Looking around the dining room, he saw that it was, as usual, pristine. In fact, the entire interior of his family home was immaculate, as was the lady of the household, at all times. He’d grown up with a bevy of servants cleaning anddusting things constantly. Appearances were everything to Lady Angeline Chippington.
“Of course, and it’s lovely to have us all together again,” Tavi said.
Any gathering that included his entire family usually ended in yelling, primarily from Cissa and his mother, who rarely agreed on anything. When the note had arrived saying his presence was required this evening, he’d known something was afoot. As yet, he did not know what.
“Quite agree. We miss having Ambrose and Violet in the household,” their father agreed. “However, we do enjoy that Charles is now part of our family,” he added.
“It’s an honor to be part of your family, my lord,” Charles said solemnly.
“Yes, but why are we really here, Mother?” Cissa asked, clearly not believing that her mother simply wished for a family gathering. “Because we all know you have an ulterior motive for everything.”
Mother did not appear to take those words as an insult and simply picked up her wine and drank, which told Ambrose two things. Firstly, Cissa was right, and secondly, his mother was still sorting out what she wanted to say.
“Can we not eat our meal without debate?” Tavi implored, reaching for another spoonful of carrots.
Like him, she had a hearty appetite, and her plate was full. She looked his way, and he winked at her. She smiled back.
He and his sisters loved one another even as they did not always show it. They had an understanding, and the reason for that was often the woman sitting to their father’s right. The children of Lord and Lady Chippington had long ago learned to band together when it came to her. They often lied to cover for one another and had furnished distractions when they were needed.
Yes, he was a man and therefore, in his mother’s eyes, farsuperior, but Ambrose believed he’d always been there for his three sisters.
Hadn’t he?
It was odd how lately he was questioning everything to do with his behavior. Things he’d always believed about himself, he was now challenging. He blamed Tilly because she had turned his life on its head.
He should not have kissed and caressed her in Lolly’s Bookshop today. He had been consumed with thoughts of that moment since. All he could think about was how her lips had felt under his. The feel of her breast in his palm. Then there was her hand and the imprint it had left on his chest. No woman or kiss had left a lasting impression on Ambrose like she had—like that hand had.
After escaping Mr. Greedy’s ministrations about his headache, which that witch had told him Ambrose had, he’d tried to find her, but she’d disappeared.Damn her.
“Ambrose, is the food not to your liking?” his mother asked. “Would you like something else? I’ll have the cook make it at once.”
“Of course you will,” Cissa drawled. “Caviar, perhaps, brother, and Mother will spoon feed it to you?”
“Your brother is an important man,” their mother snapped. “It is right that he is?—”
“And yet we do not deserve the same respect?” Violet questioned.
Everyone seated at the table, besides Cissa and her mother, moaned.
“You are a woman. It is not the same. Of course, I blame Miss Wilson and her club for your flippant words. At least if she receives an offer from Mr. Howard, he will bring her into line.”
Howard was going to offer for Tilly?Absolutely not,Ambrose thought and refused to examine the reason why.
Down at the end of the table, his father cleared his throat and then gave each of his children a stern look, which they all knew meantDo not reply to that.
“He has not offered for her, and if he does, she may say no?—”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Violet,” their mother scoffed. “Of course she’ll say yes. Why, she is positively on the shelf, and no one else wants her.”
“Tilly is not a discarded scarf, Mother,” Ambrose snapped.
Their father cleared his throat again.
“Exactly, and I have always been flippant, so my words have nothing to do with Tilly or The Iris Club,” Violet said, ignoring the throat clearing, which was intended to shut them all up.
“She is putting misleading thoughts in the heads of women!”
Their mother’s tone had risen. Always a bad sign, Ambrose thought, looking at Charles, who was forking beef into his mouth, clearly unworried by his beloved’s words or the impending explosion.
