“My father taught James and me that a lady always forgave a gentleman for even the most stupid remark if he danced well.”
He whirled her about, deftly avoiding other dancers until she was laughing.
CHAPTER 25
When Hallie caught her breath, she said, “Your father must be right. I haven’t wanted to call you a moron once since our feet started moving. Oh dear, I do believe the ladies are surrounding James as well. Will the two of you never be safe?”
“James said he truly appreciated being married to Corrie. He said she protected him, like grandmother told you.”
“I wonder if Corrie ever fears being shot? Oh dear, I don’t believe Lord Renfrew is glad you’re here, Jason. He wanted to dance with me, you know. He’s giving you a remarkably nasty look. Ah, good, he’s asked that black-haired girl to waltz. That’s a relief.”
“She’s fluttering her eyelashes at him,” Jason said. “She’s not doing it well, but she’s young yet. She’ll learn.”
“I think she’s doing very nicely. Ah, you’re very graceful. That would make sense if a gentleman wanted to be successful with the ladies. However, you could dance like a clod and it wouldn’t make any difference.”
“I was thinking the same about you, Miss Carrick.” He gave her a white-toothed smile and whirled her about until she would swear under oath that she was flying two inches off the floor.
When they slowed a bit again, he said, “I can’t imagine why Lord Grimsby—he’s the elderly gentleman standing next to the lady with the huge ostrich feather—would give a ball especially for Lord Renfrew.”
“It makes no sense to me. I did meet Lord and Lady Grimsby; you simply weren’t aware of it. They told me how Lord Renfrew could speak only of my grace and loveliness. Nausea nearly flooded me. You, unfortunately, weren’t available to deter them. You were surrounded by too many well-wishers. It appears everyone missed you, Jason.”
“It’s good to see old friends.”
“You know, Lord Grimsby was giving me the eye—not a flirtatious eye, mind you, but an assessing eye—perhaps to evaluate if I’d do or not.”
Jason said slowly, “I wonder if your Lord Renfrew has some sort of hold on Lord Grimsby. I shall have to ask my father. He knows everything, which is odd, since he refuses to listen to gossip, but still, information finds its way into his ear.”
Hallie could only marvel at him. “I will tell you, Jason, I am used to being drowned in compliments, but not to the extent the ladies try to corner you. It is, naturally, the same with my father. Perhaps more so.”
“You haven’t noticed all the gentlemen salivating, Hallie. That’s why I tried to keep you close, to protect you.”
She laughed, couldn’t help herself. He whirled her around and around. When the waltz finally came to an end, once she could suck in enough air, she said, “Another dance, please, sir. You do it very well.”
“All right, but not a third waltz until much later, Hallie. I don’t want your reputation to suffer.”
She didn’t care, but acquiesced. After the second waltz, Jason left her at Angela’s side. He turned to his grandmother, bowed formally. “My lady, would you condescend to waltz with a grandson who, upon three different occasions, stole your nutty buns?”
The old lady rapped his arm with her fan, gave him a huge grin. “Ah, I knew, I always knew. Take me to the floor, my boy.”
Alex Sherbrooke couldn’t believe her eyes. She clutched at her husband’s sleeve. “Douglas, goodness, I didn’t think the old bat could move so spryly.”
“A potted palm would move spryly if dancing with one of my sons,” Douglas said. Actually, Lady Lydia was swaying in place, Jason smiling down at her, holding her as gently as he would one of his nephews, telling her that particular shade of pale yellow was perfect with her complexion. The old lady preened.
“She always loved Jason best.” Alex sighed. “As many times as I still want to kick her, she looks lovely, and so very happy. Why can’t she be happy all the time? Why can’t she ever smile at me like that?”
“Give it up, my dear,” Douglas said, and drew her to the dance floor. “I doubt not that when she finally croaks in the next century, she will still insult you to your toes, be it Heaven or Hell. All six remaining teeth on full view. Do you think we’ll still have some teeth when we’re her age?”
“Oh dear, Douglas, I don’t wish to visit that thought at this moment. My lord, you dance as gracefully as ever.”
“More than three decades of inspiration keep the spring in my step,” Douglas said.
An hour later, the entire Sherbrooke family sat at three tables in the lovely dining room off the ballroom, eating shrimp patties, drinking champagne, and delighting in the Grimsby’s cook’s incredible olive bread, a recipe she claimed had come from Sicily itself, from her grandmother the ancient Maria Teresa. Lady Grimsby was heard to say that every olive in a twenty-mile radius would be residing in her guests’ bellies before the night was over.
“Father,” Jason said, “tell me why Lord Grimsby is giving a ball in Lord Renfrew’s honor.”
“Hmm. Lord Renfrew seems a pleasant enough man, despite his need to be shot,” Douglas said, nearly sighing over another bite of the olive bread. “Fact is though, Lord Grimsby and Elgin’s uncle—Bartholomew Sloane—were first cousins on the mother’s side. Grew up together. One of Barty’s sons died in Greece some ten years ago. Grim told me the boy traveled with Lord Byron.”
