Scandal at the Christmas Ball by Marguerite Kaye & Bronwyn Scott

Author:Marguerite Kaye & Bronwyn Scott
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2017-10-14T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

Whoever said rank had its privileges didn’t have to go in to dinner with Vale Penrith and all of his perfection. He stood before her in the drawing room punctually at seven o’clock with a bow and the offer of his arm, immaculately turned out in dark evening clothes and crisp white linen, cravat impeccably tied and accented with a ruby stick pin in the dead centre. He probably had a mental measuring stick for that, too. Even his hair, a dark blond and arguably his only break with convention since it was surprisingly longer than most men’s, was tied back in a black ribbon, also perfect. Not a literal hair out of place.

She wanted to mess him up. Just a little. Perhaps pull a stray hair loose, or bump that stick pin a fraction so it was off centre. Or maybe she wanted to do something more devastating like spill her red wine on his white shirt at dinner. Except now she couldn’t because of the ‘hall incident’. He would think a little spilled wine was her idea of revenge instead of an out-and-out rebellion against his perfection. No, wine would look petty. She’d have to think of something else.

All she could do for the present was take his arm and try to behave as blandly as he, as if they hadn’t sparred earlier in the hall, as if one of them—not her—hadn’t attempted to belittle the other in public. Surely, if he could pretend the hall incident had not happened, she could manage it, too. On the surface, at least. She was willing to pretend. She wasn’t willing to forget.

They joined the parade into supper, the third couple behind the Duke and her mother and the Duchess and her father. Anne Lowell and Aubrey Kenelm were behind her. There was that to be thankful for at least. She’d have Kenelm on her other side to break up the monotony of conversing with Penrith. Good heavens, what would they talk about for two hours? If ladder safety in halls was of primary importance, she could imagine his concerns over the dangers of dining; The safety of knives, perhaps? The perils of open-flame candles and hot wax? They stepped into the dining room and all thought of conversation fled. Brockmore knew how to serve a supper and it was breathtaking in its subtle luxury.

Viola was used to opulence. Her father, the Duke of Calton, had wealth aplenty, but even a familiarity with luxury did not dim the elegance of Brockmore’s formal dining room decked with all the pomp demanded of a ducal Christmas Eve dinner. The long, polished table featured three eight-armed candelabra done in heavy silver and set at intervals down the length of the table, the thick white tapers shining their light on thin-stemmed crystal goblets and beautiful china plates trimmed with a cranberry and gold rim.

The room even smelled lovely, like winter and Christmas combined, thanks to arrangements of rosemary and bay placed artfully about the room.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.