Page 104 of Romancing Daphne

He laughed at that.“Life withmyfamily is hardly dull, but it is an entirely different kind of interesting.”

Her expression clouded with concern.“How is your mother?”

“She is well,” James said.“And tells anyone who will listen that your teas are nothing short of miraculous.”

“I am so pleased she is feeling better.” To his utter astonishment, Daphne slipped her hand into his. “I have always admired how deeply you care about her. You are a good son, though I have my suspicions no one ever tells you as much.”

He lightly touched her face with his free hand, a shiver of awareness passing down his arm and through his body. She affected him more every time he was in her company.

He knew her blush was one of pleasure. He brushed his thumb along her cheek. Given time and a little encouragement, she might come to trusthim with more than just a hypothetical estate. One day she might allow himto care forher.

Something hit James squarely on the temple—too small and soft to causeinjury but solid enough to get his attention. At his feet, a wrapped candyrolled to a slow stop. That, no doubt, was what he’d felt hit his face. But whohad lobbed it at him?

Lieutenant Lancaster, standing beside Miss Artemis, who appeared to be fighting a veritable fit of laughter, tossed an identical candy repeatedly in the air, catching it without taking his gaze off James. He mouthed the words“hands off” with a look of warning.

James complied but reluctantly. He had no desire to antagonize Daphne’s brother, though the prospect of continuing to keep her close to him was remarkably tempting.

An upstairs maid poked her head into the room.“Lord Techney’s carriage has just pulled up, Your Grace.”

“I ought to have him placed in the holding cupboard,” the duke said. “Alas, the evening calls for a bit more subtlety, more’s the pity.”

“The holding cupboard?” James asked Daphne.“I am dying of curiosity.”

“It is a very large closet,” she explained, “one large enough to seemlike a small, windowless room. Adam considers it a somewhat acceptable stand-in for his beloved gibbet and stocks while he is in London. He only recently resigned himself to the fact that Persephone will not be persuadedto permit the installation of a rack.”

“Father is to be tortured, then?” He likely should have felt more sorry for his sire than he did.

“Subtly tortured,”Daphnesaid.

The lieutenant, who had been watching at the door, leaned back inside the room.“He has just been let inside by the butler.”

The duke turned to his family.“You all know your parts.”

James’s was, apparently, to follow the lead of everyone else. He wondered just how difficult that might prove to be.

Miss Artemis crossed the room and stood with James and Daphne. She quite deliberately arranged herself in a pose of utter innocence, turning her face up toward him with a look of sweet adoration—not unlike a very young girl might give an idolized older brother.

“That is doing it a bit brown, Artemis,” Daphne said, something of a laugh underlying her words.“You are only supposed to make it clear that you like Lord Tilburn. Looking at him as though you were his ever-loyal puppy pushes the display nearly past believing.”

Artemis sighed, a sound filled with martyrdom and suffering.“You know nothing of theatricality. If one is to play a role, one must do so entirely.” Her posturing never slipped for a moment.

She rather did remind James of the looks he often received from Scamp.He was hard-pressed to keep from laughing. Maintaining his countenancewith the whole family undertaking such overblown performances might very well prove impossible.

“Lord Techney,” the butler announced.

James stepped toward the door, intending to greet his father and make any introductions. A swift look from Lieutenant Lancaster, however, kept him in his place. For some unspoken reason, James was meant to keep back.

For a moment, Father hovered in the doorway, obviously thrown off by the lack of notice his entrance had created. Even the butler had already disappeared.

Almost as if it were an afterthought, the duke turned toward the new arrival.“Ah, Lord Techney.”

That was the extent of Father’s welcome. Not a single“Pleased to see you” or“Good of you to join us” seemed forthcoming. James held back the confusion he felt, knowing his one assignment was to appear entirely composed during the evening’sperformance.Father looked confused enough for the both of them.

The duchess took pity on him, going so far as to invite him to step into the room and informing him that dinner would be served soon.

Father made his way inside, though with obvious uncertainty. James could not recall a time when his father had looked anything but utterly confident. The sight proved both disconcerting and oddly enjoyable.

“So you are James’s father,” Lieutenant Lancaster said when Father came near where he stood.

---