Page 49 of Duke It Out
“Oh.” I do a little twirl. “It’s quite nice, actually.”
Janey and Kate exchange a look.
“This one then?”
“Definitely.” Kate stands up and stretches, folding herarms behind her head. “And now lunch, I think. We deserve a drink.”
We eat lunch in a cute little restaurant overlooking the river.
“So the other thing you need to know about the ball,” Kate says, her fork poised between her plate and her mouth, “is that somethingalwayshappens.”
“What kind of something?”
“Well, there’s the night the duke rode his horse into the ballroom with all his dogs at his feet,” she says, laughing.
“And the horse crapped all over the floor,” Janey says, shaking her head. “Oh, and the time he brought in a trained falcon, and it went rogue and got lost in the curtains.”
“And the ice sculpture he commissioned that had melted under the red cloth, so when he did the big reveal it looked like a giant?—”
I raise my brows and indicate for her to carry on.
“The ice penis was the talk of the village for months,” Kate giggles.
“And the midnight fox hunt was insane.”
“Should I ask?”
Janey rolls her eyes and tips the last of the wine into our glasses. She’s on the mineral water and Kate and I have both drunk half a bottle of Sauvignon and I’m feeling very definitely tipsy.
“He got one of the under gardeners to dress up like a—I think they call them furries, don’t they?”
I recoil in my chair. “Go on?—”
“Yes,” says Kate, who can’t stop laughing. “Poor Nick the gardener dressed in a fox suit being chased round the grounds in the middle of the night by a horde of drunk ball guests. He was never the same after that.”
We head back to the car, my dress over my arm in a zipped carrier and a brand-new pair of heels swinging in my other hand.
“I’d say that was a success, wouldn’t you?” Janey closes the window as the car park barrier rises.
“Definitely.” Kate turns to me. “You sure you’re okay in the back?”
“Of course,” I say. “It’s only fair you take shotgun after I called it first time.”
“I might have to have a power nap,” Kate says, yawning, “or I’ll never get through evening stables. I never drink in the daytime. You two are a bad influence.”
“Next time we’ll get someone to take us to the village for lunch,” Janey says as we head out over the bridge and take the road back towards Loch Morven, “and I’ll have some too.”
“Yeah, then you can tell all your darkest secrets,” Kate says, nudging her with her elbow.
“You know most of them already.” A cloud passes over Janey’s face for a moment. “Well, the shitty stuff, anyway.”
I clear my throat and look out of the window, shifting in my seat.
“Kate’s not just an excellent fashion advisor,” Janey says, meeting my eyes in the mirror when I look up. “She was an angel when I was getting divorced.”
“You’d have done the same for me.”
“I hope I never have to.”
