No Greater Pleasure by Megan Hart

Author:Megan Hart [Hart, Megan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2010-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

The arrival of the guests had sent the entire household into a state of uproar so riotous it was as though a magicreator had cast a spell over everyone.

The kitchen bustled and jumped with preparations. The unused rooms on the third floor teemed with activity that spilled over into the halls and down the stairs, into the library, the sitting rooms, the gallery, the conservatory, and the music room.

The maids giggled and twittered. Florentine muttered and cursed. Bertram and Billy fetched and carried.

And Quilla . . . Quilla Waited.

Gabriel still had work to do, but now he rose before the dawn to finish it by the midmorning chime, when the guests roused themselves from wine and cocao-sated sleep. Then he left the workroom and Quilla to become the sociable host Florentine had said he could be.

The games began in earnest after luncheon, always a fine spread laid out by Florentine in the main dining room, complete with the finest settings. Snap Me, Quoites, Charades, Piquet, and more. All lovely, genteel games played by men and women in lovely, fashionable clothes with lovely, fashionable faces. The afternoon saw flower arranging in the conservatory, or sleigh rides, or ice-skating on the pond. The gentlemen, led by Jericho, sometimes took themselves into the woods on horseback, ostensibly for hunting, but really, Quilla thought, for the excuse to drink away from the watchful eyes of their female companions.

Saradin had been careful with her guest list, inviting the neighbors in groups of even numbers, providing a companion for each guest. Winston and Carmelia Somerholde brought their son Boone and daughter Genevieve. Donnell and Arbutus Fiene brought daughters Lavender and Marzipan. Persis Adamantane was the single, eligible gentleman and the toast of the local society for his wit, charm, fortune, and lack of interested female relatives who might judge his choice of spouse. And of course, Jericho had been set up as escort for Genevieve or Marzipan, whoever Persis didn’t want.

“As though we’re responsible for the next generation,” Gabriel muttered one day, peering out his window at the group of young men and women gathered in the courtyard below. They were going skating on the pond, an activity he detested and refused to join.

Quilla was busy helping him tidy up the vials on his table. She glanced toward the window.

“Perhaps ’tis in our nature to make pairs.”

“It’s in my wife’s nature to meddle,” Gabriel replied. “What business is it of ours if Genevieve Somerholde ever gets married or not? That’s her father’s business, not mine. And yet I’m footing the bill for her courtship while she stares, moon-eyed, at Persis Adamantane and waits for him to fall madly, passionately in love with her.”

“Which is unlikely to happen,” Quilla murmured. “As it seems he is more infatuated with her brother.”

Gabriel gave her a sharp look. “And yet he may marry the girl anyway, since the brother he cannot have. How did you . . . should I even ask? Do you think somehow, it would please me

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