Page 9 of Her Royal Houseguest

Then she smiled and he was shocked to see white teeth in her mouth. He shouldn’t have been surprised. The English had no understanding of the health benefits of betel nuts, which woke the mind and brought a handsome brown to the teeth. The English were a pale people, insubstantial like ghosts and uneducated in the ways of health.

The duke performed an introduction.

‘Prince Chao Fa Devawongse, may I introduce my daughter, Lady Anna? Anna, this is the, um, Prince of the Oriental country of Siam.’

The duke’s pronunciation was horrendous but at least he’d tried to give Deva his full title.

‘Siamese words are so difficult,’ Deva said, his tone magnanimous. ‘You may call me Prince Deva.’

The lady sank down before him.

‘Your Royal Highness,’ she said, her voice mellow and clear. ‘A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Won’t you come in?’

She straightened but her father stopped her.

‘He wants his feet washed. It’s for cleanliness in our home.’

‘Oh, uh—’

She cut off her words as she looked Deva in the eye. He didn’t bristle at such forwardness, especially as her gaze immediately dropped. ‘Of course. Stanier, please bring out some chairs, water basins and cloth.’

The old butler gaped at her. ‘Outside, my lady?’

The woman suppressed a sigh. Deva could see her anger in the way she pressed her mouth together but she covered it better than he could. Imagine a servant questioning a princess’s orders. Horrendous!

‘Yes, outside,’ the lady repeated. ‘Enough for…’ Her gaze scanned over his shoulder, no doubt seeing his brother standing a step behind and the arrival of the next carriage.

‘How many?’

Deva jerked his chin down, suppressing the insult at being questioned so directly. It wasn’t rational but he had thought the English royals would know how to act. He was tired of being gaped at by peasants.

At least her mouth wasn’t open, but that steady regard from a woman was disconcerting.

He had no choice but to answer. ‘We are three now,’ he said, his cheeks heating. He had left Siam with twenty but a storm claimed a few, illness claimed more and the rest had fled, calling the expedition cursed.

‘Of course.’ She turned back to the elderly butler and said, ‘Three chairs, Stanier.’

Then, as the man stood gaping, she looked over his shoulder to a younger man.

‘Clarke, bring them out, please.’

At least the younger servant moved swiftly. The older butler, however, sniffed as he drew himself up to his full height. ‘I shall see to it, my lady.’

‘Good. I’m sure our guests are getting tired standing out here in the hot sun.’

Hot sun? Had he understood her? The chilly temperature was barely tolerable. At least he wore layers. Vaji must be freezing with only his saffron robe around him.

Within moments, several chairs appeared, one after the other plus basins of water. The lady of the house came out with them. The duchess was a woman with a tight aspect. Her hair pulled at her forehead, her eyes squinted from the sunlight and irritation often showed on her features.

She was polite, of course, though she obviously thought it strange to be standing outside for this. And though he couldn’t see beneath her skirts, he guessed that she wore shoes inside, as did all the servants.

Now he was feeling awkward as everyone gave them strange looks. But it had begun and so he would see it through, though it was a ridiculous exercise. He and his party would have clean feet but they would be walking inside on a floor where everyone else had brought in the city dirt.

He shared a look with his brother. They both understood how ridiculous this was but while Deva felt his shoulders stiffen with anxiety, his brother’s eyes danced with amusement. The man would never be serious.

It was a delicate line teaching civilisation to barbarians. Especially when those barbarians had big ships with big guns and no compunction about using them to enforce their beliefs.

A chair was set for him, so he sat. Everyone stared at him. Of course they had no idea how to wash a man’s feet, or even that they should, which meant he had to bend down awkwardly to do this task. He didn’t mind. He’d often washed his own feet but it was the protocol that bothered him.