Page 30 of The Mistress of Ashmore Castle (Ashmore Castle #3)

Richard patted his shoulder comfortingly. ‘It’s a good job Kitty was willing to marry you, because it would give me deep pain to have to watch you courting again, inept as you are.’

Giles shook away the hand. ‘What should I do? Should I talk to her, explain—’

‘God, no! You’d only make it worse. No, I’m afraid you’ve lost that one.

If you ever have to speak to her again, I should go with the fatherly approach.

Be extremely married, out-of-the-running, boring.

Talk about the weather and how the crops are doing.

Don’t worry, a girl like that won’t regret you for long.

She’ll have plenty of suitors to wash away the memory of your unique approach to gallantry. ’

‘I’m glad you think it’s funny,’ Giles said crossly.

‘Oh, I do, I do,’ said Richard.

The King had arrived with a party, had walked about a little being pleasant and retired for a few hands of cards, before going on to another supper engagement.

It was as much as was expected, or needed.

He did not dance any more, and his brief appearance and kind words to Rachel would secure the cachet.

While Giles was circling with an ingénue and trying not to seem bored, he was surprised to see Uncle Stuffy dancing, on his face an expression of bliss that would have suited a schoolboy unexpectedly in possession of a whole jar of jam.

Giles could not see who he was dancing with – his partner was hidden by the crowd.

But then an intervening couple moved aside, and Giles saw that it was Giulia.

He was astonished. He had never seen his uncle dance in public.

Stuffy was only just forty, but his ways made him seem older, and as far as Giles was aware he had never shown any interest in women before.

Giles had been surprised enough at his reaction to Giulia, but that he had asked her to dance! That she had accepted!

He manoeuvred his partner to keep them in sight, and Giulia, turning her head, saw him watching. She gave him a cold look, then said something to her partner, who gazed down at her and smiled rapturously.

The crowd came between them again, and Giles circled moodily with his current partner almost forgotten in his arms. He felt extremely hard-done-by.

Yes, it was wrong to have kissed Giulia, but he had apologised, and it was unreasonable of her to be so very upset by it.

Richard said he had hurt her pride. But they had been friends for a long time.

Surely friends gave each other a little leeway when they made mistakes.

He didn’t understand. He trundled his partner to the end of the dance, and went back to Kitty.

It was the supper break, and he offered his arm. ‘Shall I take you down?’

‘Aren’t you engaged to someone else?’ she said.

She looked tired, and he thought it could not have been much fun for her, sitting out. He must be nice to her. ‘Who would I be engaged to but my own wife?’ he said, with a smile.

For a moment she seemed pleased; but then her eyes focused on someone behind him, and her expression changed. He looked. Uncle Stuffy was walking by with Giulia on his arm, heading, like everyone else, for the door to go down to supper.

He turned back to Kitty. ‘Is that . . . ?’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ he admitted. ‘It’s Giulia.’

‘How on earth did she get here?’ They had spent part of their honeymoon with the Lombardis, and she had been bitterly jealous of his closeness to Giulia.

He was forced to explain. ‘She was at the dig, and when it was ended, some friends of mine, the Arthurs – you remember them – invited her to come and stay with them in London. So I – invited them to the ball.’

‘She was at the dig?’

‘Yes. She’d come as secretary to one of the archaeologists.’

‘She was there the whole time? Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Well, it didn’t come up,’ he said awkwardly. ‘I haven’t really spoken to you about the dig at all. I didn’t think you were interested.’

‘You’ve spent the last five months hobnobbing with her daily but you didn’t think to mention it? And plainly even that wasn’t enough – you had to invite her to Rachel’s ball as well!’

‘Oh, Kitty, don’t—’

‘And now she’s staying in London, so I suppose you’ll find lots of excuses not to go down to Ashmore. Perhaps she’ll never go back to Italy. Wouldn’t that be convenient?’

He bent over her, gave her a little shake, and said in a low voice, ‘Kitty, behave yourself! Don’t make a scene. Think of Rachel.’

‘ You think of Rachel! You didn’t think of her before inviting your mistress to her come-out.’

Giles was shocked. ‘She’s not my mistress!

How can you think such a thing? She’s just the daughter of my old professor.

She means nothing to me—’ Kitty’s look made him rephrase.

‘Not like that, anyway. How can you think for a moment that I would—?’ He stopped, felt himself colouring.

Kitty looked away with an almost inaudible sigh.

He spoke again, quietly, firmly. ‘She’s not my mistress, and I’m not in love with her. You must believe me.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Kitty said, and he didn’t know what she meant by that. ‘We had better go to supper. People will notice.’

Richard arrived beside them, with Alice. ‘Supper time,’ he said brightly. ‘Pusscat, let me offer you my arm. I’ve been watching Giles dance and he has two left feet. You’re not safe on the stairs with him.’ Kitty transferred her hand to his arm without comment.

‘Oh, Richard, you’re too unkind,’ Alice said, falling in behind with Giles. ‘He can dance nicely if he has the right partner, but Mama’s made him dance with all the leftovers.’

‘That’s no excuse,’ Richard said. ‘I’ve been dancing with leftovers, as you call them, but I’m never less than exquisitely gazelle-like.’