Page 10 of A Spinster to Heal the Duke
Something overcame her, and she would not be content by this feigned offering of etiquette coupled with yet another refusal. She found a tray in the kitchen, and her brother and grandfather looked on as she prepared a sampling of everything at the table. She carried the tray upstairs as Peggy made her way down.
"Should I take that, Miss Drowton?" the young maid asked.
"No, I shall serve His Grace myself," Anne said through clenched teeth.
The Duke had just settled himself on the bed to resume reading a book he had found in the room when his door opened again.
"Is everyone's staff in the countryside so impertinent," he nearly shouted before realizing it was Anne who entered.
"Is every member of nobility in London so callous?" she retorted flatly.
He looked at her incredulously, but Anne maintained her resolve and her composure.
"Your Grace, you have made it abundantly clear that everyone and everything here in Reedley Manor is beneath you," she began, setting the tray on the end table by the high back chair in the room.
When the Duke attempted to speak, she did not pause, and he relented.
"I do not know how you were raised or how they treat guests in London, but here, I would be remiss in my family's duty of hosting you, caring for you in your present condition, if I did not offer you every meal and encourage you to eat," she explained, feeling more confident and more enraged as she spoke. "You may think of us as low and only a step above the common folk that I assume you would not deign to even speak with. You would never have darkened our door had you not been injured, but you are here, and you need care. According to that, a large part of that care is nourishment."
"He said I needed rest," the Duke managed to say in his defense.
"He said you appeared malnourished and needed rest. Now, you have rested today, but tonight you will eat. This evening marks a full day since you arrived, and no food has crossed your lips. You may think we are beneath you and our food is paltry, but it will not be said that a guest in my home went hungry. You will eat the food I have prepared if I must sit at your side and force feed it to you," Anne said in one rush of breath that nearly left her panting.
"Are you quite finished?" the Duke asked when Anne stopped speaking.
CHAPTER 4
"You shall not have the satisfaction of making me look like a brute,My Lady," he said with a sarcastic tone.
Anne sucked in her breath and did not offer a retort.She prepared the food,he thought, replaying the words in his mind.Though she is the granddaughter of a baron, their family is clearly not so well off. They have no cook, no valet, no driver. Her brother fetched the doctor and removed my boot. She has been cooking every meal.
His Grace considered raising his voice to Anne. He could easily tell her not to act so high and mighty when her family appeared to have fallen so low as to not have any staff, so low that she must sully her own hands with tasks like cooking.
How could any ranking landholder go about with dignity knowing his own grandchildren are essentially the only staff in his home? These people are vulgar and have squandered what they were given by the crown,the duke thought in smug judgment.
"One servant or one hundred, I shall eat the meal you prepared," he declared, smiling at Anne smugly.
The corner of her mouth flinched, but Anne could accept however the Duke behaved so long as he ate.
He stood, and Anne did not offer to help him. He took the few steps to the chair and end table where the plate sat. He smiled his grotesque smile at Anne as he stabbed a bit of vegetables and meat with his fork then he held it toward her like a toasting gesture.
He placed it in his mouth, chewing and smiling. Then, his expression changed. He looked at the plate. He looked at Anne. He ate another bite.
"What is this?" he asked.
Anne appeared caught off guard by the question.
"What is this?" the Duke repeated, eating another bite. "It tastes like turbot, but different in some way."
"There are lots of ways to prepare turbot," Anne replied. "This is braised turbot."
"What else?" the Duke persisted.
"Lobster mousseline, asparagus tips, champagne and chive sauce," Anne explained. "I thought about making a more traditional turbot with lobster and Dutch sauce, but I thought this might suit Your Grace's tastes better. I imagine you eat nothing but the best and fanciest meals in London, so I hoped to make something that could compare and make you feel more at home. Each meal today was made with that thought in mind if you had bothered to try them."
This is good, but it could be that I am simply that starved,he thought.Either way, I think the best thing in this girl's future would be to seek employment in the kitchen of a good family, perhaps with her aunt that the Baron mentioned in his ramblings.
He ate a bit more.I hoped to silence the woman, but I'm speechless at the food,he thought.
