A Companion for the Count: A Regency Romance (Clairvoir Castle Romances Book 2) by Sally Britton

Author:Sally Britton [Britton, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pink Citrus Books
Published: 2021-05-01T18:30:00+00:00

The quiet of the garden had sunk into Luca’s soul, easing the muscles in his shoulders and the tautness of his thoughts. Until Miss Arlen mentioned her mistress to him. Yes. Lady Josephine. He needed to impress her.

“But still from a distance,” he said, measuring the words carefully. He had kept his distance, as Miss Arlen suggested, not going out of his way to speak to or be in company with the duke’s daughter.

“Yes.” Her smile returned briefly, and her eyes dimmed as she disappeared into her thoughts. “The race at the harvest market is one place where all eyes will be upon you, even hers, but there are other things we might do. Lady Josephine and I were discussing Sicily and Rome, and how it would be wonderful to travel there one day. She mentioned that she has had the cuisine of your homeland only rarely. French cooking is what most households serve when they wish to impress His Grace’s family.”

Such a simple thing to note, a detail he might not have picked up himself in conversation, but his mind followed Miss Arlen’s course with enthusiasm.

“Perhaps if I provide a Sicilian menu to the duke’s cook, we could enjoy an evening feasting on meals from my homeland—”

“Thus putting you at the center of the evening.” She finished the thought for him, coming out of her thoughts and wearing a look of such pleasure that he smiled merely to see it. “You said your family sent recipes.”

“Sheets and sheets of them.” Luca paced from her to a tall, thin-branched tree, looking up into its bright orange leaves. “Pasta al pesto e pesce. My favorite meal.” He turned to find her watching him. “Other courses, too. I will give them all to the cook, after I speak to Her Grace about taking over her dining table.”

When Miss Arlen laughed, her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. “I am delighted at your enthusiasm. Most men would think arranging a menu beneath them.”

“Pah.” He made the same sound his mother made when she felt particularly dismissive. “In my country, food is a language of its own. Everyone must speak it, consider it, and enjoy it. Our breads, sauces, pasta. It is important.”

She came to stand beneath the tree, leaning against its trunk as she watched him speak. “Does everyone feel that way about it?”

He shrugged. “There is pride in providing food for the table. Only the monks I lived with did not express it so—but even they said that food ought to be prepared with joy and thanksgiving. There are some dishes that tell our whole history.” He paused, studying her expression. “I am boring you, sicuramente. The English do not care so much.”

She arched one eyebrow at him. “I am not the least bored, my lord.”

A breeze passed far overhead, loosening the leaves at the top of the tree enough that a few fluttered down, flickering like flames in the air around them. Luca put a hand to one low limb,

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