Page 2 of The Storybook Hero
His two brothers rose from their seats. A cousin, his uncle’s only son, laid aside the book he was perusing and looked up as well.
“Alex,” murmured Thomas in greeting, a tentative smile on his face.
William glowered and gave only a curt nod.
His cousin Richard, following his father’s lead, also came over to greet him. “Good to see you, ’Lex. It’s been too damn long,” he murmured, leaning in close to Alex’s ear as he gave him a firm handshake.
“I believe you are acquainted with your sisters-in-law, are you not?” said the earl uncle.
Alex nodded and sketched a bow towards the marquess’s wife, Augusta, and Thomas’s wife, Olivia.
For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence.
“What can I get you to drink?” continued his uncle in a hearty tone which sought to dispel the underlying tension in the room.
“Anything, as long as the bottle is full,” muttered the marquess.
Chittenden shot him a dark look, then went on. “Sherry? Brandy?”
Alex shrugged. “Whatever you are having.”
His uncle returned with a glass of sherry and motioned for him to take a place in one of the armchairs by the fire. Alex accepted the drink but ignored the invitation to be seated. He merely polished off the contents in one gulp and shifted the glass from hand to hand, his lips curled in a willful belligerence that challenged any reproach.
“Let us not waste time with strained civility, Uncle. Why did you ask me here?” he blurted out.
The earl’s brow furrowed slightly, but he kept a smile on his lined face. “Plenty of time to discuss business after dinner.”
“Ah, you mean we should spend some time in convivial family chatter?” The mocking tone of his voice could hardly be mistaken.
“Well, at least you have had the decency to appear before us in a pressed coat and properly tied cravat,” muttered William.
“Oh, Squid is capable of starching a neckcloth or polishing a boot, if he is so directed.”
His brother’s brow furrowed. “Squid?”
“My valet.”
“A deucedly queer name for a gentleman’s man, but then again, you might?—”
“An interesting moniker. And just how did he come to be called that?” interrupted Olivia, seeking to deflect the barbs being tossed by her elder brother-in-law.
Alex’s lips quirked slightly. “Because he was accorded to have rather slippery tentacles in his former line of work.”
There was a snort of disgust from the marquess, while Olivia ducked her head to hide a grin.
“Actually, the ladies prefer to call him ‘Angel’ for his cherubic looks,” continued Alex. He paused to pick at a thread on his sleeve. ”And from what I hear, he does transport them to heaven?—”
“For God’s sake, hold your tongue! Have you forgotten there are true ladies present, and not your usual sort of company?” snapped the marquess.
Augusta didn’t attempt to repress an amused laugh. “Oh, come now, William. Have a sense of humor. Can’t you see that Alex is merely trying to pull your cork. Besides, we are hardly schoolroom misses here, who can’t be allowed to sully our ears with anything more spicy than the state of the weather or the latest modiste.”
“But Iwasreferring to true ladies, dear brother,” interjected Alex, a wicked twinkle in his eye. “I assure you on the several occasions we have exchanged places, Squid has comported himself in a most gentlemanly manner. Most gentlemanly. Why there are more than one wealthy widows in Brighton who are no doubt pining the departure of the blond Mr. Leigh?—”
The marquess’s fist came down upon the table with a resounding bang. “That is enough!”
On that note, dinner was announced.
The meal was a strained affair. Despite Chittenden’s attempts to keep conversation flowing, seconded by the efforts of the two ladies, a number of awkward silences punctuated by the clink of crystal and the scrape of silverware. Alex hardly spoke a word, responding to the questions from both his uncle and his sisters-in-law with little more than monosyllabic replies. It was to everyone’s relief when the earl finally pushed back his chair and suggested the gentlemen forego the ritual of port and cigars at the table so that they might all retire to the drawing room to take their coffee.
