When she reseated herself, he reached for the teapot. “Can I pour you a cup, your Grace?”
Flustered to have him serve her, Eva merely nodded.
“The thing is, your Grace, the nobility are traditionally a lazy bunch who spend a great deal of time indulging themselves,” Lord Kelkirk said. “Food and drink being one of those indulgences, we like to do it well.”
Eva’s cup had been halfway to her lips when he spoke and it remained poised as she looked at him. She had never known a man to speak so easily to her and especially not a nobleman. “It is amazing that you are not all stout then, my lord, if indeed that is the case.”
“Well, speaking for myself, I do a great deal of exercise to counteract the indulgences. Your husband, however…”
“Have you bored my wife to tears yet, Kelkirk?”
Eva drank deeply as the duke entered the room and ignored the tiny flutter in her stomach as he called her his wife. He had kissed her and she could still feel the imprint on her lips even though she had washed her face thoroughly.
“We were just discussing the nobleman’s penchant for the overindulgence of food and drink, Daniel.”
He stood beside her and looked down at the small roll on her plate. “Not a failing of yours, Duchess?”
“She nearly fainted when I mentioned the trout.”
“Now that is not true, Lord Kelkirk. I merely shuddered.” Eva felt moved to protest, besides which, it was easier to talk with Lord Kelkirk than her husband. He made her pulse do silly things.
“At least you have stopped wearing those ridiculous caps.”
Eva watched her husband go to the sideboard and load his plate. “I beg your pardon, your Grace?”
“Perhaps you could call me Daniel, Eva.”
Could she? It seemed to infer they were comfortable with each other when, in fact, they were anything but.
“And I am Simon, Eva.”
“I said I’m glad you are no longer wearing those ugly caps that cover your hair.”
Swallowing another mouthful of tea to soothe her suddenly dry throat, Eva stammered, “I...I...uh, I had no idea you noticed, your Grace.”
“I was trying to work out what color hair you had, yet not one strand escaped those ridiculous things.”
He sat to her right and Eva’s eyes widened as she looked at his food-laden plate.
“I rest my case.” Lord Kelkirk had a smug expression on his face as he noted her own expression.
“My caps were a sort of cover against my family, your Grace,” she said after a moment.
“Daniel,” he said around a mouthful of ham.
“Cover?” Simon pressed, intrigued.
“My family were not the easiest of men to live with, Lord Kelkirk, and sometimes I wanted to blend into the background and look…inconspicuous,” Eva said.
Simon coughed and several drops of tea flew onto the cloth. Eva looked at the small splotches on the linen and hoped the stains would come out; this was one of their new cloths.
“Inconspicuous?” he finally gasped, begging her pardon.
“Yes, and perhaps a touch witless,” Eva added.
“Witless?”
“Come now, Simon, you should be well versed in the word,” the duke said with an evil glint in his grey eyes.
