“I assure you it did, and please, you must call me Simon in private.”
“You know that it was most inappropriate to give Lady Kathryn and me your given name when we met you in the woods, don’t you?” Grace asked.
“Of course, but what’s the sense in not enjoying yourself and flaunting the rules sometimes?” he asked with a chuckle.
“You quite scandalized Lady Kathryn.”
“That I did not intend to do. I shall offer her an apology next time I see her.”
“Good. Now, you must tell me the rest of the story. I must confess, I haven’t had such a good laugh in quite some time.”
“Well, I hung upside down for a while. I can only be thankful that it was one of the grooms who found me and not my father. I don’t think I could have lived down the humiliation.”
“I suspect not,” Grace said, trying not to laugh any more as she squeezed his arm.
“To make matters worse, from that day forward, whenever I was not in the company of either my sister or father, the staff called me ‘Branch Buddy’.”
Dudley was chuckling at the silly nickname, and that made Grace laugh all the harder.
Mia chose that moment to walk into the drawing room. “What’s so funny?”
Grace tried to stifle her laughter, but it was impossible. “Just spending time with Branch Buddy.”
“Branch Buddy? Who’s that?”
“Never mind, dearest. It was merely a joke that Lord Dudley told me,” Grace said.
After talking with them both for a few more minutes, Dudley said, “Well, I must take my leave. Good day, Miss Parker, Miss Mia.”
“My lord, do come again. I can always use a good laugh.”
“I shall endeavor to keep you entertained, my lady,” he said with a bow before exiting the room.
“You seemed to like him a great deal,” Mia said.
“I do like him. Not in a romantic way, but more in a brotherly way. He’s really quite witty.”