Hope rolled her eyes at her sister before she stepped into the breach to save him. Or at least that was how she justified her tart interruption to herself. ‘What do you want done to this room, Lord Thundersley?’
‘Well frankly, as you can plainly see, anything would be an improvement, but I would definitely prefer something...subtler.’ Was that a veiled dig at Charity? She certainly hoped so. It would make a change to see a man not eating out of her little sister’s beguiling hands. ‘Something calm and soothing.’
‘I cannot say I blame you. This room is a bit like a sharp slap to the face.’
Luke came up beside her and folded his arms as they both stared at the wallpaper again in mutual disgust. ‘Appalling isn’t it?’
‘I think it’s a way past appalling. I’d even go as far as to say it has boldly ventured into the darkest realms of the horrendous.’ She grinned up at him, until she caught Charity watching them with interest.
Oblivious of that, Luke playfully nudged her with his elbow, causing her fascinated sibling’s eyebrows to raise knowingly. ‘If you think this room is horrendous, Miss Brookes, you should see upstairs. Although I am not altogether sure if I should show any of you what abominations Lord Clacton’s mistress did to the master bedroom. I’ve certainly never seen anything quite like it before. It’s enough to give anyone nightmares.’
Her father had now moved from the garish tieback to the peculiar gilt swirls painted on the door panels. ‘I know a man who can fix all of this and will not charge you an arm and a leg for doing it.’
‘You do?’ Luke received this news like a man given a pardon on the steps to the gallows.
‘I do. As I send a great deal of business his way, I shall also impress on him the urgency of the matter as he owes me a few favours and I dare say the quicker we erase this pink monstrosity from the face of the earth, the better.’ Her father pulled a face as he glanced back at the curtains. ‘I shall send a message to him presently and declare your case an emergency. Is it just this room or is the rest of the house as bad?’
‘The master bedroom is as bad, if not worse than here. The rest, thankfully, was spared.’
‘Then we must see that next!’ Her mother would take no refusal and immediately started towards the door.
As he had promised, the scarlet-and-black bedchamber was worse, and after they all trailed back to Number Twenty-One suitably dumbfounded by it all, Hope was dispatched to fetch a fresh pot of tea while Luke ensconced himself with her father in his studio to discuss suitable tradesmen and realistic London prices for fixing the mess.
‘What is going on?’ The swift arm through her elbow stopped her short of the kitchen. ‘Because I swear blind, Sister dearest, that something is.’ Charity wagged an admonishing finger. ‘I thought I sensed a strange atmosphere between you and Lord Thundersley yesterday, but after seeing the pair of you today, I am now utterly convinced of it.’
‘And apparently I am the one with the vivid imagination?’ Hope scoffed, feigning amusement as she tugged her arm away.
‘There was a frisson between you.’
‘There wasn’t.’
‘You were smiling.’
‘I do smile upon occasion.’
‘Not at handsome and charming gentlemen who know they are both handsome and charming, you don’t.’
Hope strode towards the kitchen. ‘Mama sent me for tea.’
‘He kept staring at you.’
‘I cannot say I noticed.’
‘Probably because you were too busy sighing at him yourself.’
Hope’s fingers dropped from the doorknob as she glared at her sister, her hands going defiantly to her hips while her pulse called her a liar. ‘If anyone was sighing,Sister dearest, it was you. Shamelessly batting your eyelashes at him and seductively caressing his chair. I don’t know why you don’t just wear a placard stating you are ripe and ready for a flirtation and be done with it!’
‘I was merely testing him to see if he was a natural flirt by nature or if it was just you who captivated him. Which it was by the way, so your jealousy is misplaced.’
‘Do not judge me by your lowly standards. I have never been as easily swayed by a handsome face as you are. Nor do I practice flirting—ever—because flirting only gives men ideas and they all seem to have quite enough of those about me already without any encouragement whatsoever. And as for your ludicrous idea that I would be jealous of you for flirting withhim, I can categorically assure you that I am not the least bit...’ She found herself talking to her sister’s raised palm.
‘Oh, save your breath, Hope! For I am not the least bit convinced by your forceful denials to the contrary and you are an unconvincing liar. The poor man looks at you as if no other woman in the world exists for him, and you know it.’ A comment which both thrilled and alarmed Hope in equal measure. ‘Which begs the obvious question as to why, when one considers how fresh and new your acquaintance is...unless it isn’t of course, which puts an entirely different slant on things.’
‘I have no control over how Lord Thundersley does or doesn’t look at me—any more than I have any sway over the way most men gawp and leer at me.’
‘Youpushed him in the fountain, didn’t you?’
‘Of course not!’
