Ruin Me Please (48 page)

“I think I know why you wish
to talk to me.” 
Parker
glanced
sideways at him while ta
k
ing a swallow of his whiskey.

Looking intently at Parker without hesitation he said, “I want yo
ur permission to marry Poppy.”

“I
was hoping as much
,
”
h
e said
crossing his arms.
“I was hoping that was your aim when you locked yourself in the conservatory with her earlier.” 
He looked
every inch the pr
o
tective brother.

“Why didn’t you stop me?”  He groaned inwardly.

“Because you swore that I could trust you.”  Parker couldn’t help himself from asking.  “Was my trust misplaced?”

Flushing slightly,
Declan
smiled sheepishly
.
“I was just trying to ascertain the dept
h of Poppy’s feelings for me.”

His brow rose and he shot a fierce look towards Declan. 
“And were you able to
asce
r
tain
Poppy’s true feelings towards you?”  He que
stioned him sternly.

He knew he should probably take
a moment before he answered, “
Well I thought I did,
and then
it all backfired.
” 
He grinned
unapologetically.

Parker
sobered
a little. 
“What happened?”

Parker had never seen Hawk look b
ewildered
before.
“I don’t know.  I was sure she was going to say yes, but then she got mad and walked out.”

“Did you tell her you
were in love with her
?”

“Not exactly,” he
murmured, e
xpounding no further.

“Not exactly?”  Parker
gave him a curious look
.

Leaning forward with his forearms on his knees Declan replied
, “I assumed after ever
y
thing
—
she would
just
—know,” he blustered.

Slapping himself
on the forehead, Parker sighed. 
“Dear Lord, do I need to know all of this?” 
He looked squarely at Declan. 
“I told you I would kill you.  Was that not sufficient war
n
ing to guard yourself when you were around my sister?”

“It’s not like that
.  Not entirely.
”
Declan’s brow r
ose
. 
“
B
ut almost.” 
He ran his hands distractedly through his hair.
  He really wasn’t prepared to lose his friendship with Parker
, but he also was not going to give up Poppy to appease his friend
.

“I’m going to kill you,” Parker said through gritted teeth.

Declan looked over at
Parker. 
“I’m not giving up yet, so neither should you.” 
He shrugged,
a
sheepish
grin spread across his face.

Talking in a low voice, in order to insure he was not overheard, Declan said, “I also have something else I want to discuss with you…”

***

Piper grabbed Poppy by the arm and dragged her to the other side of the gazebo.

“He saw you,”
Piper whispered frantically, round-eyed.

“Who saw me
doing what
?”  Poppy questioned with a frown.

“Parker saw
you go into the conservatory.”

She sucked in a breath. 
“
So, I
went in alone.” 
Poppy bit her lip,
m
e
et
ing
Piper’s gaze d
i
rectly.  She really didn’
t want to go into any more details
, even with her dearest sister
.

Piper huffed. 
“Yes, I know you went in alone, but Declan soon followed.”  Her arms planted firmly on her hips.
“
He
saw the whole thing.
”

“How do you know I was in the conservatory?”  She blinked in confusion.  “I didn’t tell
anyone.”

Piper pursed her lips.
“I saw you
go into the conservatory as well.”

Poppy laughed.  “Did everyone see us go into the conservatory?”  Both delicately arched brows rose.

“No.
”
Pip
er chuckled. 
“
At least
I don’t believe so.”

“
Blast
.
”  Piper’s shoulders slumped
as she glanced
towards the house
.  “Now I’m goi
ng to have to talk to Parker.”
  She rubbed her forehead feeling a headache coming on.

“Are you going to marry him?”

“I’m not going to marry him just because we went into the conservatory.”

“Poppy!”

“Well, I’m not.”
She made a scoffing sound.

“You can’t do
that
with a man and not marry him.”

“We didn’t do
that
.
”  Her eyes wide.
 
“
We just did other things.”

“Oh dear,” Piper sighed.  “What are you going to do?”

Poppy met her sister’s eyes
with a
frown
. 
“I don’t know.”

Who could refrain that had a heart to love,

and in that heart,

Courage, to make love known.

