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“By God, Justin!” Percy exclaimed.
~ Seventeen ~
SUNDAY MORNING FOUND Sassy smiling a welcome to the middle-aged maid who arrived with a tray of hot coffee and biscuits. She helped the older woman light a fire, though the woman protested that ‘Miss mustn’t bother’, and then sipped at the delicious brew.
While she was nibbling at the biscuits, the woman reappeared with a pitcher of hot water, which she poured into the basin for Sassy. She then bobbed a curtsey and asked if there was anything else Miss might like.
“Oh, no. You have been too kind already. Thank you.” Sassy smiled and then went about the business of brushing out her long hair in front of the vanity mirror. Her thoughts, like her dreams last evening, had been all about the marquis.
Nothing erotic, and nothing from him, but dreams of him all the same. She sighed and said to the young woman looking back at her in the mirror, “You are in trouble—love is not in the cards for you.”
At the sound of a knock at her door, she turned and called out, “Come in.”
Sophy’s somewhat haggard smile preceded her as she stepped woefully inside the room and went to Sassy to take her hands. “Sassy,” she wailed, “I have done something dreadful.”
Sassy led her to a pair of chairs near the long window overlooking the back gardens and said, “Calm yourself. I am certain it can’t be as awful as you think.”
“It is! My life is over,” cried Sophy, wringing her hands.
Sophia’s distress appeared genuine, not theatrics. Sassy squeezed her hand and said soothingly, “Why don’t you tell me what it is, and we will see what we can do.”
“I have told my dear, my wonderful Percy that I …” She gulped and then said on a sob, “that I intend to marry Grey.”
“What?” Sassy exclaimed, dropping her hand and putting it to her mouth. This was not good, she thought. “But do you intend to marry Grey?”
“No, of course not. I have in fact told Grey that I would not marry him. He does not make love properly, Sassy … he kissed me again last night, and it made me quite sick. But what was worse, Percy saw him, and although I was quite upset with Grey—for you must know he kissed me against my will—I could not let Pe
rcy kill him, and he declared that was what he was going to do, and then what would Mama say? Well, so I threw myself between them, and Percy pushed me aside. Can you imagine, he even took his glove out, and I knew … I knew he was going to challenge Grey, so I said that I had given my hand to Grey!”
“Oh … oh no, Sophy. Well, now what does Grey think? Does he think you will marry him?”
“Well, how could he when he has not yet applied for my hand? But when Percy …” She waved her hand about. “Oh Sassy, he went white, so white and turned on his heel and left, and when he did, Grey began to mumble, and I told him to go to the devil—I did … I did! I was never so ashamed of myself, but I told him that and that I would never, ever marry him!”
“I must think,” Sassy said as this all played out in her mind. Would magic work in this instance? She had been turning to magic more than she should. Was this one of those times when she must rely on magic? Repercussions … there were always repercussions when magic was used too often.
“Percy looked stricken, and then he went off I suppose to find the marquis, and the two of them left together.” Sophy wrung her hands. “What shall we do?”
“Ah … so that was it,” Sassy said, as this explained much.
“All is lost! I am doomed to be without my one true love.” Sophy got to her feet and began pacing.
“Nothing is lost. It is done, now we shall undo it. You can explain matters to Percy at church this morning.”
“He won’t listen.”
“Yes, he will. He loves you, Sophy, and he wants you. He will listen.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes, I do. He has had a fitful night, I am sure, and is calmer now. He will listen,” Sassy said, hoping she was right.
“We are taking the curricle, you and I. I promised Mama you are an expert with the reins,” Sophy said and then giggled in spite of her mood. “Do you drive? For I do not—Papa says I am ham-handed and won’t let me near his driving horses.”
Sassy laughed. “Then it is a good thing, that, yes, I drive quite well, but why are we going alone?”
“You don’t want to be squooshed in with my sisters in the family coach, do you? I do not.”
“Quite foresighted of you.” Sassy chuckled.
