“I hope you enjoy yourself this evening,” the duke continued. “I have asked Waverly here to escort you in to dinner. I shall enlist Lord Jeffcoat to attend your sister.” With a friendly nod, he was gone.
“Good man, Pelham,” Lord Waverly said. “Not a less stuffy duke could one hope to find.”
“The dowager seems to have lost her husband very young,” Amity observed, thinking of the previous Duke of Pelham, who’d passed barely two years earlier.
“True,” he said. “It was unexpected, to say the least. I believe it was pneumonia or pleurisy. Pelham barely made it home from the Continent to bid his beloved father a final farewell, and he found himself appointed as the new duke the very next day.”
“How awful!” Amity proclaimed, glancing over to where he was leaning over his mother speaking quietly.
Waverly continued, “I hope the dowager likes Lady Madeleine and vice versa, for Pelham will want to look after his mother always.”
Amity considered the tableau for a moment. “Hopefully, Her Grace will not follow the queen’s example and go into unending mourning. To be practical, the dowager duchess might have many years ahead of her.”
“Agreed,” Lord Waverly said as the butler called them to dinner.
As it turned out, Amity found herself at the duke’s end of the table, with him at its head and her seated directly across from Lady Madeleine, who was already treating her to an expression of disapproval. Amity couldn’t imagine why the seating had been arranged thusly, but it was going to be a long evening.
At least Lord Waverly was to her left. Her sister ended up on the other side of the table with Lord Jeffcoat between Charlotte and Lady Madeleine. All the rest of the guests stretched down the table, probably eighteen or so, including the duke’s sister, with the dowager at the other end.
As the soup course was served, the duke thanked them all for coming, and the conversation died down for a few minutes while they began to eat. Amity was very careful when reaching for her wine glass, spying the duke watching her. When she glanced directly at him, he winked, which caused heat to flow down through her entire body.
Looking straight ahead again, she received a frosty glare from Lady Madeleine and vowed to keep her attention on her dinner partner to her left. Lord Waverly was an excellent companion, and the meal passed quickly although Amity guessed it must have been about two hours.
The duke spoke to Lady Madeleine through much of it while occasionally someone farther down the table called his name, causing a brief conversation to be called back and forth. And Lady Madeleine joined in when addressed, also looking perfectly attentive and relaxed as she spoke with the man on her right, Charlotte’s dining companion.
Amity could not find fault with the duke’s ladylove, much as she wanted to. Lady Madeleine was decidedly at home at his table, displaying all the right signs of conviviality. It seemed she would make a good duchess, after all.
As if she were any judge of such things!
As the courses progressed — with the Pelham’s cook displaying a mastery of each dish — Amity noticed the duke became quieter, spending more time looking thoughtful. When they were served theentremets sucré, she thought he might even be starting to appear a little anxious.
Perhaps he was simply digesting his meal in silence, she thought. More likely, he was growing nervous at his public proposal.
Glancing at Charlotte as they viewed the multiple dessert dishes spread out in front of them with enough staff ready to give each guest a slice or a scoop of whatever they wished.There was absolutely nothing chocolate,Amity noted with satisfaction. Her confections would not have to compete with anything there. While she had no doubt any other chocolate served would have been inferior, it was preferable not to have the taste of it already on the guests’ tongues.
As the dinner drew to a close, Amity gripped the napkin in her lap, prepared for the duke to order her confections be brought out. He would stand, most likely, and make his proposal at the table, possibly following an effusive speech as to the many delights of Lady Madeleine.
He merely rose from his seat and said, “Shall we move to a more comfortable setting? I hope the gentlemen here tonight will not be offended if I beg off a separation of the sexes for cigars and brandy. Perhaps we shall get to that later, but for now, I would like to keep our merry gathering together. Come this way.”
Instead of returning to the drawing room, with Madeleine on his arm, he led them across the hall to the other side of the mansion where the doors now stood open to a ballroom. Musicians were already playing softly at one end, and the room was lit with at least a hundred candles. It was gorgeous and romantic.
Every woman entering sighed as Amity did. Charlotte came up beside her and took her hand.
“Only think how your chocolates will be featured.”
Amity couldn’t stop the small chuckle escaping her. “I believe it is not theBraysonconfection that shall be featured but the lady herself.”
“Still, it’s rather exciting to have your chocolates here, almost like an art exhibit at a gallery.”
Amity squeezed her sister’s hand as they moved forward with the other guests. In the center of the room was a table draped in blush pink silk and lined with glasses of freshly poured champagne.
The duke waited until they had all gathered around, with his family and close friends nearest to the table and the rest pushing closer to get a look. Then he looked over to the stringed quartet, and they stopped playing.
“I am so very glad to have you all here,” he began, as the servants started distributing the champagne. “As most of you know, I have inherited the title sooner than I would have liked and am honored to walk in my father’s footsteps, even if I cannot hope to fill his shoes.”
“Well said,” someone called out in support.
“I have reached a time in my life when I require a help-mate, someone to fill my home with her beauty and grace, and hopefully fill our nursery, too.”