Hallie said, “My lord, perhaps a large dinner party with whist afterward would be more appropriate than a ball. Why would Lord Grimsby go to this sort of expense for his cousin’s son?”
“Ah, that’s an excellent question,” Douglas said. “Didn’t I hear that after you gave Lord Renfrew the boot, Hallie, he married a girl up north? Her father was a wealthy merchant or such? And she died?”
“How did you know that, sir? I swear I never told a soul.”
Douglas shrugged as he snaffled the last slice of olive bread off his wife’s plate. “And now he has no money. It all makes very clear sense, don’t you think?”
“But I’m living with Jason!”
There was only a bare moment of appalled silence.
“You’re his partner, Hallie,” Corrie said. “You’re not his mistress.”
“Of course I’m not his mistress,” Hallie said. “I am too rich to be any man’s mistress.”
“Be that as it may,” Douglas said, “it would appear that Elgin Sloane wishes to see if he can’t reattach you, my dear.”
“But I found out he was marrying me for my money, my lord. Do you know what else he was doing? He was sleeping with another woman.”
“Not quite so loud, Hallie,” Alex said, patting her hand.
Corrie said, “That doesn’t make much sense, does it? He was doing both? Doesn’t he have a functioning brain?”
Hallie said, “He must have believed he could get away with it.”
“All girls except Corrie are stupid at eighteen,” Corrie’s mother-in-law said. “Did you know that she saved James’s life?”
“She’s got more guts than brains,” James said.
Hallie said, “Well, no, and I should like to hear all about it. Didn’t Lord Renfrew get a good look at Jason, sir? Is the man blind?”
Jason waved away her words. “He thinks I’m poor, jealous of my brother, and something of a buffoon.” Jason grinned. “It was quite an enjoyable visit with him, as a matter of fact.”
“You’re wicked, my boy,” Lady Lydia said, staring at the shrimp patty that lay in the center of her daughter-in-law’s plate. She wanted that shrimp patty. Alex knew it. She speared the entire patty on her fork and raised it to her mouth. Then, cursing herself, she cut it in half and set one half on her mother-in-law’s plate.
Lady Lydia eyed the half shrimp patty. “I’ll wager you licked it, didn’t you? You did it very fast so I could see only the shadow of movement of it, so I’d know what you did, but not be able to prove it. And that’s why
you gave it to me. You want Douglas to believe you are selfless, but you licked it.”
“Yes,” Alex said. “I licked it.” She stared the old woman down until she ate the shrimp patty. “It tasted strange,” Lady Lydia said as she set down her fork. “I don’t know your particular taste as my poor son does, but—”
“Mother,” Douglas said, his voice icy enough to freeze the champagne, “If Alex licked the shrimp patty, it will 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 children in the house. Listen, Hallie. I would be a spectacular fathe
r. Only imagine this delightful domestic picture: a handful of children waltzing with their proud papa. Ah, yes, it warms my heart.”
There was a cloud of appalled silence over the table until Lord Grimsby said, “Tell me, Douglas, how much longer do you think King William will last?”
“It’s what follows William that gives me pause, Grim. Oh, who is this now at our table? Another friend of yours, Jason?”
Jason looked up at the distinguished gentleman who bowed, snagged Hallie’s hand, and kissed her fingers. He grinned like a bandit and licked his lips. “Olive bread. It is quite good, isn’t it?”
Hallie raised the fingers of her other hand to her mouth and licked them. “Yes, quite good.”
“I am Grandison, you know.”
James said, “Charles, what on earth are you doing here in the wilds of Sussex? Last I heard you were sailing off the coast of Portugal.”
“No, not Portugal. Ah, James, what a picture you present. Why don’t you gain flesh? Perhaps lose your teeth, shed a bit of hair? And Jason? It has been far too long.”
The twins rose, shook the gentleman’s hand.
Charles Grandison looked closely at Jason. “You look content.”
Jason laughed. “I will be content after Dodger leaves your tired old nag, Ganymede, snorting and sweating in the dirt.”
“Stuff dreams are made of, my boy. Elgin tells me you and Miss Carrick own Lyon’s Gate. Together. I should like to hear how that came about.”
“A simple enough tale, sir,” Hallie said. “Both of us wanted the same property.”
“It shouldn’t have happened,” Lord Renfrew said. “Hallie should be married to me, all settled in a lovely house in London, planning our next soiree.”
“That could be possible, I suppose, were you another man altogether,” Hallie said.
Charles Grandison laughed. “Ah, that’s a grand wit you’ve got, Miss Carrick.” He turned to the earl of Northcliffe, bowed. “My lord, forgive my interruption. I am Charles Grandison. My father vastly admired you.”