Lord Harry's Folly, Catherine Coulter [paper ebook reader .TXT] 📗

prove your mettle. I’ve been thinking what I’ll give you for a reward if you manage to dance every dance I wish you to.”

No sooner had Hetty’s Robin Hood left her than she found herself locked in the arms of an English knight. After several more waltzes and a score of country dances, Hetty’s feet felt as though she had danced with every gentleman in the room. Ah, but here was a Greek God. When she asked him if he was Zeus, he said in a very low voice that he was Bacchus and he fancied he could already taste the sweet wine on her lips, perhaps taste it other places as well, if she were willing.

Hetty pictured wine in her shoe. She laughed and laughed, pushing him away, and he went after easier game. At the end of another lively country dance, Hetty was shocked to hear her partner, a rather paunchy gentleman dressed as Louis XIV, say between heaving breaths that it was near to midnight.

“Midnight? But the ball just began. Surely you must be mistaken.”

“The time has flown by in your exquisite company, my Scarlet Queen,” he said. Hetty didn’t like his tone. It sounded husky and too low, just as Bacchus’s had sounded. She looked pointedly at his face and thought his eyes overly bright behind the white satin mask. So he’d had a bit too much of the champagne punch. The poor fellow wasn’t the least bit dangerous. She smiled. “I must leave your majesty now, for there are so many of your subjects awaiting the pleasure of your company.” She thought her parting line nicely diplomatic, and was thus utterly chagrined when the gentleman didn’t release her hand. “A king has but to command, my Scarlet Queen, and his wishes are fulfilled. You’re heated, my dear. May I suggest a stroll on the balcony? I have a fancy to see those white shoulders of yours, mayhap even uncover your breasts. You’ve not birthed a child yet, have you?”

Hetty gave him a disgusted look. How many gentlemen had she seen like this at White’s? But now she was a female and thus prey to him. She forgot charm and fell back on common sense. “A masquerade this may be, sir, but you are still a gentleman. I expect you to behave as one. Now, excuse me. I’m returning to my brother.”

The gentleman had other ideas. He laid his palm gently against her cheek. “No, my little innocent, I don’t want you to go just yet. I’ve watched you flirt outrageously with many gentlemen this evening. Now it’s my turn. As to your having a brother I don’t believe that for a minute. Tell me, who’s your protector?”

Just because she was a female she had to put up with this nonsense. If she’d had her pistol, she’d shoot him. She just looked at him with disgust, saying low, “You’re a bore, sir. I’ve enjoyed the evening until now. I’ve had fun. I haven’t flirted. If you are too stupid to know the difference then I suggest you return to your nanny so she can teach you. Perhaps she can also instruct you in good manners.”

He clutched her all the tighter.

“I really suggest you let me go or I promise you I will hurt you badly.”

“Hurt me? You hurt me? Ha, that’s funny, my girl. Come now, no need to play coy with me. I’ll see you continue to enjoy yourself. Why, please me and I just might consider setting you up.”

Chapter Seventeen

“I believe the lady is tired of your company, Your Majesty. Why don’t you take yourself off and take a little nap behind that palm tree over there. The music is loud enough so that no one will hear your snores.”

Hetty whirled about to see a tall man in a black domino and mask standing close behind her.

Louis XIV turned glittering eyes to the intruder. “I don’t know who you are, probably one of those gamblers who sneak into such functions as this. It doesn’t matter. You can’t have her until I am done with her.”

“What if I told you I was the lady’s protector?”

If Hetty had had her pistol, she would have shot this man between his eyes.

“Pah, she doesn’t have a protector, at least not yet. I just might offer, if she pleases me enough. Go away now. She’s mine.”

“I do wonder what lies beneath that white peruke,” the black domino continued in the same cold officious voice. “No doubt it covers an empty and foolish head. Leave go of the lady now, else I shall personally tip you over the balcony into the lovely fish pond just below.”

Louis XIV’s hand loosened slightly on Hetty’s wrist, and in his moment of uncertainty, she wrenched her hand away and moved back toward the black domino. Her anger with the man was now turning to amusement. She just shook her head at him. “Sir, this scene is becoming boring, indeed it is past boring. Please, just go now. Doubtless you will find a lady who has imbibed enough punch to find you quite acceptable. However, I do not.”

“Then I’ll give you all the punch you will need,” Louis XIV said eagerly.

“It would take two casks before you would be acceptable to me,” she said, and rolled her eyes when he looked thoughtful. “Three casks, at least,” she added. She knew the man in the domino was grinning like a sinner. Louis XIV said to her rather than to the man, “Three casks? You aren’t worth it. You’re probably very young. I won’t be your protector. I don’t want you. This damned wastrel can have you.”

“Why, thank you, Your Majesty.”

Hetty watched her erstwhile partner turn drunkenly and disappear into the crowd.

She turned and smiled up into the face of her rescuer. “You have wit and a sense of fun. The poor man is just too drunk to mind his manners. But now he is gone.”

“You don’t act at all like a damsel in distress.”

“Well