Once as in they were no longer. His heart squeezed with pain at the realization that she was likely only sitting next to him because she did not like the game being played and because she remembered what it was like to not be able to move around very well. It could also be that because they would be here for nearly a fortnight it would be best to get along.
Of course, much of that was assumption and as much as he would like to truly know what was going on in her mind and how she felt about him, Percy was afraid to ask.
“Shrewsbury, you never did answer my question,” Tilson called across to him.
“Which question was that?” Percy recalled only one question that had been asked of him and he still did not want to answer it.
“How did you break your nose?”
Everyone turned and looked at him as if waiting for an answer.
“Yes, how did you?” Deborah asked.
He searched her eyes but she was sincere. She had no idea.
“It was a misunderstanding.” That was all he would offer.
“Likely a brother found you kissing their sister,” Tilson laughed, having no idea how accurate his words were.
“Or a husband,” Talbot suggested.
“I have never kissed a married woman,” Percy defended.
“Then it was a miss,” Claxton announced.
“I did not claim that either. Just that I do not kiss married women.”
“I should have insisted you tell me how it happened right afterwards,” Tilson grumbled.
“You were there?” Peter asked as he stared at Percy, all the while knowing that Tilson had not been near them.
“No. But, Percy had just returned to London when I called on him. His eye was surrounded by a green and yellowish bruise, as was his jaw and nose and he refused to be seen in public until his handsome face returned to normal.”
“What did happen?” Hannah asked with concern. “It does not sound as if you simply had an accident but were accosted.”
Percy still did not look away from Peter and nearly blurted out the truth of the matter, but he might have damned Deborah’s reputation at the same time.
“As I said. It was a misunderstanding. The man preferred fists to listening to reason.”
“That is all?” Tilson asked.
“That is all I will say on the matter.”
Fourteen
Deborah stood at the large window in the library and looked out over the terrace. It might be Christmas Day, and the aroma of greenery filled the house, but it felt no different than any other day.
Perhaps it would later, after everyone was awake, but that was doubtful. She had been struck with a melancholy mood from the moment she had awakened, which was much too early given the lateness of the hour that she had gone to sleep, but she had been unable to return to slumber and eventually rose from the bed and dressed for the day.
As this was the room that caught the sunlight best, she had come here, hoping that it would improve her mood, which it tended to do when she was home, but it had not thus far today.
There was something very strange about how Percy received his broken nose, and apparently a beating as well.
Why would he not tell anyone what had happened?
Was he so embarrassed?
Odder still, he had looked at Peter as if her brother knew. Had Peter been present? Had he received injuries too?
