Read Online Edith Layton by The Return of the Earl - Free Book Online Page B

describe how cold a winter it had been. While nothing in his manner was careless or discourteous, nevertheless his lean body looked relaxed. In fact, he seemed the most comfortable of them all. That surprised Julianne. It had to be difficult even to stand at ease in a room with a man you were trying to supplant, chatting amiably with another man whose daughter you might well do out of a title and a fortune.
    Surely he knew he was in the midst of people who at the least suspected him and at the most wished him dead or gone? But he acted as though nothing could be further from his mind than what was obviously foremost on everyone else’s.
    The squire was too hale and gruff; it was clear how ill at ease he was. Hammond was quiet and seemed depressed. But the man who would be heir to Egremont appeared so urbane and charming that a stranger entering the room might have taken him for the host. It made Julianne wonder if the real Christian would be so confident, or whether this fellow’s self-assurance was a telltale sign that he was a practiced cheat.
    She had a better opportunity to observe him when they were called in to dinner. Because she was seated at his side.
    The squire and his lady took the head and foot of the table. Sophie sat at her father’s right hand, Hammond beside her. And Julianne was seated next to Christian, opposite Sophie and Hammond. It wasn’t traditional. In Julianne’s experience, the engaged couple would have sat opposite each other, so as to give guests a chance to speak to them. She quickly glanced at Christian as a footman pulled out her chair for her. Would he realize he was being seated next to her so she could test him?
    He wore a bland expression. Nothing in his manner showed he thought the seating unusual. But then, she thought as she sat down, he might not know what wasusually done. Even if he were Christian, he’d been in prisons so long he could have forgotten.
    The conversation was general at first, the squire holding forth on the price of crops as a footman ladled hot brown soup into their bowls.
    Christian hardly touched his.
    “Is the soup not to your taste?” the squire’s wife asked him. “I didn’t think to ask, did you not have the same sort of food in…” she hesitated, then went on, “…the antipodes?”
    He smiled. “In…” he paused. It was hard to say whether he was doing it to frame his answer or mock the question. Then he said smoothly, “In the prisons we ate whatever we were given. The food improved as our general condition did, and when we were free men we ate very well. Apart from some fruits, vegetables, fish, and animals that are found only in the antipodes, the cuisine is very much the same. We tried to make it so. After all, we all missed home, and tried to re-create it there.”
    No one said anything. They hadn’t expected him to mention his criminal past. Although, Julianne realized, his avoiding discussing it would have been odder.
    “The soup’s excellent,” he added. “It is only that I don’t care for turtle, to tell the truth. Silly of me, really. But I had a turtle as a pet in New South Wales, and ever since I’ve disliked eating them.” He smiled. “It would be rather like you dining on horse meat, or puppy soup.”
    Sophie put down her spoon and looked into herbowl as though it was filled with poison. Julianne smothered a rising nervous giggle.
    “The French eat horses, and puppies are a delicacy in parts of the East, I understand,” he said conversationally. “But neither appeal to me…Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you, Miss Wiley,” he told Sophie. “It’s hard for me to know what is or isn’t appropriate table talk here in England. I’ve only been back a few weeks. Please feel free to tell me when I make a mistake. How else can I learn?”
    “You do eat salmon, roast beef, mutton, and pigeon?” Sophie’s mother asked. “That is what we are having for dinner.”
    “Oh yes, thank you,” he said mildly. “I look