Page 99 of His Duchess in Disguise
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Down in the kitchen, Mrs. Chambers was in a dither. “Oh, my word! Whatever shall we feed all this lot? Robbie, you get to the cellar and bring up more vegetables. Miss Smith, leave off the washing up for now and help peel. We haven’t had time to get more serving staff, so the two of you are going to have to change uniform and wait tables. I know it is a lot to ask, but we are that shorthanded I don’t know what else to do.”
* * *
Leo was glad to get out of his traveling clothes and freshen up. Travel by carriage was not his favorite mode.I really must pick up a riding horse or two and get back into country gentleman ways.
As soon as Leo had donned his dinner clothes, he descended the stair to the main hall. He was pleased to find that the tables were not only neatly but elegantly set. Captain Arnault was seated at his right hand, Reggie at his left. Hamilton was seated at Reggie’s left, and Leo’s batman, a grizzled fellow who had been through many sea battles, at Captain Arnault’s right. The lower part of the table was filled in with Captain Arnault’s officers. A second table was set for the ordinary soldiers, who were seated according to rank and seniority.
Everyone rose as Leo entered and sat at the head of the high table. It felt a little odd. This had always been his father’s chair. He almost felt like a boy who was play-acting. But this was not the time or the place to show his discomfort.
A uniformed kitchen boy carried a polished copper kettle from which he ladled out a clear soup.Wonder how Robbie got promoted to serving staff? I’ll have to ask Mrs. Noddicott later.
A blond kitchen maid followed Robbie, carrying a tray of steaming rolls. She approached his chair, bobbed a sort of curtsy, and offered the tray for him to select a bread. As he reached for a flaky bread he favored, he nearly overset the whole tray in his astonishment. Leo found himself looking right into the face of the young lady who had purchased the sorrel mare.
“You are new, aren’t you?” he commented, even though his father would have found it shocking bad manners to address the serving staff at table.
“Yes, Your Grace. Mrs. Chambers was kind enough to take me on as scullery. But we are that short-handed tonight that Robbie and I are your serving staff for the evening.”
“So short as that?” Leo commented. “I certainly must visit with Mrs. Noddicott later.” He was pleased to note that the bruise on the girl’s face was beginning to fade from purple and red to more yellowish-green with a bit of purple in the middle. “Do not let me keep you from your duties. Carry on.”
“Was that the young lady you told me about?” Captain Arnault asked.
Leo kept his eyes fixed on the maid as she moved down the table, offering the selection of breads. “Yes, it is. One does wonder how she arrived here. But she did leave before us, traveling in the same general direction. Could she be associated with this highwayman business?”
“No, not in the least,” Reggie said firmly. “Never saw her before in my life. There weren’t any women in our band. Just us fellows from the Menhiransten who wound up without a ship and without our prize money.”
“I’m still at a loss as to how you lost your blunt so rapidly,” Leo commented reprovingly. “Did I not tell you to invest it?”
Reggie squirmed. “You did, sir…I mean, Your Grace. But I didn’t think there would be any harm in a drink or two first.”
“Well, of course, you didn’t.” Leo took up his spoon and sipped at his soup, signaling to all the other diners that they could also begin eating.
“You probably should have invested it for them, Your Grace,” Captain Arnault put in, “I do it for my men, so they don’t wind up without a feather to fly with if they muster out. Even if their income is small, it is better than sitting on the streets with no legs and a tin cup.”
“I suppose so,” Leo said absently, his eyes following the maid down the table. She seemed remarkably graceful and apt at her task for a scullery maid. The supple way she dipped to offer the tray of bread, the swaying of her skirts and the neat figure eight arrangement of her hair . . . had he seen her somewhere before the horse incident? If he had, he couldn’t place her.
Leo gave himself a mental slap. He wasn’t in the habit of ogling the staff or taking them for his personal pleasure. Perhaps he had simply been at sea a little too long, but he found his eyes straying back to the trim little figure. Not much need for an assist from a corset, he judged. She’d done something to the standard house uniform that made it fit better than they usually did. She even seemed to be joking with the men at the lower table, which was shockingly forward of her. Was that the flash of a dimple?
Wonder what she would look like with her hair down? What her face will be like when that bruise fades? There is just something about her . . .Leo mentally smacked a lid on these thoughts. Definitely too long at sea. He turned his attention to something one of his table companions was saying, “ . . . Baron Calber’s signet ring turned out to be paste . . .”
“What’s that?” Leo asked. “Whose ring?”
“Baron Calber. Fellow bet his signet ring on Comet to win and lost it, of course. Now, the loan sharks are after him because the ring turned out to be paste. He lost his daughter to the Earl of Cleweme in a game of chance, but the girl scarpered. So, the Earl is left with only his townhouse and its furnishings.”
“Really? Percy up to his old tricks again. What an absolute dog!” Reggie commented. “Why I remember . . .” and he was off onto a tale of their youth, to which Leo listened with only half an ear.
What is Percy up to? He has never been all that much into the petticoat line. And how did that girl manage to get this far? Did she get a ride in one of the garden carts? Why did that knot of blond hair look so familiar?
* * *
When the dinner was over, Emma/Kathy surveyed the dirty dish table, which now resembled a young mountain of soiled crockery, cutlery, pots, pans, and tableware. With a sigh, she began sorting out the more delicate table items. As she took up her dishcloth and began cleaning the silverware, she thought about the Duke’s candid gaze. His dark locks were shorn so close to his head, it was difficult to tell if they were straight or curly. When he had leveled his gaze at her as she served the lighter menu items, his eyes were so dark a blue that they were almost pools of midnight indigo. Long eyelashes that could be envied by any woman framed those dark eyes and the brows that had frowned over the bread tray were well defined and nicely shaped. Clean-shaven, with sensual lips that could smile or shout a command at need.
“Are you going to rub the silver right off that spoon?” Robbie asked.
“What? Oh, sorry.” Emma/Kathy placed the spoon on the table.
“It is good to be careful,” Mrs. Chambers said in passing, “but we’ve a lot of dishes to clean up, and I’ve the bread sponge to set. No nonsense now. We are shorthanded, and no time for idle chitchat.”
