Page 68 of Miss Ashbury and the Anatomy of Mending a Heart

“Pardon?” Vera said.

“Breathe the steam,” Stephen ordered, perhaps a bit too loudly. “If you’re talking, you’re not breathing deeply enough.”

There was a muffled grumbling from beneath the towel, but thankfully it was too low to hear.

On the way back to the house, it felt very crowded. There were now four passengers in the small cart—Hortense, Stephen, Vera…and his newfound knowledge of how he felt for her.

CHAPTER 19- STEPHEN

The dinner guests arrived in a rush all together at five o’clock sharp in the gravel driveway of Devon Manor. Perhaps their haste was due to the knowledge that they only had a few hours to spend together—Stephen had seen the gleam of crazy in the marquess’s eye. He didn’t doubt that the man would quite literally put his polished boot to a guest’s backside if they dared stay too long and disturb his wife.

“Vera, darling,” Candace, the Duchess of Canterbury said, rushing forward and kissing both of her cheeks. “You look radiant as always. That dress is simply lovely on you.”

“How could it not be, when you were the one who picked it out?”

“Shh,” she said, glancing around to make sure no one else had heard. She seemed satisfied that only Stephen was close enough, and he pretended to be engrossed in the other greetings taking place. “You must learn how to take a compliment for yourself, instead of perpetually trying to dodge them or fling them back on the giver.”

Vera chuckled and Stephen smiled reflexively. Good heavens, he was no better than a marionette—there was an invisible string connecting Vera’s laugh to the corners of his own mouth.

He hastily greeted their host to distract himself. “Good evening, Lord Salisbury.”

“Please, everyone here must call me Percy. Certainly we are close enough for that if my lovely wife insists you come to our house in her condition.”

“Her condition seems to be happiness and beauty,” Candace chided, embracing her sister-by-law.

“Pretty sure it was her beauty that helped get her into the condition,” Percy murmured.

Thankfully, only the gentlemen were close enough to hear him.

Canterbury raised an eyebrow in dry humor. “I hardly think jokes of that nature are appropriate, considering our relation to one another.”

“Why on earth not?” Percy frowned.

“Don’t host a party if you don’t want others to attend, is all.” He nodded at his wife, Percy’s sister.

Percy’s face screwed up into blatant disgust. “Really, Canterbury. You say the most shocking things.”

“I do?”

“Besides,” Percy continued. “This entire party is one where I would have preferred if all of the guests had sent their regrets. I believe I specifically suggested you all do so, in fact.”

“Apologies,” Stephen said, even as his eye traced Vera’s progress across the room. “Mother wouldn’t hear of it.”

“And I must blame my wife.” Canterbury nodded.

“Bunch of cowards,” Percy groused. “Not even willing to stand up to the females in your family.”

“Percy?” Adelaide called from the other room.

“Coming, darling!” He rushed in the direction of her voice, leaving his male guests to chuckle in the hallway.

“Good evening, Hamish.” Stephen offered his hand.

Hamish grinned and took it. “Lord Winthrop. You’re looking much different since the last time I saw you.”

Stephen rubbed his chin. “Perhaps I’m a coward as our host suggests—Mother hounded me for weeks.”

“She said you’d shave it when you were ready, and I guess you finally were.”