Page 21 of Lady, Behave
She put two fingers across her lips. “For what?”
Addy looked down the hall and wondered if she was searching for an answer or a bucket of ice water to throw over her tipsy sister. “Cass is in there,” she ground out. “With a man.”
Laurel’s mouth dropped open.
“Yes,” Addy hissed. “Atop a table.”
Her jaw fell further.
“Her bodice is down.”
Laurel gulped.
“And she must be saved.”
Laurel blinked, showing Addy at that moment that her sister did not require ice water. “Now.”
“Exactly.” Addy straightened her shoulders.
“Well? Ideas?” Laurel asked, her focus on said door.
Addy flinched. “Scream ‘fire’? Jump overboard?”
Laurel tipped her head to one side. “Garrr. We knock!”
Addy wrinkled her nose. “We save her before someoneelseinterrupts them.”
“Ha!” Laurel burped. “Sorry. Do it.”
Addy rapped. Loudly.
They each pressed an ear to the polished wood. A few groans and a grumble rent the air.
Addy knocked once more. Harder.
At that unfortunate moment, Lord Hewett stumbled his way down the steps, presumably headed for the men’s convenience. “Have you a problem, ladies?” He smiled crookedly, then licked his lips, in no small measure full of spirits himself.
“We are well.” Laurel nodded and put a thumb up to motion toward the door in question. “Just waiting for a friend.”
Hewett made a similar motion with his own thumb. All right for him, then, as he pushed open the door he wanted and disappeared.
Addy winced. “He can stay in there the rest of the afternoon, for all I care.”
“Shhh. Here is—”
The door swished open, and the man who stood before them was the giant creature whom much of Brighton heralded, one of Wellington’s greatest war heroes. He wore his regimentals, and at the moment, he wore them rather poorly, his scarlet coat unbuttoned and one medal askew upon his broad beribboned chest.
Addy recognized him, having met him at Exleighs’ ball the other night.
“Ladies,” said Colonel Lord Magnus Augustus Welles of the Third Regiment of Foot in acknowledgment and gave a courteous bow. He ran two meaty hands into the long golden locks of his hair. “The cousins, I see. Good of you to find us.”
He paused, deigned to bless them with a half-smile, and turned to speak to Cass, who remained hidden behind the half-opened door. “Breathe, my darling. You’re saved.”
He swung wide the door to reveal their cousin, as stunned as a girl who’d just been caught eating candy. Her blue eyes were limpid, her cheeks aflame, her lips swollen from kisses. Her skirts rumpled.
Welles pulled his coat to, then threw a wink to the woman he’d ravished.
Addy and Laurel rushed inside and shut the door. They did not ask; they did not comment, nor would they ever. They went to work to straighten their cousin’s gown and pin her hair so that minutes later, the three emerged and rejoined the party on deck.
