She laughed and asked, “Whatever do you need, my lord, to trespass in my chamber?”
“No tyranny, I assure you; I come bearing good news. I will help you to get this fool that you are enamored with. I will help you with—”
Before he could finish, she launched from the bed and hugged him. Good God, she had no sense of decorum.
“I assure you, Percy, you will not regret it,” she said, seemingly oblivious to the way his heart pounded, struggling with the awareness that he had made a mistake in coming to her damn room.
“Frederica—” he began, only for his breath to strangle in his throat as she rained happy kisses over his jawline and chin. One went perilously close to his mouth, and for a second, it was as if he had turned into a statue. He reminded himself that he was too old, was too experienced and too jaded to be so easily overwhelmed by the mere scent of a woman. Yet the evidence presented itself in the pounding of his heart and the watering of his mouth. Percy was suddenly ravenously hungry. He shouted, “Good God, no kisses, Freddie, no kisses!”
She paused and stepped away from him. “No kisses?”
“There will still be no kisses or seduction lessons.”
That seemed to remove the wind from her sails. Frowning, she folded her arms across her chest.
“Then what do you mean you will help. I only asked for help in a specific manner.”
Bloody hell. “I might give very delicate points on flirtation.”
Her eyes lit up.
Percy held up a hand to forestall her words. “Delicate pointers that will involve no touching or kissing.”
When she did not protest, he continued, “You need a complete transformation. You need new ballgowns, day dresses, carriage dresses, jewelry, hats, bonnets, dancing slippers, riding habits. Only the most fashionable will do with designs from Paris and Venice. You will get all the fripperies, and everything ladies use to beautify themselves. When you enter a ballroom, men should be astonished and ladies envious.”
“What miraculous new clothes would cause all that?”
“You will see,” he murmured.
“You said it trying to sound suitably enigmatic to intrigue me.” She seemed to consider this, and a slow smile spread across her face. “That would be wonderful; however, Aunt Cecily would be hard to convince.”
“You will leave Aunt Cecily to me,” he said drily, chucking her under the chin and walking away.
“My lord…Percy.”
He closed his eyes at the soft intimate use of his name. “Yes?” Percy answered, gripping the latch.
“Thank you.”
He glanced behind him. “This was how it should have been from the beginning.”
Her mouth curved. “Are you sure no kisses and seduction lessons?”
He laughed. “Yes. Worry not. You will get your man.”
An odd look flared in her eyes, and she murmured, “I hope so.”
Percy left her room feeling as if he had missed something rather important.