“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.”