“Damn,” he whispered softly. He had no clue how to deal with this.
To his surprise, she smiled ruefully.
“My sentiments exactly.”
Hugh cleared his throat, suddenly as nervous as a green lad his first time with a lady.
“Yes, well, we — we cannot stand about all day doing — well, doing, or not doing something. Or nothing. Wait, what?”
Louisa was staring at him as though he had run mad, which he very probably had.
He was tying himself into knots, stammering nonsensical gibberish. And all because his blood had travelled considerably farther south than his brain.
“Hugh, what exactly are you talking about,” she snapped impatiently.
Her acerbic tone and its familiarity served to bring him back to himself somewhat.
He heaved a sigh, got his scrambled thoughts into some sort of order, and then, finally, was able to answer with equanimity.
“You drive me to bloody distraction, Louisa Bright. More than anyone I’ve ever met. And you, a mere slip of a girl.”
Louisa’s mouth dropped open, and Hugh could have kicked himself. Why had he gone and confessed such a thing?
“But that is neither here nor there,” he hurried on before she issued what would no doubt be an acerbic rejoinder. “Now, why don’t you finally tell me what you wanted me for?”
Louisa didn’t answer for some time, choosing instead to gaze at him as though he’d grown another head. He couldn’t blame her really.
Finally, after what seemed like an age, she shook her head slightly, and he noted the glint of battle sparkle in her green eyes.
They were really beautiful, those eyes. He’d never paid that much attention to them before. Of course, they had been more beautiful when they’d been rendered blank by his ministrations but— “Hugh!”
The screech of his name brought him back to earth with a thud. Oh right, she’d been speaking.
“Are you quite alright?” she demanded, hissing out a frustrated breath.”Because if discussing strategy is a little beyond your mental capabilities, I’ll just deal with this myself.”
Ah, there was the little hell cat he’d come to know and lo—
Hugh felt his eyes widen in horror. He was going nowhere near the end of that thought.
“What in God’s name is the matter with you?” She stomped her foot and Hugh was disgusted with himself for finding it rather endearing.
“Forgive me. I — ah — over imbibed last night,” he said quickly.” And did you just stamp your foot at me?”
He grinned at her sudden obvious discomfort.
“O-of course not,” she stammered.” Ladies do not stomp.”
“No,” he responded feeling much more the thing now that he was teasing her again. ”But then, I never said a lady did it.”
She growled in response, and it was all he could do not to pluck her from her stomping little feet and carry her off somewhere to do something about all that frustration.
Yes, indeed. He was in very big trouble.
NEVER, EVER BEFORE HAD Louisa dealt with such an array of emotions in such a short space of time.
She was already exhausted; mentally wrung out, and they hadn’t even begun discussing what they should do about their irresponsible siblings.
Hugh was acting as though he had run mad, and she couldn’t deal with his madness. Not when she was trying hard not to descend into the same state herself after that kiss.
Good Lord. He’d kissed her. Again. And she’d let him. Again.
This was not good. Not good at all.
How could she stand in pious judgment of Meredith when she went around kissing Hugh? And he was far more irritating than his older brother.
Pressing a hand to her temple, she tried desperately to claw back some semblance of normality.
There would be plenty of time to mourn the loss of her sanity later. And plenty of time to guiltily enjoy the memory of that toe-curling kiss and what it did to her.
She watched the man in front of her now, as his blue eyes finally focused on her.
He seemed terribly distracted. And that wasn’t very flattering really. It seemed that even with a kiss involved, she couldn’t hold his attention.
“Your brother,” she started through gritted teeth, “has told my sister that she is to partner with him for tonight’s event. Obviously he’s lying to get her alone. And—” This was the part she hadn’t wanted to confess, but Louisa had always been the honest sort. “—and she didn’t seem too averse to the idea.”
“And?”
Louisa frowned. Whatever did he mean, ‘and’?
“And he’s obviously lying,” she said firmly. “So, we need to stop them from partnering with each other.”
He remained silent so long that she was contemplating slapping him. And not just because she’d rather enjoy it.
Finally, he sighed and looked at her with those direct, probing eyes of his.
“Would it really be so bad?” he asked.
Her jaw dropped open again and so, she noted, did his. It was as though he was as surprised by his idiotic question as she.
“What? Of course it would be so bad,” she shouted.