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‘If you will accept one word of advice from me…’ Eva slowed and stopped as they approached the doors flanked by liveried footmen ‘…it would be to forget the women who came before a man meets you. They will have taught him many lessons, for which you may be grateful, but it is only the ones in his life after you have met him that need concern you.’ Her eyes flickered up to the portrait of a rakishly handsome man in ornate uniform hanging at the head of the hallway. ‘And not even then.’
‘Did it not hurt?’ Elinor asked, greatly daring, remembering the tales of Eva’s first husband and his legendary affaires.
‘There is hurt pride and there is love betrayed,’ said Eva drily. ‘They are not necessarily the same thing. When you marry a man like Louis Fréderic there are many compensations, but the price is learning not to give your heart. But we are not talking about Grand Dukes here, are we? Marry for love, Elinor, or not at all.’
‘That,’ she retorted with conviction, ‘is my view entirely.’
The dining room was small, obviously the space used for eating en famille. Sebastian and Theo rose to their feet as the ladies entered, Sebastian nodding to the butler. ‘Bring the wine to the table, then you may all leave us.’
Theo pulled out a chair for Elinor, then circled the table to sit opposite her. Before them dinner had been set out à la française, but in a much reduced form with the desserts on a sideboard. She had been fearing a formal court service, full of pitfalls for the unwary and with no opportunity to relax and talk. This was perfect. Or it would be once she had got over the butterflies in her stomach that Eva’s frank remarks had produced.
With everyone served, Sebastian put down the carving knife and looked round the table. ‘Now,’ he said with a smile, ‘you must sing for your suppers.’
Elinor let Theo talk, occasionally chipping in a comment, but mainly eating and watching the faces of the listeners. Sebastian, she decided, must be a superlative card player, possibly even have the skills of a sharper as Theo had suggested, for there was not a flicker of expression on his face when Ana’s name was mentioned.
Eva was less guarded, although she betrayed her recognition only by a slight narrowing of her fine, dark eyes. Then she laughed, a gurgle of genuine amusement. ‘So, you keep your mistresses in the family, you Ravenhursts?’
Sebastian, well used to his wife, merely smiled lazily. Theo retorted, ‘She was never my mistress, that would be like trying to domesticate a wild cat. As I was explaining, having visited the chateau…’
‘And you decided to visit us rather than make for the coast?’ Sebastian leaned over and cut himself a corner of cheese as Theo reached the end of the tale. ‘That seems a wise choice to me, if the countess had discovered your escape and decided to give chase.’ They had demolished both courses and now the port decanter was circulating and Theo was cracking walnuts between long fingers.
‘I wonder if they did realise you had escaped,’ Eva pondered. ‘By now your man will have delivered the letter you left with him to the count. He will have to decide what to do about his mother.’
‘Unless he has resolved to keep it quiet and not risk scandal,’ Elinor pointed out.
‘He will have your mother to deal with in that case, with Hythe at her side. And I was frank with him—if he does not deal with her, I will tell the tale all over Paris.’
‘So, the excitement is probably over,’ Eva said with regret. ‘Now, where is this Chalice? I want to see it.’
‘No, you do not,’ Elinor retorted with a shudder. ‘It is a work of art and absolutely horrible, to look at and to touch.’
‘In that case, it can stay where it is. We will find you some large outriders to guard it on its way back to England. How long can you stay with us?’
‘Until Hythe arrives.’ Theo swirled his port and looked into the ruby wine. ‘He can escort Elinor to meet her mother in Avignon, I will go north for England.’
And that will be that, the end of my adventure.
‘But you have been travelling alone with Elinor,’ Sebastian pointed out. ‘You cannot just waltz off and leave her.’
‘Apparently I can,’ Theo said, not lifting his eyes from the glass. ‘Our cousin will not have me.’
‘I don’t have to marry you,’ Elinor snapped, suddenly wanting nothing more than sleep and nothing less than a pair of men trying to tell her what to do. ‘And I am not going to be pushed into a marriage of convention I don’t want with an unwilling man just to satisfy everyone else’s sense of honour, respectability and propriety. And don’t look at me like that,’ she added for Sebastian’s benefit, ‘you aren’t head of the family, the Duke is, and he isn’t about to appear from Scotland and order us to marry, is he?’
Eva cleared her throat. ‘I think the ladies will retire now, gentlemen. I wish to go to the nursery and Elinor is sorely in need of her bed, I am sure.’ She stopped by Sebastian’s chair as she passed, pressing down on his shoulder to prevent him rising, and bent to kiss him on the mouth.
Elinor averted her eyes and met Theo’s. ‘Goodnight.’ She lifted her chin and swept out in Eva’s wake.
‘I apologise if I was rude,’ she said as Eva led the way to the guest chamber.
‘Sebastian can look after himself,’ Eva said. ‘If there is no risk of you being with child, then it will be a simple matter to cover up those days you two spent together. Naturally, you will mention if asked that, with my invitation to visit, I sent one of my ladies to chaperon you. Now, here we are.’
Elinor doubted she would ever find her way back through the maze of passages and staircases, but as there were liveried retainers around every corner that was probably not too much of a problem. ‘That little door leads to a circular stair up to the west battlements. There is a range of chambers up there opening out on to the battlement walkway that we give to single male guests. There is room for them to walk up and down smoking their cigarillos and telling risqué stories. Theo is the only occupant at the moment.’
Now why had she explained all that? Elinor wondered as she looked round at the cosy bedroom that had been fashioned from the unpromising beginning of a stone-vaulted chamber. Even in the winter it would be snug, with its thick carpets on the flagged floor and the Aubusson tapestries lining the walls.
‘This is lovely, thank you.’ She decided not to comment on Theo’s whereabouts; it was probably her own over-sensitivity to any mention of him. Eva was merely making conversation. ‘Eva, I would appreciate your help in finding myself a suitable companion. I have decided that I want to travel and I would rather face Mama with a fait accompli.’
‘This is rather sudden, is it not?’ Eva perched on the edge of the bed, looking less like a grand duchess and more like a young woman contemplating mischief. ‘Is it because of Theo?’
