Kynaston, Eastonholme, and North returned, and the food North had selected was satisfactory. She’d never before thought of food selection as a means of choosing a husband, but perhaps it could be useful. She noted how easily he spoke to the other ladies, especially to Mrs. Manners, who was on his other side.
Ariana gradually became aware that he wasparticularlyinterested in Mrs. Manners and that the lady,while composed, was not unaware or displeased. North had only just been added to her list and now she must cross him off! Wine was served, and Ariana took a deep drink of hers. Husband hunting was a slippery affair.
However, despite Inching returning to the seat at Ariana’s side, the supper went well for a while. Then she felt a touch on her ankle. She twitched, thinking,Mouse!but then realized it was the despicable Inching. She moved her feet away from him, but went too far and touched North’s. He slid her a rather surprised look.
She didn’t think her cheeks had heated as much in years, and across the table Kynaston was watching her sardonically. “Is something amiss, Lady Ariana?”
“No, of course not.” She tucked her feet backward, wishing she could engage in lively conversation with North, but he’d turned back to Mrs. Manners.
“I believe this is your first Town ball in quite some time,” Kynaston persisted. Was he intent on embarrassing her? Was he, for heaven’s sake, recalling her last one?
“I’ve attended many in Hampshire,” Ariana said, “and in general prefer rural entertainments.”
“Rural entertainments!” exclaimed wide-eyed Miss Cushing. “In preference to an ambassador’s assembly?”
“In the countryside, one knows everyone.”
“How unexpectedly unadventurous,” Kynaston said in a drawl, and turned to pretty, tiny Miss Cushing. “You, I see, are more eager for new experiences.”
The girl blushed, clearly not immune to his magnificence. “Tonight was my very first waltz, my lord.”
“Then may I hope you’ll dance the second with me?”
The chit’s blush deepened and she giggled, but sheagreed with enthusiasm. Ariana caught Inching looking at her in an odd way, and remembered telling him she was engaged for the second. Which she wasn’t. What was she to do about that?
She thought he might ask again, but instead he raised the subject of the Amazons, asking whether their military abilities were likely to be true. “They must have been very tall women,” he added. “And stalwart. Is it possible for women to be so muscular?”
Mrs. Manners said, “Some women do hard work in the fields, my lord, and even in mines. We are not designed by God to be feeble.”
“How true, ma’am. I have seen female pugilists and wrestlers.”
“There were many resolute women in the history and myths of the ancient world,” Kynaston said, frowning at Inching, “and not all of them warlike. Demeter, for example, the goddess of the harvest, who cast the world into eternal winter until the lord of the underworld returned her daughter, Persephone.”
“Or Psyche,” Ariana said, to support the effort to turn the subject. “She was mortal but succeeded at a series of impossible tasks in order to win her beloved, Eros.”
“With help from the gods,” Kynaston pointed out, “including Eros himself.”
“You imply that women can never be heroes on their own, my lord? Male heroes also generally had friends and allies among the gods.”
“She has you there, Kynaston,” said Lord Eastonholme with a chuckle.
“And then there’s Cleopatra,” his wife said. “True queen of Egypt. Of course, we English don’t find a strong female monarch astonishing, having had Elizabeth, butthey were rare in the past, were they not? I don’t believe there were any female rulers of Rome.”
“Quite right, my dear,” Lord Eastonholme said, beaming at her.
How lovely it would be to grow old with an amiable companion.
“That’s probably why Rome collapsed,” Lady Eastonholme continued. “Insufficient power and influence for women.”
Ariana supported her. “Even France is an example, for they have never had a sovereign queen.”
“I doubt a female monarch of France would have prevented the Revolution,” Kynaston said. “Especially as Queen Marie-Antoinette was a principal cause.”
“Perhaps unfairly blamed,” Ariana protested.
“We could have had a Queen Charlotte,” Mrs. Manners said, “if not for her sad death.” But then she looked consciously at Kynaston. “I’m sorry, my lord.”
Was he such a tyrannical employer that she feared dismissal for intruding into a conversation to play peacemaker?
