Page 18 of Lady Mary's May Day Mischief
“I know who you are now,” Lady Ivy informed him with self-satisfaction. “Mary spoke often of you. Since the first day she came to Miss Shipley’s, she talked of the boy who was her friend who lived across the river.”
“You,” said Lady Grace, “are the one who saved her when she fell and injured her leg.”
“Indeed,” said Ivy and put down her tea cup and saucer as the footman offered a tray. “You came each day with gifts.”
“Her most prized is her acorn,” said her sister.
“An acorn?” He had no idea Mary would have kept it. The little brown bit was an insignificant present, one he picked from the forest carpet when he was worried she would die because he’d been foolish and competitive and allowed her to run ahead of him.
“Yes, the one you gave her,” Ivy said. “She keeps it as a talisman.”
“Chivalry,” said Grace, “is not dead.”
He took the compliments with ease but with greater gratification for the fact of Mary’s acclaim for him. “I assure you I was no knight. I took full blame for her injury.”
“Oh? But why?” Ivy checked her sister’s expression. “You weren’t responsible for her falling.”
“No, but I am older and should have been wiser not to let her run ahead.”
“Ha!” said Grace with a wince. “As if you could deter Mary from doing anything.”
“A point to the lady in white.” Ivy tipped her fan toward her sister.
“Mary was always focused, determined.”
“Do you speak of me?” She joined their little circle. Her hair ordered after the disarray in the accident, she’d also changed her gown to a pink confection that flattered her complexion. If she seemed out of sorts, Blake thought it unusual and soon to pass.
“We do,” Blake admitted, wishing the other two ladies would drift off to other guests.
“How is Fifi?” Ivy asked. “I assumed you checked before you came down.”
“I did. She’s…better. In less pain, I think, but over the shock of the accident.”
“Lord Charlton looked as if he had the situation in hand,” Ivy said widening her gaze to imply what else the man might have tamed.
Mary fixed her gaze on Blake’s. “I would say he does.”
“Does?” Ivy pressed.
“He applies a new bandage as we speak.”
“His silk cravat,” Blake added, “was not the strongest wrap.”
The twins chuckled.
“Is that what it was?” Grace put a hand to her throat. “His cravat. Good thinking.”
“Will she join us?” Ivy asked.
Blake spied Charlton on the threshold. “She does.”
“My, my,” Grace said as she fanned herself. “His lordship never tires, does he?”
Blake grinned at the sight of his friend with the lady securely in his embrace. “Charlton has had many long years of sleepless nights.”
“You refer to the battlefield, I assume?” Grace offered, her gaze never leaving the couple at the door.
“I do. My friend is an infantry officer of the highest caliber. Responsible for many victories, but also a man whose quick thinking afterward has saved many of his soldiers from certain death. Lady Fiona is his newest patient.”
