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Vaya con dios,
Rodrigo
June had never been a good loser. It didn’t matter that this entire scenario was her fault. It didn’t matter she had cheated. She never saw the other player’s point of view. She couldn’t chalk it up, lick her wound, and move forward.
Her initial reaction to Rodrigo’s note was to break everything in sight. Her second was to make a plan to get him to pay for the dresses she had ordered from her dressmaker. She would have Madame predate the invoices and send them immediately to Rodrigo’s solicitor.
Her plan to cover her initial costs soothed her somewhat, and with a heavy sigh, she decided to get some sleep. Perhaps Sir Warren would help her out of her untenable situation?
~ Twelve ~
PAULY LOOKED AT JESSIE AND said, “That shade of green suits you.”
She gave him a narrowed look and said, “I know you are only trying to appease me.” She stepped over to the window. “Look, Pauly, I knew we should have started earlier. It is pouring outside.”
He pulled a face. “And what is a little rain to us, pray?” He shook his head. “I don’t see what all the fuss is about, Jess. I have already agreed to take you to that blasted inn today, and so I shall, rain or not.”
Jessie knew he was on the defensive and a bit wary. She had known he understood why she was still annoyed with him when he arrived with hothouse flowers and shoved them at her. She had put them down on a nearby table and picked them up now as she mumbled, “These are quite lovely, thank you.” She put them back down and paced restlessly about the room.
“Good God, girl!” he said with impatience. “I know Gerty is a bit dull-witted, but you are both the same age, and you must have found something to do together. I don’t understand why you are so very put out with me.”
She glared at him angrily, and he took a step backwards. “Scoundrel!” She wagged a finger. “Have the decency to admit you foisted her on me because you can’t stomach the woman!”
“Well, as to that...” he started.
“Gerty is not only dull-witted, which one could forgive, but she is a shrew who must have her own way, and her own way is...well, and besides that, Pauly, she had something snide to say to me every single time she opened her mouth!” Jessie eyed him as she searched for an adjective to amply describe the tediousness and meanness of the girl’s nature. “So, leaving her with me when you promised to come back early and take her off my hands was the outside of enough, and suffice it to say, her notion of a lively time was to spend hours at needlepoint!” She glared at him. “Needlepoint, Pauly!”
“Damn strange thing to do, but then, she is a girl, and that is what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it?”
For such a remark, he had a pillow thrown at his head. He ducked and moved out of range as Jessie hurled unladylike curses upon his head.
He amended his unwise remark. “Aye, not very sporting of me to say such a thing, but...Jess, I’m not saying it’s what you would like. Anyone who ain’t addlebrained could see it’s just the sort of thing to set up your bristles and having you clawing to get away.” He seemed to consider the vision of Jess sitting demurely with his cousin and exclaimed, “Good God! It’s no wonder you want to pull my hair out!”
“Exactly, and besides all that, she seems to despise everything about me.” Jessie pouted. “I would have forgiven you had you only kept your promise and retrieved the shrew on time.”
He laughed and put a strong arm about her shoulders. “That’s a, love, for you will forgive me now, as I mean to make it all up to you.”
Oddly enough, this and his easy manner totally undid Jessie. She found herself bursting into uncontrollable tears. She dove into his ready embrace and hid her face in his waistcoat as she made unintelligible sounds between her sobs.
The young viscount was horrified. He had only seen her cry like this a few years ago when her dog had passed. “Jess, what is it? What did I say?”
“Not...not...you...” she sobbed. “Me. Must be me.” How could she explain what she did not understand herself? She pulled his linen handkerchief out of his pocket and made nice work of it. “Don’t pay any attention to me.” She offered his handkerchief back to him.
He grimaced. “That blasted Gerty...has she hurt your feelings so badly? Don’t pay any attention to her. She isn’t being hailed a 'diamond of the first water’—you are!”
She made an attempt to smile at him. “Not her. I know better than to listen to someone like her.”
“What then?” he asked, looking totally perplexed. “Are you blue-deviled? That’s it. Been gadding about London, and no doubt you miss some of your friends at home. London was never for you, I know. Come on, before you know it, you’ll be home and doing all the things you like, but for now, we’ll go visit that tavern of yours, and see if that doesn’t work to pick you up out of the doldrums.”
She looked up at his handsome boyish countenance and said suddenly, “Pauly, do you think I am...womanly enough?”
His face was a mask of astonishment. “Jessie...I can’t say I have ever given the matter any thought. You and I are more brother and sister than anything else, you know, and...well, I am no judge in the matter because of it. Womanly? What the deuce do you mean?”
“Well, if we hadn’t known each other forever, and if you were in the petticoat line, would you wink my way?”
“I should say not! Wink your way, indeed,” Pauly answered with some passion. “Damn foolish thing to suggest!”
She sighed sadly. “Then, someone sophisticated couldn’t possibly become passionately attached to someone like me...a green girl...someone who has been a confirmed bachelor?”
