Read Online The Rebel Captain's Royalist Bride by Anne Herries - Free Book Online

for supper that night. The dark oak table looked best set with mats of woven straw, the knife to one side and the spoon to the other. In her uncle’s house each member of the household was given both a knife and a spoon. Babette had heard that some people followed the French fashion and had introduced a two-pronged instrument into their households, which could be used to spear a piece of meat, but Uncle Matthew ate with his knife or spoon, using his fingers to secure any tasty morsel that could not be speared by the knife or scooped up in the spoon.
    That night they were to have roasted capon. Babette’s uncle liked the leg joint best and ate it with his fingers, disposing of the bones to the dogs he allowed to roam in and out of the house. They were hunting dogs, but also useful as guard dogs, and he liked to have one at his heels wherever he went, inside and out. Aunt Minnie liked the breast meat, with the skin crisped and golden, while both Angelina and Babette enjoyed the sweeter meat on the wings. There was only one way to eat them and that was with the fingers, so they would need finger bowls set at intervals for each diner. She wondered whether Captain Colby would eat his chicken with the point of his knife or his fingers. He normally used the knife, spearing the meat and eating daintily until the last piece, which he ate with his fingers. She thought that his table manners were very good—the mark of a true gentleman. He had long narrow fingers that looked elegant when in repose, but which she knew to be extremely strong, having felt his grasp imprison her.
    She must not think about such things! There were more important matters to concern her. She frowned as she remembered that her brother was to come to the house that night for the healing mixture she had brewed.
    Her work in the parlour finished, Babette was just considering how soon after dinner she could slip outside to meet her brother when a slight noise behind her caught her off guard. She turned to see Captain Colby looking at her thoughtfully.
    ‘Lost in thought, Mistress Babette?’ he asked. ‘I hope you are not planning to slip away to meet your lover tonight.’
    Provoking creature! Did he imagine his mockery was amusing? The sparkle in his eyes was so attractive it made her angry. Did he think himself so charming that he would have her eating from his hand if he smiled at her? She would have liked to wipe that smug smile from his lips, but caution warned her to hold her tongue.
    ‘You like to mock me, sir. I have no lover—and if I choose to visit a friend I think it no business of yours.’
    ‘In times of war everything becomes the business of a careful commander,’ he said, and his eyes took on the colour of wet slate.
    ‘Excuse me, sir. I have work to do.’
    For a moment she thought he would forbid her, and her heart raced, but then he stood aside.
    ‘I must not keep you—but remember my warning.’
    Babette drew her breath. She must be careful. She must not quarrel with him lest he have her confined to her room while he stayed in the house. Yet she could not allow him to intimidate her. John would be waiting for more food and the cure she’d made and she could not let him down. Inclining her head, she walked past Captain Colby and into the kitchen.
    * * *
    Dinner seemed to drag on for ever that evening. Babette ate her portion and rose to clear the dishes but her uncle motioned her to sit down and ordered the servants to clear the table.
    ‘Remain with us in the parlour, Niece,’ he said as his wife followed the servants from the room. ‘Your aunt reminded me that you were born a lady and it was remiss of me to expect you to do chores more properly assigned to servants. Sit and listen. You may hear something of interest.’
    Babette looked longingly at the parlour door, but she could not defy her uncle. To claim a headache two nights running would appear rude to their guest. She was forced to sit and listen to the two men talk of the