Upper Ten Thousand// Anthony & Benedict Bridgerton

fourteen

Tonight, Lady Danbury is having one of her infamous soirees for married women. I am not supposed to interrupt. I am not supposed to be seen or heard at all. It has been the same every time Lady Danbury has had a party since I moved into her home. Val is lucky. He can head out for the night to White's or any other club or a friend's home. I simply have no choice but to hide away in my room or the library.

I have chosen to do the latter. I sit in a rather comfortable chair in the library. I am lucky enough that neither Lady Danbury nor Val discourage me from reading. Plenty of mamas in the ton think that reading will cause their daughters to squint. And if their daughters squint, they surely will never be able to secure a proposal from a decent gentleman.

I am interrupted when there is a knock on the door and Dora walks in.

I look at her curiously. "Is everything alright Dora?"

"Lord Bridgerton is here again, miss," Dora tells me with a rather pointed look.

"Do not look at me like that, Dora. It is not as if I am telling Lord Bridgerton to show up here at night unannounced," I tell her.

"Of course not, miss," Dora says. "But what shall I tell him?"

"Bring him here, please, Dora," I tell her.

Dora nods. "Of course, miss."

It is mere moments before the door opens again.

"Do you not own a..." I start.

I stop when I see that Anthony is standing in front of the now closed door with a nasty cut on his cheek.

"What happened to your cheek?" I ask as I step closer to him. "Come with me." I grab Anthony's hand before he can protest.

I start to lead him down the hallway. We do not make it far before I hear the voices of two women. I cannot be seen alone with Anthony Bridgerton even if it is inside of my own home. I think Anthony realises it too because he pulls me towards him and into a tiny alcove. I have never been this close to a man before in my life. I can feel my breath catch in my throat. I cannot even look up at Anthony as I feel his eyes on me.

I wait for the voices to grow distant before I step away from Anthony. I finally look up to meet Anthony's eyes and see he is already looking at me. Anthony shakes his head slightly as if to snap himself out of a haze.

"My apologies," Anthony tells me.

I nod slightly before grabbing his hand once more. We continue on down the hallway with no further interruptions.

"What are we doing in your bedchambers?" Anthony asks.

"I need a cloth and water to clean you up," I explain.

I sit him down in the chair in front of my dressing table. I go to retrieve a cloth and water. I come back and start to clean the blood from his face.

"Now I do believe you owe me two explanations," I tell him. "One for what happened to your cheek and the other on why you thought on a night of one of Lady Danbury's soirees that it was alright to show up unannounced to see me?" I shrug my shoulders. "At least tell me if the other gentleman came out of this looking worse."

"The duke," Anthony states.

I look at him in shock. "The duke did this to you?" Anthony nods his head. "Whatever did you say to him?"

"You assume it was I who was running my mouth?" Anthony questions.

I nod my head. "I do and will continue to unless you prove me wrong."

"No, it was not, Mercy," Anthony insists. "Hastings was running his mouth about the way I handle my family. He said that my father would be ashamed of the man I've become," Anthony explains. My face softens. "Then I attacked him."