He looked so stricken that she said, “No, no.” And then, “I don’t know. What else am I to think except that you asked her to take a walk with you in the courtyard?”
“Maybe you could think that we were talking.” He stopped and let out a loud sigh. “If you want to know more, you will have to ask Gwen because quite frankly, Louisa, I find this accusation beneath you and I find it tiresome.”
Beneath me? Tiresome?
“Let me tell you what is beneath me and tiresome, Your Grace. It’s waiting for two years to hear from a scoundrel and then when I finally do, it’s not an appropriate marriage proposal, it’s an order, a command that we will be married. So here is my answer: No, thank you!”
Her breath leaped in her throat, and before she knew what she was doing, she drew back her hand and struck him across the face with her open palm. The sound of the slap reverberated around the room.
His head snapped back and he blinked. “I bet that stung your hand,” he said dryly.
“No,” she said honestly. “It felt good.”
She turned to walk away and saw that everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing and was watching her and the duke. Even the music had stopped. No doubt those nearby had heard every word she said.
Louisa lifted her chin and her shoulders.Let them gawk,she thought. Let them banish her from the ton, write about her in the scandal sheets, or whatever they might do. She did not care and she was not sorry. The duke had had that slap coming for a long time.
Louisa realized that she actually felt better. In fact, she felt wonderful.
Without looking back at Bray, she started walking directly toward the crowd. To her surprise, clapping and cheering erupted from everyone. The people parted and allowed her to walk through. She heard shouts of “Well done, Miss Prim, and it’s about time you showed him what you’re made of!” and “You got what you deserved, Your Grace!”
Louisa paid them no mind. She kept walking and met no one’s eyes. She would wait outside for Mrs. Colthrust and Gwen.
***
Bray worked his jaw. She had strength in her lovely arms and a sting in her soft hands. She had caught him by surprise, but she was right and he knew it. He’d deserved the slap a long time ago. He just never thought she’d do it.
“I think the crowd is thinking it’s about time she let you have it square in the face,” Harrison said as he walked up beside Bray.
“And they are right,” Seaton added, walking around to the other side of Bray.
“Do you know what else they’re thinking?” Harrison asked.
Bray nodded as the crowd swallowed Louisa from his view. “That I should stalk after her, force her into my arms, and kiss her right here in front of everyone in the ton, and horrify all the dowagers, spinsters, and innocents, and stake my claim on her once and for all.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be the first time you kissed a lady in public,” Harrison offered.
Seaton said, “Please, Harrison, you can’t equate Miss Prim with Bray’s mistresses when he was a mere boy of twenty-one. That was years ago, when he was still trying to shock his father. Besides, it was on a street where only two gentlemen saw it and then told about it. There are over a hundred people here tonight.”
Harrison looked at Bray. “A kiss right now would surely please a gossip-hungry crowd who’s begging for a better ending to the night than a well-deserved slap.”
“But you’re not going after her, are you?” Seaton added.
“No,” Bray said. “Let’s go get a drink.”
Chapter 26
There is no fettering of authority.
—All’s Well that Ends Well,act 2, scene 3
Bray never expected to find himself waiting for Louisa in her drawing room the day after she slapped him, but she’d given him no choice. She might be right in thinking she was too prim and proper for his rakish ways, but if she thought she could best him in any tug-of-war, she was in for a huge disappointment.
And he was just itching to give it to her.
“Your Grace,” Louisa said, walking slowly into the room and clearly staying on the other side of the settee.
He didn’t know why, but it angered him that she didn’t come fully into the room to confront him but was keeping her distance as if she feared getting too close to him. Or maybe she thought she should stay near the doorway in case she had to quickly escape from him. “This is a surprise,” she said.
