watching events unfold.”
“I must confess, I have yet to speak to Mira’s father,” George said with another nod at his intended. “However, once the betrothal is announced, I expect to claim my privileges.”
“Just so long as by privileges you mean two waltzes and the March, there will be no need for pistols at dawn,” Stephen said with a snort.
“If you are implying that Mira and I should anticipate our vows,” George said in clipped tones, “I should think that to be none of your affair.”
“What it is Stephen meant to imply,” Adrian said as he leaned across the table to better facilitate staring down his cousin, “is just this: if you so much as touch Mira without her consent, betrothed or no, you will have to answer to us.”
“Pray abandon this topic of conversation before you offend the ladies,” George demanded.
“It is your attitude that most offends me, George,” Lady Crenshaw said with a challenging lift of her eyebrow.
Mira thought her mother never looked more regal, her brothers never so handsome, and George never so like he had swallowed a toad. For the remainder of the meal, not a soul opened his or her mouth for any purpose but that of the forking of food. At one point, Mira considered screaming so as to break up the heavy silence but owned that her father would be horrified should she do so in his presence and deemed his absence no excuse for such a breach of conduct.
Eventually, it was time to board the carriage for the journey to the ancestral pile of the lord and lady who would host the ball. As expected, George took Mira’s arm to lead her through to the front hall. Adrian took the other only long enough to whisper in her ear.
“Should Harry be at the ball, I shall give him my waltz,” he said, before dropping behind to take his mother’s arm. Mira felt her heart swell with gratitude, whereupon, Stephen took his place and whispered, “Why you should wish to dance with such a jackanapes, I will never know.”
“To which jackanapes do you refer?” she hissed back, to which Stephen merely gave her a wry grin and dropped behind to take his mother’s free arm until they had made their way outdoors and began to board the carriage. Mira felt she had sat beside George in one conveyance or another long enough to last a lifetime, but, naturally, he had other ideas and forced her mother and brothers to sit together on the seat that faced backwards.
“George, is it not ill-done of us to take the forward facing seat when my mother must sit on the other?” Mira asked in hopes that he would be gallant and offer to switch with his hostess.
“Doubtless Lady Crenshaw appreciates your loyalty,” George retorted, “but you really must accustom yourself to your new status. As my Duchess, you shall take precedence over your mother, as well as your brothers and well-esteemed papa. I am persuaded that even your mama would not dare to voice a differing opinion on this subject.”
Mira sensed rather than saw three sets of jaws tighten at his words and knew the response to this piece of folly was best left to her. “I do not believe status to be an adequate substitute for manners,” Mira said with a mildness she did not feel. “It seems to me that as a suitor to my hand, you would have the decency to treat my mother with the respect due any lady in her circumstances.”
“I take your point with regards to your mother. As to your use of the word ‘suitor,’ let it be understood that matters have progressed beyond the need for such descriptions. To say so would be to imply there are others competing for your hand in marriage and that is not the case. That is to say, should there be any, your father will most assuredly put paid to their pretensions as you and I have been promised to one another since you were a child.”
Mira heard the release of a frustrated sigh from one of her brothers, she knew not which, and took heart. “I understand you believe that to be the case, but I am
“I must confess, I have yet to speak to Mira’s father,” George said with another nod at his intended. “However, once the betrothal is announced, I expect to claim my privileges.”
“Just so long as by privileges you mean two waltzes and the March, there will be no need for pistols at dawn,” Stephen said with a snort.
“If you are implying that Mira and I should anticipate our vows,” George said in clipped tones, “I should think that to be none of your affair.”
“What it is Stephen meant to imply,” Adrian said as he leaned across the table to better facilitate staring down his cousin, “is just this: if you so much as touch Mira without her consent, betrothed or no, you will have to answer to us.”
“Pray abandon this topic of conversation before you offend the ladies,” George demanded.
“It is your attitude that most offends me, George,” Lady Crenshaw said with a challenging lift of her eyebrow.
Mira thought her mother never looked more regal, her brothers never so handsome, and George never so like he had swallowed a toad. For the remainder of the meal, not a soul opened his or her mouth for any purpose but that of the forking of food. At one point, Mira considered screaming so as to break up the heavy silence but owned that her father would be horrified should she do so in his presence and deemed his absence no excuse for such a breach of conduct.
Eventually, it was time to board the carriage for the journey to the ancestral pile of the lord and lady who would host the ball. As expected, George took Mira’s arm to lead her through to the front hall. Adrian took the other only long enough to whisper in her ear.
“Should Harry be at the ball, I shall give him my waltz,” he said, before dropping behind to take his mother’s arm. Mira felt her heart swell with gratitude, whereupon, Stephen took his place and whispered, “Why you should wish to dance with such a jackanapes, I will never know.”
“To which jackanapes do you refer?” she hissed back, to which Stephen merely gave her a wry grin and dropped behind to take his mother’s free arm until they had made their way outdoors and began to board the carriage. Mira felt she had sat beside George in one conveyance or another long enough to last a lifetime, but, naturally, he had other ideas and forced her mother and brothers to sit together on the seat that faced backwards.
“George, is it not ill-done of us to take the forward facing seat when my mother must sit on the other?” Mira asked in hopes that he would be gallant and offer to switch with his hostess.
“Doubtless Lady Crenshaw appreciates your loyalty,” George retorted, “but you really must accustom yourself to your new status. As my Duchess, you shall take precedence over your mother, as well as your brothers and well-esteemed papa. I am persuaded that even your mama would not dare to voice a differing opinion on this subject.”
Mira sensed rather than saw three sets of jaws tighten at his words and knew the response to this piece of folly was best left to her. “I do not believe status to be an adequate substitute for manners,” Mira said with a mildness she did not feel. “It seems to me that as a suitor to my hand, you would have the decency to treat my mother with the respect due any lady in her circumstances.”
“I take your point with regards to your mother. As to your use of the word ‘suitor,’ let it be understood that matters have progressed beyond the need for such descriptions. To say so would be to imply there are others competing for your hand in marriage and that is not the case. That is to say, should there be any, your father will most assuredly put paid to their pretensions as you and I have been promised to one another since you were a child.”
Mira heard the release of a frustrated sigh from one of her brothers, she knew not which, and took heart. “I understand you believe that to be the case, but I am
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