“Thank you,” Eva said beginning to pull off her clothes.
Why had he kissed her?
Thoughts tumbled through her head as Molly assisted her to bathe and dress and she was still consumed with the kiss minutes later as she made her way to the breakfast parlor.
Lord Kelkirk was already seated when she arrived.
“Good morning, your Grace.”
“Good morning, my Lord.” Eva waved for him to reseat himself as she took the chair opposite him. He, like her husband, was dressed immaculately.
Eva had never entertained guests at her breakfast table, especially a man she hardly knew. What should she say?
“I had a very sound sleep, I don’t mind telling you, your Grace, and woke with a foggy head, however a cup of fortifying tea and one of Mrs. Stimpel’s substantial breakfasts should rectify that,” Lord Kelkirk said.
Eva looked at the many silver covered dishes on the sideboard and thought that Mrs Stimpel must be very happy with men to cook for again.
“May I recommend the grilled trout with white butter sauce, your Grace? Mrs. Stimpel does it better than anyone.”
Eva couldn’t quite hide the shudder at the thought of trout for breakfast.
“I tend to go for rolls and honey, my Lord.”
“Good God, really? How do you keep body and soul together on that?”
She laughed at his horrified expression. Then, rising, she began to fill her plate. She still struggled to know that someone else had prepared all this for her when for years it had been she doing the preparing.
“I have the feeling nobility hold quite a lot of importance in food, Lord Kelkirk. In fact, my cook nearly took to her bed when I told her I liked simple food when first I arrived at Stratton.”
When she reseated herself, he reached for the teapot. “Can I pour you a cup, your Grace?”
Flustered to have him serve her, Eva merely nodded.
“The thing is, your Grace, the nobility are traditionally a lazy bunch who spend a great deal of time indulging themselves,” Lord Kelkirk said. “Food and drink being one of those indulgences, we like to do it well.”
Eva’s cup had been halfway to her lips when he spoke and it remained poised as she looked at him. She had never known a man to speak so easily to her and especially not a nobleman. “It is amazing that you are not all stout then, my lord, if indeed that is the case.”
“Well, speaking for myself, I do a great deal of exercise to counteract the indulgences. Your husband, however…”
“Have you bored my wife to tears yet, Kelkirk?”
Eva drank deeply as the duke entered the room and ignored the tiny flutter in her stomach as he called her his wife. He had kissed her and she could still feel the imprint on her lips even though she had washed her face thoroughly.#p#分页标题#e#
“We were just discussing the nobleman’s penchant for the overindulgence of food and drink, Daniel.”
He stood beside her and looked down at the small roll on her plate. “Not a failing of yours, Duchess?”
“She nearly fainted when I mentioned the trout.”
“Now that is not true, Lord Kelkirk. I merely shuddered.” Eva felt moved to protest, besides which, it was easier to talk with Lord Kelkirk than her husband. He made her pulse do silly things.
“At least you have stopped wearing those ridiculous caps.”
Eva watched her husband go to the sideboard and load his plate. “I beg your pardon, your Grace?”
“Perhaps you could call me Daniel, Eva.”
Could she? It seemed to infer they were comfortable with each other when, in fact, they were anything but.
“And I am Simon, Eva.”
“I said I’m glad you are no longer wearing those ugly caps that cover your hair.”
Swallowing another mouthful of tea to soothe her suddenly dry throat, Eva stammered, “I...I...uh, I had no idea you noticed, your Grace.”
“I was trying to work out what color hair you had, yet not one strand escaped those ridiculous things.”
He sat to her right and Eva’s eyes widened as she looked at his food-laden plate.
“I rest my case.” Lord Kelkirk had a smug expression on his face as he noted her own expression.
“My caps were a sort of cover against my family, your Grace,” she said after a moment.
“Daniel,” he said around a mouthful of ham.
“Cover?” Simon pressed, intrigued.
“My family were not the easiest of men to live with, Lord Kelkirk, and sometimes I wanted to blend into the background and look…inconspicuous,” Eva said.
Simon coughed and several drops of tea flew onto the cloth. Eva looked at the small splotches on the linen and hoped the stains would come out; this was one of their new cloths.