Page 50 of Give Him a Chance
“What is it?” Lucy’s gaze raked over him hurriedly, worry curling around her. “Is it your head? Does it pain you?”
The surgeon had been most cautious, which had encouraged her to think he would take care of the man carefully, but with a head wound, well, anything could happen.
Bernard’s eyes were unfocused and Lucy felt her throat tighten with panic—but then the strapping man’s eyes sharpened. And they were glittering. “I have an idea.”
Lucy blinked. “‘An idea’?”
Did ideas ever really stop someone in their tracks—was that even possible?
Clearly, it was, for Bernard was grinning now and had turned around, retracing their steps at a much faster pace. “Come on!”
“But—But where?”
It appeared he was not going to bother telling her where, so Lucy did all she could do to keep up with the man’s long strides and wondered what on earth he was thinking.
Perhaps he was hungry and wanted to return to Francois’s Restaurant—yes, that had to have been it. Now that she came to think about it, she was mightily hungry too. It had been hours since she’d last eaten.
“Here we are,” Bernard said triumphantly, drawing to a halt.
This time, Lucy’s stomach did not lurch because she was not arm in arm with him, but she had to roll her eyes at where the man had brought her.
Perhaps the ding on the head had affected him more than they had realized.
“We’ve just been here,” she said, mostly patiently, but also with a trace of tiredness in her tones. “This is the Regency Hotel. We’ve already tried here, remember?”
“I’m not in my dotage yet, Lucy,” Bernard said brightly as he strode forward up the steps and through the door. “Come on!”
There appeared to be no stopping him, though Lucy could only hope this second interview would be brief. After all, it would end in exactly the same way. No one in this town—in any town, probably—wanted to rent an event room to a lady. It was apparently not done! And that was an end to it.
Bernard smiled charmingly as he approached the desk. “I would like to speak to the hotel manager, please.”
Lucy could not help but watch curiously as she reached his side. The man had…changed, somehow. Not changed, merely unfurled. He was standing straighter, his hands clasped behind him just as her father would do if he were waiting for someone. There was a tilt of his head and a roll back of his shoulders that spoke not only of privilege, but the utter certainty that one was about to be treated, in turn, like a gentleman.
It was…mesmerizing.
“How do you do that?” Lucy whispered as the scrawny hotel clerk bowed and disappeared into a room behind the desk.
Bernard raised an imperious eyebrow.Yes, that is what I want to do when I practice in the looking glass!“I have absolutely no idea what you mean.”
She was prevented from clarifying her inquiry by the appearance of Mr. Forthright, who introduced himself inclined his head politely to Bernard, but froze when he took in her face.
“My name is Dixon, Bernard Dixon, and this is my good friend, Lady Lucy Chance,” Bernard said swiftly, before any awkwardness could occur. At least, diminishing it slightly. Lucy wondered where he was going with this, to not pretend to be her brother chaperone this time. “I wish to inquire about hiring the—oh, what’s it called? You heard me say it outside, Lady Lucy, the room I want to hire.”
Lucy blinked. “I—what?”
What on earth was happening? Mr. Forthright was staring as though he had been thrown onto a stage and asked to dance the can-can, the hotel clerk was looking between the three of them as though expecting a performance of the can-can but not getting one, and Bernard—
Bernard was beaming as though this were a typical Friday like any other.
“The room, here at the hotel, that I wished to hire for my event,” Bernard said in a quiet voice, widening his eyes pointedly as he looked at her. “I cannot remember the name. Can you?”
A small inkling of what the bounder was attempting started to creep into the corners of Lucy’s mind. She forced a smile and said, perhaps too brightly, “Oh, yes! The room you wanted was the Gold Room.”
“The Gold Room, yes, thank you, I had entirely forgotten,” said Bernard cheerfully, turning back to Mr. Forthright. “I would like to book it.”
“You…would like to book it,” Mr. Forthright said slowly, his attention flickering between the beaming Bernard and the rapidly-blinking Lucy.
“Yes, that’s right,” replied Bernard, as though this were something he did all the time and not something he had decided to do but moments ago. “Now, then, if only I could remember when I wanted to book it for… Lady Lucy, do you happen to recall?”
