Page 42 of The Mistress of Ashmore Castle

‘But most of the action will be happening in Portman Square. We shall have only the ripples and after-shocks here.’

‘I’m sure you will enjoy the tranquillity, my lord.’

‘Shall I? But what about you?’

‘I shall be glad of the opportunity to look over your dress clothes, my lord. I’m afraid there may still be sand in them.’

‘It’ll be knee breeches and stockings for the ball,’ Giles said sadly. ‘I hope my brother had the sense to have mine brought up from the country.’

‘We’ll manage, my lord.’

‘I dare say you will,’ Giles said. ‘Who knows what purgatory awaits me?’

‘My dear child, why didn’t you tell us what train you’d be on? I’d have sent to meet you,’ Aunt Caroline said.

‘I wouldn’t put you to the trouble,’ Giles said, kissing her soft, scented cheek. He got the worst question over first: ‘Is Mama here?’

‘No, I’ve hardly seen her this week. She’s at Pelham House with Rachel. Linda too – and Stuffy will be staying there when he comes up. My servants have enough to do with Richard, Alice and Kitty staying. And now you, of course – not that you’re not very welcome, my dear,’ she added hastily.

‘Where is Kitty?’

‘She’s upstairs with Alice. She’ll be down soon, I expect. Shall I ring for some tea, dear, or will you bathe first?’

It might have been a pointed question, but he was very thirsty. ‘Tea, please, if you don’t mind.’

Caroline surveyed him as she walked to the bell-pull. ‘You look as though you need a good tea. I expect the heat out there was very wearing. I know I found Paris extremely tiresome on my honeymoon. I could hardly eat a thing – though of course I was very much in love, and French food was not what it was cracked up to be. My dear Sir James always said it was because all the best French cooks came to England to work, which may be true. I do remember that the meat was very tough, and there was quite a horrifying amount of gristle when you looked closely.’

Giles laughed. ‘Dear Auntie! You must never go to Egypt.’

‘I certainly shall never do that,’ she promised him solemnly.

At that moment the door opened and Kitty and Alice came in. Kitty’s eyes flew to his face; but Alice dashed past her and flung her arms round her brother impetuously. ‘Darling Giles! You’re back! I was afraid you were going to miss the ball, and Mama said it would look terribly bad if you weren’t here, though Uncle Stuffy could always do the honours, but it wouldn’t be the same, and apart from putting Mama in a temper, I’d have hated it if you weren’t there. Have you had a dreadful journey? You do smell rather oily and sooty. But it’s lovely to see you.’

He embraced her absently and said, ‘The journey was long rather than dreadful. I see you haven’t grown up yet.’ He was looking past her at Kitty.

‘Heaven forbid!’ Alice said. ‘I mean to make the most of my last year.’

He put her gently aside and went to Kitty, who had remained just inside the door as if halted there by some invisible force. He took her hands, which were folded at her waist, and held them away from her. He felt a shock, but kept it, he hoped, out of his face. Instead, he said teasingly, ‘What have you been up to, Lady Stainton?’

She was not able, in this first moment of seeing him, to accept a joke, even one so mild. What she wanted, what she needed, was a wholehearted delight in her condition. She said, rather stiffly, ‘How are you, Giles? You look very thin. Didn’t they feed you in Egypt?’

He waved that away. ‘My dear, are you . . . You’re expecting a child?’ She nodded, waiting for his reaction. But his expression didn’t change from the slightly quizzical. ‘When?’ he asked.

‘In July or August.’

He hardly needed to ask, really. There had been just one occasion, shortly before he left. She had clung to him, and he had been carried away by the moment, and by memories of previous times. That must have been when it happened. He felt shocked by the randomness of Fate – that a life could be begun with so little thought or intention. And she had been carrying his child for five months, all the time he had been in Egypt and in ignorance. He couldn’t decide how he felt about it, apart from surprised. ‘I didn’t know,’ he said blankly.

She searched his face. What was he thinking? His expression gave nothing away. At last she had to say, ‘Are you pleased?’

It brought him back to himself, to his duty. ‘Of course I’m pleased,’ he said automatically. But as soon as he heard the words, he discovered that he really was. ‘How could I not be?’

Another child to love as he loved Louis. His feelings for his son were so blissfully uncomplicated, free of history, of the anxieties and tangles, misunderstandings, hurt, nuances, apprehensions, huffs and cold shoulders that made adults so hard to keep loving. Louis beamed at the mere sight of his father’s face. He chuckled in delight when his father lifted him up. To grab Giles’s nose and have him honk with pretended shock was for Louis the pinnacle of fun, a moment of sheer, unshadowed pleasure. He knew that it could not be like that for ever, that Louis would grow up and change, but that made it even more precious. And a second child – the other son they needed for dynastic reasons – could only be more of the same delight.

He came back from his thoughts to see that Kitty was still waiting, the smile she had managed to summon drooping at the corners with the effort of maintaining it. His recent guilt over Giulia streaked across his mind. This was his chance to atone. Poor Kitty had been alone with this knowledge for months. She was his wife: he must make her happy. He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed them, and smiled. ‘It’s wonderful news!’ he said. ‘But how are you? Are you well? Are you comfortable? You’re looking well – blooming and beautiful.’

Her grateful look was his reward. He tucked her hand under his arm and turned to the room to say, ‘I’m going to be a father again!’

‘Yes, we know, dear,’ said Aunt Caroline. ‘It’s very good news.’