Page 60 of A Foolish Flirtation

“No one has ever noticed that before,” he remarked, “have they, Papa?”

Emmie looked around. “But where is the second viscount?” she asked, for she could not see another.

“Not here. You will see him shortly,” Jeremy explained. “He elected for a family portrait rather than a sculpture. He’s in the dining room.”

“Ah, a family man, was he?” Emmie mused. “I see you must also resemble the second viscount, at least in outlook if not in appearance.”

A fleeting look of surprise crossed Jeremy’s face, but he bowed slightly as though in acquiescence, and they proceeded from the hallway into the state dining room, which again, was a very grand affair.

Its red damask walls were covered in heavy gold framed portraits. “We have several pictures of Queen Anne here at Vance,” Jeremy said gesturing to one of the last Stuart monarch which dominated one wall of the room.

“Because she raised your family to the peerage,” Emmie recalled.

“Exactly so.” He looked pleased she had remembered this detail.

“This is the second viscount,” Teddy announced, halting beneath a large painting showing a bewigged nobleman sat on a chair and surrounded by daughters playing various musical instruments. To his right, the viscountess sat proudly displaying the long-awaited heir in her lap.

“The baby looks rather like a girl,” Teddy said critically, “but that’s actually the third viscount, Charles Augustus. The one you said has Papa’s nose.”

“And he had four older sisters,” Emmie counted. “What a lucky boy!”

“By all accounts they were most devoted parents,” Jeremy said.

“What happened to all of the children?”

Jeremy grimaced. “Maria died of smallpox at age sixteen, Elizabeth married a second cousin and died in childbirth, Lydia remained at home to look after her aged parents and we’re not entirely sure what happened to Hannah. She was struck out of the family bible, so it seems there was some scandal that was hushed up. Possibly she went overseas.”

“She ran away to become a pirate,” Teddy supplied. “That’s what I would have done if I was her.”

“Which one was Hannah?” Emmie wanted to know. Jeremy indicated the youngest daughter, an impish-faced child dressed in primrose yellow. “Yes, I feel sure you’re right,” she said to Teddy. “Something about the way she handles that lyre tells me she could brandish a cutlass with equal aplomb.”

Teddy giggled. They had moved on to the fireplace at this point and Emmie admired the large stone nymphs that stood either side, holding up garlands which hung down from the mantel. “Why, they are as tall as you are, Teddy,” she remarked.

“The ceiling in here is considered particularly fine,” Jeremy said, drawing her attention to the detailed plasterwork all gilded in gold.

“You cannot take all of your meals in here,” Emmie marveled. “It is far too grand for everyday dining.”

“Yes,” Jeremy agreed, “there is a breakfast room on the second floor, which can be used for informal dining.” The vague way he said it, though, sounded as though he had never personally done such a thing.

“When it is just the family, you mean?” Emmie enquired.

Jeremy and Teddy exchanged conspiratorial glances. “Papa often takes afternoon tea in the nursery with me,” Teddy volunteered. Once again Emmie was forced to reconcile these new impressions of Jeremy with her own preconceptions. She would never have expected him to take nursery tea with his son most days.

“I know you do not take breakfast, for you told me the fact,” she said slowly, “but where do you usually take your evening meal, my lord?”

He shrugged. “Whichever part of the house I happen to be in,” he supplied.

“He has a tray,” Teddy put in helpfully. Jeremy sent a quelling glance at his son and Teddy retreated to fiddle with the drawer on a large sideboard.

Emmie’s attention wandered back to the fireplace. “I always thought nymphs would be a good deal svelter than those two,” Emmie admitted, her eyes dwelling on the substantial forms of the stone figures.

“Why?” Jeremy enquired.

“To escape all those lusty gods,” she answered immediately. “They look too hefty to be fleet of foot. I can’t imagine that Apollo, or whoever it was, would have much trouble chasing them down.”

A smile tugged at his lips. “I daresay my ancestor had similar tastes to my own.” His gaze transferred from the marble nymphs to rest on her appreciatively. Emmie cleared her throat, and he glanced toward Teddy, who was headed back toward them.

“Let us proceed,” he said, and they passed next into the music room, which was decorated in pale green, housed several instruments, and looked out onto the south lawn.