He blinked, because, of course, he hadn’t asked her to marry him, and what he was thinking she couldn’t guess. She couldn’t ask, not with Father and Kincaid in the room.
His arm slid around her. “Lord Shaldon, sir, I should like a private word with you.”
She let out a breath. It seemed that he didn’t hate her.
Father’s gaze narrowed on her, sending a shiver through her. “A private word.” His lips pressed together. “She shouldn’t be here, Fox.” Father sat down heavily and tossed back the spirits Kincaid had just poured.
“That is one of the things I would speak to you about.”
Not without her. He meant to send her away. She opened her mouth to object, but Fox’s look quelled her.
She stiffened her spine, fished the egg out of the bowl and cracked it. Perfectly, this time. “I’m not leaving.”
“She’s not leaving,” Fox echoed, the steel in his voice sending a thrill through her. Not many men stood up to the Earl of Shaldon. “I’ll protect her.”
Her heart swelled and pounded. She cracked another egg, the yoke plopping whole and intact into the bowl. “I’m getting good at this,” she murmured.
MacEwen walked in, saw them, and smirked behind Shaldon’s back while he shed his coat. “Night’s turning foul,” he said. “Business as usual.”
Gaz slipped through the door, hat in hand, his gaze wandering the room. Davy rolled through the inner door juggling two bottles of brandy, with Jenny behind him still tucking her hair under a cap.
The maid’s sleepy eyes widened at the sight of the crowd in the kitchen, and Perry saw the moment the girl spotted Father. She stopped in her tracks, her mouth dropping as low as her curtsy.
The chill wind that was Father wiped away Davy’s grin, and he clutched the two bottles of spirit to him like the two sides of a breastplate. Fox’s grip on her shoulder tightened a fraction. A log cracked and spit. The whisky bottle belched as Kincaid poured two more shots.
“For heaven’s sake.” She smacked an egg loudly, cracking it neatly. “Jenny, lay the table upstairs and then come help me. There’ll be one more for breakfast when Lord Farnsworth arrives.”
