To Dance until Dawn - Emma V. Leech Page 0,91
Oakley
Eleven years later…
5th June 1838. Dern Palace, Sevenoaks, Kent.
Lucian sighed and set down the letter he’d been trying to read. Matilda’s house parties were something he always enjoyed, but it never failed to astonish him how a vast place like Dern seemed to shrink when all the family and their friends were in residence.
“Bee, when did I gain so very many children?” he asked, giving his daughter the benefit of a pained expression.
She laughed and reached over, patting his hand. “They’re not all yours, Papa.”
“They’re not, but I am!”
Lucian looked beside him to where his youngest child was sitting, having stolen her mother’s place. Matilda was having a well-earned lie-in after an extremely late night last night. Lucian’s lips twitched as he remembered why that was.
Lucian peered at his daughter, eleven years old and the image of her mother, except for her eyes. Her eyes were his, silver-grey. They were silver. He had to admit to that now, having insisted for many years his own were a light grey. Catherine, his darling little Cat, proved he’d been wrong.
“Are you quite sure?” he said dubiously, narrowing his eyes at her.
“That wicked girl could belong to no one else,” her big sister replied tartly.
Cat stuck her tongue out at Phoebe and they both laughed.
Lucian retreated behind his newspaper.
“When does everyone go home?” he grumbled, knowing they were all aware he didn’t really mean it, though a bit of peace at breakfast would not go amiss in his opinion.
“Not until the end of the week,” Phoebe said cheerfully.
Max walked into the room with Jacob—Lucian’s first grandson, who was just a year younger than Cat—and holding the hand of his granddaughter, Rose, who was seven.
“There, see, here is Mama,” Max said soothingly to the little girl, who ran to Phoebe and threw her arms about her neck.
“Oh, darling, whatever is the matter?” Phoebe asked the child, looking to her husband.
“Jake was rude to her,” Max said, giving his son a stern look. “But he has apologised and promised not to do it again.”
Jake glowered, his arms folded, and privately Lucian thought that promise would not hold past teatime.
“Oh!”
A shriek came from the other end of the table to where Lady Elizabeth and Lady Charlotte Adolphus were breakfasting with his sons, Philip and Thomas.
“Cassius is coming home!” Eliza cried with excitement, only to mutter a curse a moment later as her sister, Lottie, snatched the letter from her hand.
“When? What does he say?” Lottie demanded, getting up and running from her sister’s reach when Eliza tried to take the letter back.
“Give that back, Lottie!” Eliza demanded as Pip and Thomas laughed and shook their heads.
“Oh, he’s bringing friends,” Lottie exclaimed, dancing out of her sister’s reach. “Goodness, the Comte de Villen and his brother. A real life French Comte! That’s like an earl, isn’t it, Lord Montagu?”
Lucian smothered a sigh and nodded, lowering his newspaper. “It is.”
“Oh, Max, it’s Louis César and Demarteau!” Phoebe exclaimed with delight.
Max grinned at her. “You might get that game you wanted after all, love.”
Lucian laughed at her obvious excitement, remembering the story she had told him about playing cards with the enigmatic brothers.
“Oh, how exciting!” Bella cried as her mother, Alice, exchanged an anxious glance with Matilda’s brother, Nate.
“Give me my letter, Charlotte,” Eliza demanded again, trying to snatch it back.
Lottie ran from the room with Eliza in pursuit, closely followed by Bonnie’s twins, Elspeth and Greer.
“When’s he coming back, Lottie?” they cried in unison, their voices echoing as they disappeared.
Lucian sighed and looked to his grandson, Jake. “Come along, let us find somewhere quiet, away from all these noisy girls.”
“Will you teach me to fire a pistol?” Jake asked, his dark eyes alight with hope. “Mama says you’re the best one to teach me, and she’s better than Papa.”
Lucian’s lips twitched. “Is that so? Well, I might, if you promise not to be rude to your sister again.”
Jake gave this the consideration the question clearly merited, before sighing and giving a nod of agreement. “I promise.”
“Very well, then.” Lucian got to his feet to discover Cat leaping up to follow them.
“Can I come too, Papa?”
“We’re keeping away from girls, Cat,” Jake said, folding his arms and looking mutinous.
“But I’m not like the rest of them,” Cat protested, mirroring his stance and glaring at him. “I like all the same things you do.”
“Well, Jake, you must admit there is truth in that.”
Jake sighed a long-suffering sigh and rolled his eyes. “Oh, all right then, but you’re not to be