He and Ashley exchanged puzzled glances, then followed the officers out the front door and down the steps. An elegant black carriage waited in the street, with a uniformed postilion instead of a coachman, plus two grooms, and two outriders on horseback. Though the door displayed no crest, David suspected he knew the occupant’s identity.
The major strode forward to open the carriage door and beckoned David and Ashley closer.
Holding hands, they cautiously approached and peered inside.
Ashley gasped and dropped into a deep curtsy.
“My felicitations on your wedding, my boy,” came a familiar voice from the interior.
David bowed. “Thank you, sir.”
Ashley squeezed his hand until her knuckles were white but displayed no other reaction.
“I would have abandoned me for her, too.” He chuckled and extended a beringed hand.
David nudged Ashley, who gave herself a slight shake and reached up so that her hand could be kissed.
“I’m having another gathering of friends in a few weeks and I would like you to attend.” He cleared his throat. “Both of you.”
“That’s very generous of you, sir.”
“Uh, yes, thank you … sir.”
“My secretary will contact your secretary.” After a subtle signal from the occupant, the major and colonel both climbed into the carriage, shut the door, and the carriage set off. The outriders nodded as they rode past. One of them, whom David recognized from his mad dash a few weeks ago, gave them a broad wink.
“Well.” Ashley stared after the carriage as it merged with traffic and gradually disappeared from sight.
“Nonplussed, honey? You?”
She tore herself away from the view of the street to gift him with the same dazzling smile that had made him weak in the knees when they’d exchanged vows just hours ago. “No, I just—”
“Whatever are you two doing out here?” Aunt Connie called from the top step.
“Receiving felicitations from an acquaintance who didn’t want to disembark from his coach.” Taking Ashley’s hand once more, they climbed the steps and back into the hallway.
“His laziness is no excuse for you to neglect your guests,” Aunt Connie said with a knowing grin.
When David tried to go left to the dining room before his stomach betrayed him with a growl, Ashley spotted her cousin Niles and his wife making serious inroads on the amount of food on the sideboard. She tugged him the other way, then suddenly let go of David to greet the three women who had just arrived.
After muffled squeals of delight and exuberant hugs, Ashley quickly made the introductions of former colleagues of hers—two women about Ashley’s age, Miss Chase and Miss Chetwynn; and a gray-haired matron with work-roughened hands, Mrs. Rafferty.
He gave appropriate greetings to the former teachers, then addressed Mrs. Rafferty. “I’ve heard excellent reports about your honey and comfrey healing poultice.”
“Have you now, my lord?” She stood a little taller.
“I say, Ravencroft,” Fairfax said, steering him by the elbow toward the sideboard with the wine, champagne, and punch bowls.
Ashley wiggled her fingers farewell at him before she delved deep into conversation with friends she hadn’t seen in months.
“What?” David barely resisted it coming out as a growl.
“I heard your wife is going to be headmistress of a school. That can’t possibly be true, now that she’s a countess. Can it?”
Liam, who was already at the sideboard, handed David the glass he’d just filled from the pitcher of apple cider, then filled a glass with rum punch for himself. “Why not?”
Fairfax looked between the two of them, obviously uncertain if they were serious. “Your wife is planning to work? Are you going to allow that?”
David shrugged one shoulder. “She’s going to help shape impressionable young minds.” He looked over to where she was in animated conversation with her friends. “I’ve offered to help her provide the girls a curriculum with a little more focus on music.”
