“It was no trouble at all,” Percy lied. Of course, it had been a pile of trouble. His back still stung from it and he’d been sleeping on his stomach ever since it occurred. He found the end of the day particularly problematic, as his shirt had been rubbing against the scabbed-over wounds all day.
“I see,” Miss Feldstone said. “I suppose the Nicolets will grow on us all. They had better, I suppose, as there are six more of them behind Lady Felicity.”
Percy did not answer. Though, it was perhaps the only true thing Miss Feldstone had said. The Nicoletsdidgrow on a person.
The duke, for all his eccentricities, had raised some very fine daughters. Unusual daughters, to be sure. But then, Percy had come to the conclusion that usual daughters could be too usual for his taste. He’d railed against becoming chained to somebody’susualdaughter.
After the dessert course had been served for a suitable amount of time, the Marchioness of Glastonheld rose and said, “Gentlemen, Lord Jeffries will see to your port.” The ladies rose and the marchioness led them to the drawing room.
Percy did his best to catch Lady Felicity’s eye, but she was intent on catching her father’s eye. The Duke of Pelham, odd though he was, appeared very attuned to his daughter. He rose and said, “I will return in a moment, gentlemen—pour me a very large glass!”
He followed his daughter out of the room and Percy could just make out Lady Felicity and the duke talking in the hall before the dining room’s doors were closed again.
As the port went round, Wiles continued making his faces, Lord Jeffries went on his usual tirade about poachers, and Percy waited for the duke to return.
He never did return, though.
*
Felicity knew shecould count on her father. As much as he claimed he wished them all out of the house, he was very astute in conjecturing over his daughters’ moods and tempers.
When she’d been younger and had far less control over her temper, he would note that she was reaching a boiling point and say, “Hold on, everyone, Lady Ferocity is set to make an appearance.”
Just now, she’d given him a very decided look when the marchioness rose to lead the ladies out. He’d not needed more than that—he would follow her out to discover what it was for. Another father might have noticed their daughter’s distress but feel constrained not to follow her out when he was meant to stay seated. Her father had no such compunction about breaking a rule when it seemed expedient.
In the hall, he looked at her quizzically. “I can see very well that Lady Ferocity is on the verge of turning up,” he said.
Felicity nodded but did not answer, as she was working very hard not to weep. The idea of weeping made her in even moreof a temper. She should go mad if anyone were to see her eyes leaking.
“Right,” the duke said. “Wait here.”
The duke had a word with a footman nearby, who hurried off. Then her father went into the drawing room and came out again in under a minute.
“I’ve given the marchioness the bad news that you have a terrible headache. Then I gave her the good news that I will not be in the drawing room to harass my sister. I sent a footman to fetch our coachman. We will be off in a thrice. In the meantime, say nothing—I know you will end up throwing something if one tear falls from your eye.”
Her father really was so very good. If only people understood him as she and her sisters did. All they saw was the outrageousness of him, but he really did understand his daughters.
Soon enough, the front doors were opened and their carriage was ready for them. Another footman brought Felicity’s pelisse. They hurried out to the chill night and the duke helped her inside.
The doors were shut, the carriage rolled forward, and the duke said, “Well? What’s set you off?”
“Papa, you will not believe what I have discovered by way of Mr. Wiles. Mr. Stratton has all along just been playing a game. He claimed he wished to help me make Lord Rustmont wild with envy simply because he enjoyed a ruse. You know, when I wished to make Lord Rustmont jealous, which I do not at the present time.”
“What is the game that young rogue is playing, exactly?”
“He wished his parents to believe that he was set on me, and that I was set on Mr. Wiles. He wished them to view it as a hopeless case. And guess why?”
“Because young men are idiots?”
“Because, as it seems he says quite often, he will not be chained!”
“Is that so?”
“Indeed, Mr. Wiles let it all out at dinner, thinking I already knew it. Mr. Wiles did not know that perhaps my opinions of Mr. Stratton had changed. Significantly. Do you see what’s happened to me, Papa? I am the victim of disappointed hopes.”
“I’ll wring his neck like a chicken,” the duke said.
Felicity was a bit startled by that idea, as it could only lead the duke into a prison. A person of her father’s rank could get away with quite a lot, but murder was not one of those things. As well, as much as she would like to hurl all manner of things at Mr. Stratton’s head just now, she did not wish for his neck to be wrung. It was rather too permanent.
