“Oh yes, thank you for reminding me, dear. The second question is simply, what does Hart think of you?Have you any reason to suspect he might return your admiration?”
Meg’s shoulders slumped. She set down her teacup once more and furrowed her brow. WhatdidHart think of her? “I’ve no idea. You would have to ask him.” More blinking. She squared her shoulders, determined to keep her emotions under control.
“You have no clue? No inkling?”
Meg splayed her hands wide, her worn reticule bobbing around her wrist. “I assume he thinks I’m Sarah’s friend. These days he rarely seems to notice me at all… except…” Oh no. She hadn’t meant to say that last word aloud.
Lucy, of course, pounced. The woman resembled a cat in more ways than one. “Except…?” She eyed Meg down the length of her patrician nose.
Meg worried her bottom lip again. There was no help for it. She was going to have to tell the duchess. She wanted to sink through the settee and pull the fine Persian carpet over her head. “Except for the one time that…”
Lucy slowly raised her brows and tilted her head to the side, staring at Meg. “Except for the one time that…?”
Meg scrunched up her nose. She squeezed her eyes shut and covered them with her gloved fingers. “Except for the time that he kissed me.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Pardon!” Lucy nearly shouted, her voice reaching an octave Meg hadn’t heard before.
“Shhh!” Meg pulled her hands away from her face and gave Lucy an imploring, be-quiet glare.
Lucy plunked her hands on her hips but thankfully lowered her voice. She dropped to the floor next to the settee and knelt in front of Meg. “Except for the time thathe kissed you?”
Meg nodded so vigorously that two of her blond ringlets bounced free from their pins. She hastily tucked them behind her ear. “Yes, yes. But it wasn’t at all how you think. He didn’t know it was me.”
If it was possible for the duchess’s fascinating eyes to get any wider, they surely did. For a few moments Lucy merely hovered there, her mouth opening and closing, no words emerging. Finally, she said, “My dear girl. You have done the impossible. You have renderedmespeechless.”
Meg pressed her palms to her cheeks. “Does this mean you cannot help me?”
“On the contrary,” Lucy replied. “If the man has already defended you from what sounds like a hideous motherandkissed you, I’d say we’re off to a fine start indeed.”
“No,” Meg said. “I told you, it wasn’t like that. He didn’t know he was kissingme.”
Lucy stood and dropped back down to sit beside Meg. “Yes, about that. I’m going to need to hear that story, dear. Immediately if you don’t mind.”
Meg swallowed and took a deep breath. She smoothed two fingers over an eyebrow. “Very well, but I must ask you to keep it to yourself. I haven’t told this to anyone… including Sarah.”
“Cross my heart,” Lucy replied, doing so and nodding, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
Meg settled back against the settee and readjusted her skirts. It was a pity the gown was so old and stained she’d been forced to dye it pink. Long ago it had been white and lovely. She shook her head. She’d never been one to dwell upon her reduced circumstances. “It all happened the night before Sarah’s wedding.”
“Yes.” Lucy had turned to her. Her eyes were trained on Meg’s face in rapt attention.
“I decided I needed to speak to Hart, to see if he thought we should do something to… stop the wedding or to try to convince Sarah not to marry the Marquess of Branford.”
Lucy nodded. “Yes. I recall how desperate we all were that day. It was so obvious that Sarah and Berkeley were meant to be together instead.”
Meg nodded. “It was awful. As each minute ticked by, I felt more helpless.”
Lucy squeezed Meg’s hand. “Oh my dear, Berkeley and Sarah needed to come to that realization on their own.”
Meg squeezed Lucy’s hand, too. “I know that now, of course, but at the time I felt as if my dearest friend was drowning and I was merely watching from the bank, doing nothing to help.”
“You’re a good friend,” Lucy said, patting Meg’s hand. “Go on. So you decided to enlist Hart to help you?”
Meg nodded. “Yes. Sarah wouldn’t listen to either of us individually, but I thought perhapstogetherwe might convince her.”
Lucy’s eyes widened even further. “Surely you didn’t go to his apartments?”
