisa had sighed. “I’m going to bed. Can you believe that they gave us all separate rooms? I don’t know whether to be thankful or afraid.” She hadn’t trusted a Mayford man in years, and being isolated from her sisters only increased her wariness.
And she had had every intention of going to bed. But she was so het up, so upset for her sister, that she didn’t think she would sleep at all, and so, sneaking away from the party, she wandered aimlessly around the darkened hallways of the house, eventually finding her way to the darkened conservatory.
The conservatory was blissfully quiet but unfortunately it wasn’t the best choice of rooms, given the biting cold outside.
Shivering, Louisa went to peruse the shelves of potted plants; most of them sadly empty at this time of year. But some were filled with shrubs and winter flowers, and they gave the room a pleasant, fresh smell.
Much as she tried to stop it, Louisa couldn’t prevent her mind from wandering back again.
She had come to this very conservatory all those years ago after she’d dealt Hugh the slap he’d deserved. She had been furious; with him for daring to kiss her and with herself for enjoying it so much. What the blazes was wrong with her? He had been the enemy, and she had turned to a wanton mess in his strong arms.
Her embarrassment had been acute as had been her confusion. Usually she would have gone straight to Meredith to discuss such an event. Usually, she would have been excited that she’d had her first kiss and, it had been, admittedly, extraordinary. But usual had no place in a discussion about one of the princesses kissing one of the frogs. He hadn’t even turned into a blasted prince! He’d remained the arrogant, cocky, Hugh Mayford.
As time had gone on, however, and she had replayed the kiss over and over in her mind, she began to na?vely think that perhaps Hugh cared for her. Hard as it was to believe, there was no way he could have kissed her like that if he hadn’t wanted to, was there? And there’d been so much passion, so much feeling in that kiss!
So it was, that in the space of thirty minutes, Louisa had managed to convince herself that Hugh Mayford had been secretly, desperately, in love with her all this time, and that was why he’d put worms in her bedchamber and rotting kippers in her bed. The poor soul hadn’t had any outlet for his feelings.
And, if she were being honest with herself only, she could admit that as much as she hated him, there was a small but persistent part of her that didn’t hate him at all… that felt quite the opposite.
Jackson, though a handsome young man, was far too young and immature. Lucas scared the living daylights out of her; he was forbidding and commanding and everything an heir to a dukedom should be.
But Hugh; Hugh was always so laid back, so relaxed about things. He had a charming manner, a wicked smile, and a penchant for never really taking anything seriously. That had been a heady combination to a young lady in the first flushes of adulthood.
Louisa looked around the conservatory, seeing it as it had been that day. Hot and humid and filled to bursting with exotic flowers, their colors and smells combining to make her head spin.
Stupidly, she had allowed her mind to wander so far that she could practically hear church bells ring as she and Hugh walked down the aisle, her in a confection of satin and lace, him looking devilishly handsome in wedding clothes fit for a king.
A sudden noise behind her brought Louisa back to the present day, and she whirled round to see the source.
Oh, how she had been brought back down to earth with a bang.