“This is the last of the laundry.” Pricilla set the basket on the ground of newly washed clothes. As she straightened, she pushed her wavy hair away from her forehead.
“Thank you, Prissy. I was almost ready for more.” Bridget continued humming and lifted a wet garment up to the clothesline.
“Bridget, this really must stop.”
She glanced at her sister. “What has to stop?”
“The humming. Either you tell me why you are so happy, or I’m going to have Pa call the physician and have you examined thoroughly.”
Laughing, Bridget shook her head. “I’m fine, I assure you.”
“Are you smiling because the earl danced with you twice last night?”
Bridget shrugged. “Could be, I suppose.” Images of Adrian popped into her head, making her heart flip-flop and her lips tingle with awareness.Stop it, Bridget!
She quickly pushed her memories away. Perhaps seeing a doctor was a good idea after all. How else could she stop thinking about Adrian?
“Lord Hanover is a very sweet man,” Priscilla said.
“Yes. He has a certain charm about him that I cannot stop thinking about.”
Pricilla lifted one of Pa’s shirts out of the basket of wet clothes. “He also danced with me.”
Bridget held her breath, waiting for her elation to deflate, but it didn’t. She felt the same now as she had a minute ago. For some reason, it didn’t bother her that he had also danced with her sister. “I’m sure he danced with a lot of women last night.”
“He did.”
The sadness in Priscilla’s voice caught Bridget’s attention. She looked over the top of clothesline at her sister. “Were you hoping he would just dance with you?”
“Lord Hanover was the main attraction. I suppose if his brother were in attendance, there would have been two men to watch.” Prissy laughed forcefully. “We all know and understand the rules of not dancing more than twice with the same lady, so why would I want him to go against society’s boundaries?”
“Well, I’m glad.” Bridget nodded. “Because not only would he have ruined the lady’s reputation, but his name would have been dragged through the mire, as well.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that.”
Once again, Adrian’s face popped into her mind—images of them in each other’s arms with their mouths locked in a passionate kiss. Inwardly, she groaned. What they had done in the kitchen’s pantry could have ruined her completely. She was very fortunate Aunt Beatrice hadn’t found them, and that the evening’s dark shadows had kept them from being noticed as they snuck out of the kitchen’s back door.
Priscilla hung up the shirt, but didn’t move from where she stood. “Bridget, do you think he’s going to call on you today?”
Bridget’s heartbeat accelerated slightly.Oh, heavens!Would Adrian be that bold? Why would he come to see her, anyway?
Her mind quickly jerked her back to the conversation she had with her sister before thoughts of Adrian had intruded. They were talking about the earl,nothis cousin.
She breathed a little easier. “I couldn’t say. We had a nice talk, and he introduced me to his aunt and her son. But that was the essence of our evening together. Besides the dance, that is.”
“Pa is hoping the earl comes to call on you today.”
Bridget released a heavy breath, remembering her father’s thoughts. “Yes, I’m sure Pa is in his study with his Bible in hand, praying for the earl’s visit right now.”
There was silence for a few seconds before Priscilla chuckled. “When I was chatting with Charlotte last night at the ball, she mentioned how strange it was that such a prominent family as the Worthingtons would purchase that particular estate.”
Bridget glanced at her sister. “And why is that?”
“Because it’s not as grand as some of their other estates.”
Bridget gave her sister a quizzical stare. “Do you have firsthand knowledge of that?”
Frowning, Prissy looked down at the ground. “No.”
