“Thank God for that.”
They both chuckled. Tess clutched his lapel when the dinner gong sounded, and Ashbourne offered his arm and led a seemingly smitten Sofia Van Arsdale into dinner.
“This may work for a reason we hadn’t even considered,” she told him excitedly.
“Mmm, but Van Arsdale still needs to be persuaded.”
“The man may not have a single bit of real respect for history, but I think he’d give his daughter anything she wants.”
As they strode into the dining room together, Dominic bent to whisper, “The question is whether he’ll settle for a marquess for her.”
This time, Tess made sure that she and Dominic were seated together, and by some bit of serendipity, Sofia Van Arsdale and Ashbourne were seated near each other too.
Mid courses and on a prearranged cue, Wrothley piped up and asked Van Arsdale if he’d heard about Aldridge’s enormous donation to “the local museum.”
Van Arsdale’s hands tightened around his cutlery at themention of Aldridge’s name and even Sofia, who’d been happily chatting away with Ashbourne, quieted.
“Of course, I’ve bloody heard of it. Man’s forever grandstanding and getting in the papers.”
“You should come see the Aldridge bronzes once they’re on display,” Ashbourne put in casually. “They’re thinking of calling it The Aldridge Room.” Ashbourne swept his hand through the air as if imagining the American’s rival’s name etched on a plaque.
“Oh, goodness,” Tess said after a charged look from Dominic. “I almost forgot to say that we’ve had a telegram from the one guest who could not attend.”
Tess’s hands shook slightly as she took up her glass of wine and looked at Dominic.
“Won’t you read it out to everyone?” she asked him.
“Of course.” He pulled the telegram from his waistcoat pocket and lifted it with dramatic flair as if he’d learned a great deal from the Americans in the past days. “Lord Rothschild apologizes that he could not attend, and says...” Dominic paused and looked down, reading directly from the telegram:
“I hear you are planning to donate your finds to the British Museum. I commend you heartily, Van Arsdale.”
“It would be an extraordinary act of philanthropy, Mr. Van Arsdale,” Duchess Norberry said with genuine emotion. “One for which the English public and I daresay the American too would remember you forever.”
“We’d be pleased as punch to have a Van Arsdale Room,” Ashbourne said, offering his wine glass in toast as if the deal had already been done.
“Oh, Father, wouldn’t that be magnificent!” Sofia VanArsdale said, her eyes glittering, not at Van Arsdale, but at the handsome marquess seated next to her. “Would you see to it all yourself, Lord Ashbourne?”
“I would see to anything that would please you, Miss Van Arsdale.”
Tess was shocked to see that the young man’s interest seemed genuine, though with a young lady as pretty and wealthy as Miss Van Arsdale, the nobleman’s quick interest seemed natural.
Van Arsdale swigged down his wine and cast a look around the table. Everyone, even Fenbridge, watched him expectantly.
Finally, he locked his gaze on the Marquess of Ashbourne.
“I want more than a room, Ashbourne.”
The young nobleman arched one aristocratic brow. “Oh?”
“I want a whole goddamned wing.”
The duchess and Wrothley exchanged a surreptitious smile. Tess gripped Dominic’s hand under the table, where it had been resting on her thigh.
“Sounds very grand,” Fenbridge said, though he’d been quiet throughout dinner. “A toast, then, to our esteemed American guests, and to their future generosity to the British Museum.”
Van Arsdale still looked a bit stunned at the turn of events.
But as each guest at the table lifted their glass toward him and then the duchess began a round ofhip-hip hooraythat everyone joined, he smiled under his neatly trimmed mustache, seeming to bask in the attention and praise.
