Page 42 of The Earl’s Hoyden

Westwich clapped him on the back with a laugh. “Come now, my boy, I want you to be honest with me. Lady Westwich and I cannot help but notice how much time the two of you have spent together. Yet you have not once sought me out to ask my permission to court her. I know you can be somewhat…odd.” He held up his hands. “Respectfully.”

Lucien was not at all offended, not after the years of rumors he’d heard about himself.

“While this is, admittedly, somewhat unconventional,” Lord Westwich continued, “I wished to approach you on the matter in case you did not feel comfortable coming to me.”

Lucien took another sip of wine, this one somewhat larger. At least the gulp went down smoother than the last.

“Well?” Lord Westwich gave a good-natured smile, his easy spirit reminiscent of Hannah’s. “What have you to say, my lord?”

“I…” Lucien stammered. “That is to say…that I…”

Westwich chortled and patted Lucien on the shoulder. “Out with it. Surely, it cannot be so difficult to say what is going on between the two of you.”

“You have an extraordinarily kind daughter,” Lucien spoke slowly as his mind raced to piece together carefully a proper explanation.

Westwich grinned and nodded.

“She has a sharp wit and is exceptionally fashionable,” Lucien continued.

A twinkle touched Westwich’s deep blue eyes. “Indeed, she does.”

In that moment, Lucien wished he had asked for the earl’s permission to court Hannah. Not only to appeal to the man’s obvious pride, but also for Lucien’s own desires. He wanted Hannah above all other women in England. Certainly, more than any of those ladies on that damnable list.

That look of longing she’d cast him as she left billowed forefront in Lucien’s thoughts again. But he could no sooner put her in such a position as to be forced to be courted by him than he could steal another unwanted kiss from her.

“She has been assisting me this season,” Lucien finally confessed.

“Assisting?” The smile remained on Westwich’s face, though his brows furrowed in slight confusion. “Is that a strange turn of phrase? You youth are so creative with your own vernacular these days.”

“It is assisting in the sense with which you are familiar.” Lucien cleared his throat, mortified to admit the truth aloud to another person, most especially Hannah’s father. “You see, Miss Bexley has been assisting me on my wardrobe purchases and offering guidance on what to say while dancing and at dinner parties. Such as the fine one you hosted this evening.”

The confusion on Lord Westwich’s face fully replaced any affability in his expression now. “I don’t understand.”

“She has been helping me become more appealing to others.” Lucien sipped his wine again. “To women.”

The older earl shook his head. “Why would she do this?”

Lucien sighed. “So that I might attract a wife.”

Lord Westwich’s face darkened to a strange shade of russet. “She is helping you be more fashionable so that you might court and wed someone else,” he said in summary. “But not my daughter.”

There was a glint in his eye, but it was not jovial as before. It was somewhat murderous.

Lucien nodded slowly.

“You have been occupying her at every social event thus far this season.” Westwich’s nostrils flared. “So that you could find someone else to marry. And what of my daughter and her prospects?”

It was not Lucien’s place to tell Westwich of Hannah’s decision not to wed. Lucien clenched his back teeth, knowing exactly how much of a cad this entire scenario made him seem.

“And what of my Hannah?” Westwich declared. “Is she not good enough for you?”

“She is uninterested.” At least in this, Lucien could be honest.

“I’ve seen you at the soirees and balls this week.” Westwich’s jaw tightened. “In your fashionably cut jackets, amid a crowd of swooning ladies. It appears my daughter’s efforts were successful. Which means you may now leave her be to the suitors she deserves rather than spending any more time with your wasted companionship.”

Lucien wanted to protest, to resolve a way to remain in Hannah’s presence. But no matter her future intentions, her father was right. It was unfair for Lucien to continue to occupy her company when there was no opportunity for a marital agreement between them.

While she did not desire to be a wife, she could well meet someone at a ball who would unexpectedly sweep her off her feet, much in the way Darcy seemed to have done with Elizabeth Bennett.