Macbeth

*William Shakespeare

P
oppy had deliberately not organized
too many activities for the children’s pa
r
ty.  She had a
rag-
doll making table for the little girls, tea tables for the older girls, pony rid
es and walks around the lakes.

There
really
was only so much
one
could
organize with
such little girls
to entertain
, their attention
span was quite short.
 

They were
however
fortunate that the weather had remained fi
ne, n
ot a
single
cloud in sight.

The infants were already napping in the
nurser
y
which is where
Poppy k
new
she would find Auntie Adele if she truly needed her.

She was feeling happy.  It had been a successful day.  Currently the largest group was under the big white pavilion filling their plates with the delicacies provided.  That was where Poppy spied Declan laughing with Seymour.  Both looked handsomely rumpled from playing with the girls all afternoon.

It felt
an age since she had truly spoken with Declan.  She had done her best to avoid him.  It
was hard to admit that he had
hurt
her
by his
sudden
proposal of marriage.  Hurt b
e
cause she would have preferred a decl
aration of undying love.  Not some
misguided p
roclam
a
tion of d
u
ty
and honor
.

It seemed all men were hopeless.

She wa
s lovelier than he remembered
.  She looked
young and full of hope,
like a girl.  All flushed from the excitement and heat. 
A curl had come free from her pins and bounced
enth
u
siastically
against her shoulder.
 
At that moment, s
he turned her head and looked
directly
at him. 
He knew she
had been avoiding
being alone with
him
for days and he
knew the reason why
.

She wanted something from him
.

“
I’ve never heard so much giggling in my life.”  Seymour
shuddered.

E
yeing the
platters of
food before him
Seymour asked,
“There are only 12 little girls
, correct
and they are
all
so—
tiny
?
  Did the ladies really believe that all of this food was going to be eaten
?”

The table
piled with sandwiches, pies, two kinds of cake and punch
was enough to feed a small militia
.

Declan’s eyes followed the line of the table then came to rest on Peyton who was piling high his third plate of food.
 
With his brow raised, he grinned at Seymour.  “I suspect this food was payment for
our
services.”

Both watched
humorously
as Parker ran around the lawn with a child clinging to his back. 
Seymour nudged his arm. 
“Is that what I looked like?” 
He looked horrified.

“Yes
you did
.” 
Declan laughed.

Seymour groaned.

“How were the ponies?”
  Declan asked with a smirk.

Seymour sighed audibly, “Albert
will have
a stroke when he sees my nails.
  I’ll have to retrieve
t
he smelling salts
again
.”

“Surely you expected to
return
a little rumpled?”

“A little rumpled, yes.”  He looked down, grimacing.  “But this
cravat
is beyond repair
.”  Seymour rolled his eyes. 
“Giving little
brats
piggy back rides is hard on
such
an intricate fold.”  He li
fted then quickly
dropped
the end of his limp, wrinkled
strip of
linen.

“How have you managed
to stay so neat?”  He lifted his
nose in the air with di
s
dain.

“Stories.”

“Stories?”  Seymour scowled
, shooting him a withering glance
.

“Ye
s.”  Declan smiled and in a
soothing voice
replied
, “It’s amazing how still and quiet little girls will be when you tell them stories of adventures and princesses.”

Seymour groaned
. 
“I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow.”
He pressed his hand firmly against
his lower back.  “And you read story books?”

“Character building.”

“Good Lord.”
Seymour’s eyes widened in fright at what he saw being Declan’s back.

“What?”  Declan twisted to look over his shoulder and let out a loud guffaw.

Rushing up and threading her arm through Seymour’s
, Lady
Bellamy
patted his hand a
f
fectionately.  “C
an you
be a dear, Lord Seymour and
help me pass out some more
ribbons?”  She smiled up at him.
“There are just too many for one woman handle.”

“I would be delighted, madam.
” 
He glanced
over his shoulder with a look of abject ho
r
ror
. 

“Try not to work too hard.”
  Declan smirked.

A quick tug on his coat
brought Declan spinning
around.

“Mr. Hawk,” Beatrice said
with a bright smile
.
“Look what I got.”  She held up a bright purple ribbon.
  “Ain’t it
pretty
?”