Richard was perfectly capable of depressing Ruth’s admiration more gently if it became irksome to him. However, I saw nothing but good humour when he raised his glass to me from across the room. I smiled back to show my amusement at his predicament. Noisy children surrounded him, children who until now had grown up in a not particularly remarkable house as well-loved children from a close-knit background. In any case, Martha would send them to the nursery soon. When I looked across at her I saw she was watching me closely while I watched him. I hoped she saw what she wanted to see.

Chapter Four

Increasingly nervous about the dinner Tom had invited us to, I spoke to Martha. This wouldn’t be a normal occasion, when I could relax in the company of my peers. They wanted to meet Richard and assess him.

“I hope they won’t think I’m putting myself above them. Flaunting my new found position in their faces. That would be unbelievably crass of me. Do you think they believe that?”

Martha looked up from her stitching. We were alone in the little parlour, because I needed her to speak her mind with no other person present. Her grey eyes were calm. “You know what the people here are like. There’s nowhere better than Devonshire. They pity anyone who doesn’t live here, and they think themselves the equal of anyone alive.”

She made me laugh. “No one is good enough for a Devonshire girl.”

“Precisely.” Calmly, she set another stitch.

“I never thought of leaving here before. Or of going so far afield.”

“You would do that whether you married or not. We’ll go to London in the autumn while this house is rebuilding. Our world is growing larger.”

I knew she was right. “Richard is my home now. If he’d been the son of a squire hereabouts, I would have taken him, and then I could have carried on almost the same.”

“If he were the son of the squire he wouldn’t be the person he is. He’s a great lord, from one of the most distinguished families in the country. He frightens most people.” She kept her attention on her work.

“Frightens?” I echoed, but then I understood. His flawless exterior intimidated, and it still awed me sometimes until he smiled at me. “He doesn’t frighten you, does he, Martha?”

She lifted her head and met my gaze levelly. “Yes. Anyone who can hide their true nature as completely as he does is capable of anything.”

I’d only known Richard for six months. I believed he’d let me in without reserve, but the only guarantee I had was the way I felt about him.

I dressed with some care that evening, knowing all eyes would be upon us. I’d done my best, but we were still in mourning, forbidden large gatherings and dancing for another week to come. I wore grey, as usual, but it was brocade, and I put it with a watered tabby petticoat, a white embroidered stomacher and of course, my new pearls.

Richard came down to the hall and bowed to me with a flourish and a gleam of amusement. “Will I do?”

He looked exquisite, as usual. His lilac coat and waistcoat were laced with silver and embroidered by fairies it seemed, so delicate was the stitching. The linen at his neck and the lace ruffles of his shirt were starched to perfection. He wore the latest in low-heeled shoes and everywhere lay the cold glitter of diamonds, from the single stone at his neck to the buckles on his knees and his shoes.

Gervase bowed to me, but his aspect was graver. He wore impeccable dark green brocade, trimmed with gold lace.

“You both look wonderful,” I assured them. “You must know you do. Do you try to look different, or does it come naturally to you to demonstrate in as many ways as possible how a fashionable man can appear to advantage?”

They exchanged a laughing glance. Not many people would have dared ask them, but I was allowed into the world they shared, though it was not my birth which allowed me such a privilege.

Richard held his arm out for me. I rested my hand on it, enjoying the thrill I felt whenever I touched him. “You haven’t powdered. It’s charming.”

“I tend to avoid it. My hair is so dark the powder never takes properly, and the dead white doesn’t suit me. I have to put up with it for more formal occasions.”

“In London more and more ladies in the younger set are leaving off powder. You should set a fashion.” The idea I should be a leader of fashion made me laugh, but he gave me a mock severe frown. “As my wife, you will be looked to for a certain style. You will set it perfectly.”

I had no patience with such things. “They’ll have to take me as I am.”

He laughed, his frown completely gone. “Then that, my sweet, will be your style.”

Lizzie joined us. I was firmly convinced my sister could wear sacking and outshine everyone else in the room, but she took a keen interest in fashion. Tonight she appeared in spectacular black. She had lightened the colour with white, as we were in half mourning, but the dramatic effect only heightened her beauty, the fair skin and gleaming bright blonde hair, shining against the stark black of her gown.

Dinner was at four, so carriages were ordered for three. The Skerrits’ house wasn’t far from ours, and normally we walked, but we couldn’t think of it on this