None of them showed curiosity or any other emotion. All seemed to be at their usual posts. All were correctly dressed and neatly groomed.
And all stood in a state of high tension.
Zoe could feel it. Marchmont seemed oblivious. No surprise there.
“We’ve only come for the curricle,” the duke told his house steward. “I’m taking Miss Lexham for a drive. Have the carriage sent round, and let Hoare know. He’ll want to give me a change of something: hat and gloves, I daresay. Meanwhile, we must remember our manners and offer the lady refreshment.”
He turned to Zoe. The afternoon light, which made rainbows dance in the chandelier, glittered in his pale gold hair. The one unruly lock had fallen over his forehead, making him look like a careless boy, and she had to fist her gloved hand to keep from brushing it back.
She remembered the touch of his lips. She had not yet quieted the urges the uncompleted kiss had stirred. She had enjoyed that teasing moment very much. She would have liked to enjoy it longer.
“I wish I could say I shall be but a minute, but Hoare cries when I hurry him,” he said. “And if I dash out with the wrong gloves or hat, he’ll slit his throat. Why do I keep him, I wonder? Any idea, Harrison?”
“I would not venture to say, Your Grace. One might observe, however, that replacing Hoare with a valet of equally high qualifications would consume a great deal of Your Grace’s valuable time.”
“Harrison always knows the answers,” the duke told Zoe. “There it is in a nutshell: It would be even more bother to replace Hoare than it is to put up with him. I shall leave you in Harrison’s capable hands.”
With that, he sauntered across the hall and through the open door and started up a magnificent stairway.
Harrison flicked a glance at one of the hovering footmen, who hurried toward them. “Escort Miss Lexham to the library—no, no, never mind. That won’t do. No entertainment but books. The lady will find it dull.”
It was sly, very sly: disrespect couched in a seeming show of concern for her comfort. But no properly respectful servant would presume to know what a lady would find dull or say anything that might be construed as slighting her intelligence. Jarvis, behind her, understood what he’d done, for she gave a barely audible gasp, which she immediately turned into a cough.
The footman comprehended, too. Though he kept his face blank, Zoe saw the smirk in his eyes.
Well, this was interesting.
She beamed at the house steward. “How kind of you,” she said. “I never would have guessed that the duke’s library was a dull, musty old place. I supposed his collection must be one of the finest in all of England, and his library most elegant and comfortable. But you would know. Yes, I should like to wait in a room that is more pleasant.”
The footman’s smirk vanished, and he turned pale.
Jarvis made a smothered sound.
Harrison’s expression did not change, though his posture became a degree stiffer.
“The morning room,” he told the footman. “See that refreshments arrive promptly.” He bowed to her and wafted out of the room.
Neither woman spoke until they were comfortably seated in the morning room and the footman had run away.
“Oh, miss, I never,” Jarvis whispered. “What he said and what you said.Hislibrary musty.”
“It is not his library but the duke’s,” said Zoe. “He will do well to remember that. He should remember his place, always, and treat all of his master’s guests with the greatest respect. This much I know.”
“Yes, miss. He needed a setdown and you gave him one. But…well.”
“Do not be afraid of him,” Zoe said. “He is simply a bully. There is usually at least one in a household, though that one is not always at the top. You must never let such persons cow you, whether they are men or women. You do not answer to anyone but me. Remember this.”
“Yes, miss,” Jarvis said, looking about her doubtfully.
“There is no need to be frightened,” Zoe said. “I do not believe he will try to poison us.”
Jarvis’s eyes widened. “Good gracious, miss!”
“It is most unlikely,” Zoe assured her. “In the harem, they were always plotting to murder Yusri Pasha’s third wife, so disagreeable she was. But they were too busy quarreling with one another to organize a proper plot.”
“Oh, my goodness, miss!”
Zoe brushed off the maid’s alarm with a wave of her hand. “When my sisters were teaching me about running a great household, it seemed like the most tiresome of a number of boring duties. In a house like this, though, it could be most interesting.”
