Lexia stared at her father.
“Pa, are you saying that I should have allowed him to misbehave?”
“Only a little bit, my dear.”
“Well, you cannot misbehave very much in the middle of a dance floor,” she observed.
“Exactly. You were protected by your surroundings and I am not saying that you should forget that you are a lady, but there’s no need to be prudish.”
“Prudish! You call me prudish and he complained that I was flirting outrageously at the table.”
“So you were,” agreed her father instantly. “I was most shocked by the freedom of your manners. I thought those young men went beyond the line.”
“But you just told me I could allow a man to misbehave, as long as it wasn’t too much,” she pointed out.
Her father breathed hard.
“I was talking, as you very well knew, about the Marquis. Do
