Lyons Gate

bring you luck.”

“All this dancing, I must keep up my strength,” the dowager said.

Her fond son said, “You’ve more strength than two prize bulls, Mother. You’re quite remarkable.”

Angela rolled her eyes. “ Lydia, do visit Lyon ’s Gate tomorrow. You and I can oversee Cook making nutty buns. You said she still doesn’t do it right.”

“They are barely edible,” Lady Lydia said.

“We will keep Jason out of the kitchen so she won’t be distracted.”

“One cannot expect everything,” Hallie said, “Her braised buttock of beef is outstanding, at least when Jason is at the dinner table. That makes me think you need to have Jason simply stand in the middle of the kitchen while she makes the nutty buns. They will be heavenly.”

“Hmm,” Angela said. “Hallie has a point. The only problem is that she will probably swoon.”

Jason choked on his champagne.

“You’re right,” Hallie said. “You must simply tell her that the nutty buns are Master Jason’s most favorite treat. They will be ambrosia. I’m willing to lay a wager on it.”

Lady Lydia said, “Your cook swoons? How very odd of her.”

“Why the devil does the woman swoon?” Douglas asked.

“It’s your dratted son, sir,” Hallie said.

Corrie said, “How much would you like to wager, Hallie?”

“Use your head, Corrie. Jason is the image of James.”

“Oh. I’m a dolt. Forget the wager. We have a male cook and let me tell you, he’s never once swooned when he’s seen either me or Mama-in-law.”

There was laughter then. “How very delightful to find all of you together,” Lord Grimsby said from beside Douglas ’s elbow. “I have brought another loaf of olive bread so that I would be welcome to join you, and my dear Elgin as well.”

CHAPTER 26

“Delighted,” Douglas said, and watched servants tenderly ease two chairs to the table. He wondered as he watched them why a man couldn’t pull his own chair to the table. He knew well enough it was the way things were, but he didn’t like it very much. Never again, he decided, would he allow someone else to get him a damned chair.

“My wife said it was the last loaf. She said to use it wisely.” Lord Grimsby bowed and presented the loaf to Douglas.

Hallie wanted to spit. Lord Renfrew smiled down at her as he said, “Here, bring the chair closer,” and squeezed in next to hers, on the other side of Jason. Smart man, Douglas thought, knowing well the look on his son’s face-Jason would smile while he pounded the man into the ground. “Hand me the bread, Grim,” Douglas said to Lord Grimsby, who sat next to Alex-too close, Douglas was thinking. As Douglas reached for the loaf, he looked around the table hopefully. “I don’t suppose everyone is full?”

Every relative held out his plate.

Douglas asked a servant for a cutting knife. The next three minutes were spent with every eye focused on the width of each slice Douglas cut.

When everyone, including Lord Renfrew, had a slice, Douglas said, “A lovely ball, Grim.”

Lord Grimsby laughed, waved his half-eaten slice of olive bread at James and Jason. “My wife told me that every lady in the district would be smitten, and she is right. You invite these two, and every other man in the room feels like donkey dung.”

“A father’s cross to bear,” Douglas said.

“My father also had a cross to bear,” Lord Renfrew said in a very loud voice.

Hallie arched an eyebrow. “I should think so.”

“Yes, of course you are a fine-looking boy, Elgin,” Lord Grimsby said. “Now, Miss Carrick, it is a pleasure to meet you. I have heard all sorts of tales about your partnership with Jason.”

“What sorts of tales?” Lady Lydia asked, her old eyes sharper than a vampire’s teeth.

Lord Grimsby waved a negligent hand. “Oh, nothing really, just one story that struck Lady Grimsby very forcibly. She heard that a visiting servant who saw Miss Carrick kick over a bucket said there was a seam down the middle of her skirt and so she wasn’t really wearing a skirt. Never heard of such a thing myself. I told my wife the man must have been mistaken.”

“It boggles the mind what a man will see when confronted with a lady kicking a bucket,” Jason said. “A seam? As in her skirts were divided into two parts, two different parts? I can’t imagine such a thing. Can you, Angela?”

“No, my boy, never.”

“Laughter,” Lord Renfrew said. “I heard too much laughter, not coming from the stables, but from inside the house.”

Lady Lydia said, “Angela has told me all the laughter comes from Petrie-the butler, Lord Renfrew, not from anyone else. Hallie’s lady’s maid is always telling Petrie jokes.”

As a distraction, Jason thought, it was well done.

Corrie, her head cocked to one side, said, “Petrie laughing at something a woman says? That doesn’t sound like the Petrie I know. Petrie is a misogynist. Grandmama-in-law, why are you rolling your eyes at me? Why, Petrie even claimed I didn’t really save you, James, that as a female I am only capable of cowering behind a hay bale. He said it was you, James, who saved the day, that because of your extraordinary bravery, you disremembered what miraculous deeds you performed.”

“None of this is to the point,” Lord Renfrew said. “Of course you did not execute any sort of rescue, my lady, such a thing would be in very bad taste. Now, this Petrie fellow, he did serve me tea, but his face was stove-black and he stole my hat and cane.”

“No, that’s impossible,” Jason said. “Petrie told me himself that he disliked the new style in men’s hats, although the cane was all right, save for the ridiculous eagle’s head.”

“My father selected that eagle’s head!”

“Perhaps Petrie sold the hat and cane,” Alex said.

“Hollis always said that Petrie had an excellent eye for goods, that were he a criminal, we would be in trouble.”

Lord Renfrew threw his napkin on his plate. “You are all jesting. I do not like it. My lord, I wished to visit with Miss Carrick, but all these people are interfering.”

Lord Grimsby leaned over to pat Lord Renfrew’s hand. “Simply smile and nod and you will get through it.”

Lord Renfrew said, “I also saw my former head stable lad, Quincy. I can’t imagine how he came to be working for you. He was a shiftless fellow-”

Hallie said, sarcasm dripping out with her words, “Perhaps one should pay one’s servants, Lord Renfrew. That is probably the best solution to any problem.”

“How is Quincy with you?”

“I informed Willicombe, the Sherbrooke butler in London, that we had need of an assistant head stable lad. Quincy was at our door within a day, grinning from ear to ear. He is quite good, you know.”

“Yes, I know. The fellow was good, but he had no loyalty-”

The earl said, “If a man doesn’t pay his dependents, he should be deported to France.”

“Then she should be deported, not I,” said Lord Renfrew, nodding at Hallie. “It is her fault that poor Quincy wasn’t paid. His pay could have been her wedding present to me.”

Hallie was ready to leap over the table and gullet Lord Renfrew with his own fork, when Douglas lightly laid his hand on her sleeve. “I think it’s time I told everyone about my grandsons. Their names are Douglas and Everett. You should see Jason waltz with them-”

Lord Renfrew smiled. “Oh, I see. Well done, my lord. You are endeavoring to show Hallie the glories of having