The Duke’s gaze softened. “It will be an honour.”
They were finally bonding, Lena realised with a soft glow in her heart. Hector was no longer as hostile to him as he had been at first. The Duke, it appeared, seemed to regard him with increasing affection. She was glad.
“Do you know what he did the other day?” Hector chattered. “When we flew the kite?”
“I thought that was supposed to be our secret?” he murmured.
Hector blithely ignored him. “We went to the meadow by the river to fly the kite. Only it got tangled in a tree, and we couldn’t get it down. So he—” Hector pointed to the Duke “—took off his hat and coat and rolled up his shirt sleeves and climbed up the tree and untangled it, and do you know what happened then?” He laughed.
“What?” Theo and Mona asked in unison.
Hector could hardly speak he was laughing so hard. Les joined in.
“He got stuck in the tree! He climbed up so high that he couldn’t get down again.”
The Duke ignored the conversation as if they were not making fun of him and continued to drink his coffee.
“Oh dear.” Lena held back her laughter. “What did he do to come down again?”
“He was stuck in the tree for a good half an hour, and there was no one to call for help. I would have run to the neighbour for a ladder, but I had a better idea.” He grinned.
“What did you do to get down?”
“Hector and I found a pile of hay, and we carried it under the tree. With all that hay, it was safe to jump without breaking your legs,” Les explained.
Lena’s eyes grew round. “He jumped into the haypile?”
“I jumped,” the Duke said with a deadpan face. “As you can see, my limbs are intact, thanks to the quick thinking of Hector and Achilles. Otherwise, I would still be up in that tree as we speak.”
“He had hay all over him.” Hector giggled. “In his hair, in his collar…”
Mona snorted a laugh, and even Lena couldn’t resist a chuckle. She watched in amazement as a small smile flitted over his face.
Was that really the Duke of Aldingbourne? The stiff, starchy Duke without a sense of humour, who flew kites, climbed and jumped from trees, bought stockings, probably hung laundry on a rope, and now even cooked?
A warm smile tugged at the corner of Lena’s mouth. “It will be a pleasure to have you cook today. I am looking forwards to this culinary adventure. Mind you, no cheating! No secretly ordering food from a tavern or asking one of your servants to do the deed.”
“I will certainly not do so,” the Duke promised. There was a hint of subtle teasing in his voice. She may have imagined the brief twinkle in his eye, but it was gone before she could register it.
The Duke wastrue to his promise.
He served a ragout made of hearty chunks of beef, carrots, potatoes and onions, and a hearty dose of paprika. He’d boiled it in the pot on the stove, ladled it out into bowls, and garnished the plates elegantly.
The boys sniffed at it suspiciously. Lena tasted it cautiously.
To her great shock, it was actually quite good. It wasn’t charred to cinders, it wasn’t over- or under-flavoured, and the soup had the right consistency. Mind you, the pieces of beef were huge chunks, and the potatoes were half cooked, but the overall flavour was excellent.
She put down her spoon and looked at them with astonishment. “How on earth did you know the recipe?”
Hector and the Duke exchanged glances. “That will be our secret,” the Duke said. Hector nodded emphatically.
“I saw Hecki ask Frau Bauer!” Les declared. “She told him how to do it, of course.”
“Traitor,” Hector hissed.
Les grinned and proceeded to spoon the soup into his mouth. “If it is Frau Bauer’s recipe, then of course it is good.”
“It appears I missed my vocation,” he said after tasting the soup. “This is not bad at all. What do you say, Hector, should I give up my duties as a Duke and become a cook?” There it was again, a twinkle in his eye. Was he now getting into the habit of joking?
