Page 47 of The Mistress of Ashmore Castle

‘She was at the dig?’

‘Yes. She’d come as secretary to one of the archaeologists.’

‘She was there the whole time? Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Well, it didn’t come up,’ he said awkwardly. ‘I haven’t really spoken to you about the dig at all. I didn’t think you were interested.’

‘You’ve spent the last five months hobnobbing with her daily but you didn’t think to mention it? And plainly even that wasn’t enough – you had to invite her to Rachel’s ball as well!’

‘Oh, Kitty, don’t—’

‘And now she’s staying in London, so I suppose you’ll find lots of excuses not to go down to Ashmore. Perhaps she’ll never go back to Italy. Wouldn’t that be convenient?’

He bent over her, gave her a little shake, and said in a low voice, ‘Kitty, behave yourself! Don’t make a scene. Think of Rachel.’

‘You think of Rachel! You didn’t think of her before inviting your mistress to her come-out.’

Giles was shocked. ‘She’s not my mistress! How can you think such a thing? She’s just the daughter of my old professor. She means nothing to me—’ Kitty’s look made him rephrase. ‘Not like that, anyway. How can you think for a moment that I would—?’ He stopped, felt himself colouring. Kitty looked away with an almost inaudible sigh. He spoke again, quietly, firmly. ‘She’s not my mistress, and I’m not in love with her. You must believe me.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Kitty said, and he didn’t know what she meant by that. ‘We had better go to supper. People will notice.’

Richard arrived beside them, with Alice. ‘Supper time,’ he said brightly. ‘Pusscat, let me offer you my arm. I’ve been watching Giles dance and he has two left feet. You’re not safe on the stairs with him.’ Kitty transferred her hand to his arm without comment.

‘Oh, Richard, you’re too unkind,’ Alice said, falling in behind with Giles. ‘He can dance nicely if he has the right partner, but Mama’s made him dance with all the leftovers.’

‘That’s no excuse,’ Richard said. ‘I’ve been dancing with leftovers, as you call them, but I’m never less than exquisitely gazelle-like.’

CHAPTER NINE

The next morning, the dowager was still dressing when Miss Taylor was called to the bedroom door to receive a message from Moss. She returned to the dressing-table and continued imperturbably pushing pins into her mistress’s coiffure as she said, ‘Prince Usingen has called, my lady, requesting a private interview with you.’

‘So early?’ Maud said, and frowned. ‘It appears to suggest a lack of regard for the conventions.’

‘Perhaps it suggests an over-full heart, my lady.’

‘Don’t be impertinent,’ Maud said automatically. She stared unseeing at her reflection as she put in her earrings. He would not, perhaps, have been her first choice, but his rank and fortune deserved to be considered. Certainly it was early days to be crossing anyone off the list. ‘I will see him,’ she pronounced.

‘Yes, my lady,’ said Miss Taylor, who had already told Moss to ask the prince to wait. Her ladyship would not hurry down to him. Half an hour, she thought, would be the correct amount of time.

Dismissed by her mistress, Miss Taylor went down to the servants’ hall, where she found the household canvassing the visit. Everyone assumed a proposal was in the offing.

‘Poor Lady Rachel!’ Ellen was saying, with a shudder. ‘I shouldn’t care to have to marry him. He’s so old!’

‘An older husband is not always bad thing,’ Dory said, ‘as long as he’s kind.’

‘Well, I wouldn’t want some dried-up old stick pawing me about,’ Doris said, tossing her head. ‘When I get married, I want a nice, well-set-up young man I can cuddle up to in bed.’

‘It’s different for the nobs,’ said Aggie, one of the hired maids. ‘They marry for the money, and do their cuddling elsewhere.’

‘That’s enough,’ Miss Taylor snapped, catching them all by surprise. ‘It’s not for the likes of you to comment on upstairs matters.’

Dory lifted her head from something she was stitching. ‘Does her ladyship favour the prince, Miss Taylor?’

‘He’s in the running,’ Miss Taylor allowed, in concession to Dory’s greater age and sense. ‘She’ll see him, at least.’

‘And Lady Rachel?’

‘She’s not up yet,’ said Miss Taylor.