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“A Scotsman!” Lucy cried. “I’m going to marry a Scotsman.”
Most of the ladies looked suitably scandalized. Most of the gentlemen looked faintly bemused. But Lucy’s new circle of fervent admirers, a quartet of wild young bucks, clapped and cheered.
Which is possibly why Lucy flung her arms wide, tilted back her head, and broke into song.
“Should auld acquaintance be forgot—” Off-key, and more of a bellow than a tune; usually, she sang angelically, but usually, she was not drunk. “And never brought to mine—”
Hand flung out like an Italian soprano, she wobbled the last awful note, sounding increasingly like a sick cow as she ran out of air. The sounds faded into the hush of a crowd that did not know what to do next.
Then the young bucks slung their arms around each other’s shoulders and bellowed in response:
“Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days of auld lang syne.”
Joshua gripped Lucy’s elbow.
“Time to go,” he said.
“I just need to—”
“You are not leaving my sight until you are locked in your room.”
“Are you pleased with yourself, Lucy dearest?” Cassandra had joined them. She looked frighteningly calm, but for the color staining her cheeks and the shrillness of her tone. This did not bode well. The last time Joshua saw her like that, she had overturned a chair. “Did you get sufficient attention? Have you ruined us enough or have you something else in mind?”
“Oh Mother Cassandra, isn’t this fun?” Somehow, Lucy had another full glass of champagne. “You should drink more.”
She lifted the glass to her lips, smiled angelically, and with a flick of her wrist, threw the contents straight at Cassandra.
Cassandra gasped, stepped back. She was quick, but not quick enough: The champagne missed her face and hit her square on the bodice. The bodice of her white, silk dress, pressing the thin fabric to her skin and—
Joshua nearly sprained something getting his coat off; certainly, he heard seams tear. Lucy was laughing, London was watching, as he wrapped his coat around his wife, who hugged it tightly over her chest.
The pink feathers in her hair quivered, but otherwise she seemed calm and dignified. For once, it was Lucy who appeared unsettled, fearing retribution.
Yet Cassandra merely smiled. “You’re right. I should drink more,” she said.
Holding the coat together with one hand, she took the last full glass of champagne from the idiotic footman’s tray.
“A toast to my dear sister Lucy, for her unforgettable debut.”
She took a sip, Lucy laughed, and Cassandra tossed the drink in her face.
Chapter 26
With a wild screech, Lucy pounced. She tore the pink feathers from Cassandra’s head and waved them triumphantly. Cassandra, one hand clutching the coat, the other at her hair, had no chance to retaliate before Joshua tossed Lucy over his shoulder and marched for the nearest door.
Then Arabella was holding Cassandra’s right arm and Lord Hardbury held her left, and they guided her outside and packed her into their carriage to take her the few blocks home. She buried her face in Joshua’s coat and inhaled him, her mind still on the shambles of the ball and social debris left in their wake.
When she stumbled through the front door, Joshua and Lucy were nowhere to be seen. Arabella offered to stay with her, but Cassandra wanted to be by herself.
Whoever that self might be.
Numbly, she dumped her outerwear in the entrance and climbed the stairs to her room, listening to the sounds from the floor above. She needed a maid to help her undress but had no will to call. She had no will to do anything but press her forearm to the wall, and rest her forehead on her forearm, and wait for the world to end.
She felt rather than heard Joshua come in and lock the door. She didn’t move, but every one of her senses tracked his presence.
Three glissades of her dancing heart later, he enveloped her in his solid heat. His arms were strong and sure around her waist, and his chest made a safe, sturdy wall against her back. How lovely to be wrapped up in him like this. If someone attacked her, he would shield her. If her legs gave way, he would catch her before she fell.
His lips brushed over her jaw. “You outdid yourself tonight, my sweet,” he murmured.
