Merryton,” he said, taking a sip of his drink as he greeted the pair, keeping his voice light. “I have an idea.”
Alex turned to him, one brow quirked, although he couldn’t mask the interested gleam in his eye.
“Oh?”
Eli tilted his head over toward Baxter and Ophelia. “It’s about the two of them. They’re a bit high on their thrones, don’t you think?”
“Well,” Alex said as he shrugged, “that’s kind of the way of it now. You’ve been gone for some time, Eli, and Baxter will be the next marquess.”
“But he’s not yet,” Elijah said with a grin, “so what do you suppose we have some fun with him while we still can?”
Alex’s eyes glinted.
Elijah didn’t care so much about what Alex thought, however. He stole a glance at Joanna, who was eyeing him with interest, for which he breathed a big sigh of relief. He knew he should be trying to prove to her that he had matured, yet he couldn’t help but try to have some fun and liven this party up a bit.
“What are you thinking?” Alex finally asked.
“Well…” Elijah said, already laughing, “you know how Baxter likes to make a long, drawn-out toast at every dinner?”
“Of course,” Alex said.
“I have an idea on how we could make his toast a little more interesting this evening.”
Alex eyed him doubtfully, but nodded for him to continue.
“I’ll need a little help,” Elijah said, and then outlined his plan. Alex grinned with delight at the thought, while Joanna seemed skeptical, but intrigued at how it might all play out. “Now, we must wait.”
So wait they did. Elijah was hoping that Alex would find somewhere else to take his interest, but he seemed just as curious by Joanna and her newfound beauty as Elijah was. He couldn’t blame his brother, but nor did he feel like competing with him. For Alex would win. He always did.
When the dinner hour came, he found himself on one side of Joanna, Alex on the other.
As though on cue, Baxter stood, glass in hand.
Elijah kept his eye on that glass, hoping that Thatcher had carried out his task as he had requested.
“Good evening, my friends,” Baxter said, his glass small in his large fingers. His smile stretched wide in his heavily jowled face, so unlike his brothers in looks and stature. “My family and I would like to thank you all for being here.”
He continued on for a couple of minutes, speaking about nothing at all, before lifting his hand, and Elijah sat up straighter.
“Now, a toast, to all of you — the best wine that we have to offer. Here is to the greatest Christmas celebration in all of England!”
He lifted his glass, while the rest of them did so with their wine as well. Then Baxter took a big swig of his drink — and started sputtering.
“What in the devil is this?” he snarled, staring at the glass as though it had conjured itself into a different liquid. “This is… why this is—”
“Absolutely lovely,” Ophelia cut in, a hand on his arm as she leaned forward, her smile forced and obviously intending to be contagious. Baxter, however, did not seem to understand.
“You!” he pointed to Thatcher. “Come here.”
Thatcher obeyed. Baxter leaned in and muttered something in his ear. Thatcher nodded and walked away.
“My apologies, all,” he said with a low, sweeping bow. “This is not the drink I expected. We shall have all of the port cleared immediately.”
A low rumbling began around the table, and Elijah hurriedly tossed his drink back.
“It’s fine, Bax,” Alex said, leaning forward. “It tastes as excellent as ever.”
“Are you daft?” Baxter said incredulously. “I don’t know what this is supposed to be, but it most certainly isn’t fit to drink.”
Elijah choked back his laughter and reached out a hand.
“May I?”
Baxter nodded and Elijah took the glass and tasted.
“Baxter,” he said, looking at him with a tilted head, “it’s water.”
And at that, the rest of the table dissolved into laughter. Alex clapped Elijah on the shoulder, but Elijah didn’t even look over. For what mattered most? Joanna.
He turned, but saw her head was dipped, the smile he was sure was on her face hidden.
When she finally looked up at him, he didn’t like what he saw. She seemed disappointed. And he realized then that he had done nothing but continue down the path she had expected him to take. The path away from her.
Elijah stared across the room.
Every time he thought he was making some kind of progress with Joanna,