By now Jarvis was standing next to me, just in case Dowd was feeling particularly frisky. When Sephy threatened to leave, I had to persuade her that that would be a really bad idea, but even so she was practically out the door until I got Dowd to apologize. Sephy stayed, but didn’t even try to disguise the contempt she had for me as she looked me up and down. I’ll say one thing for Persephone Ealing – she had guts. Not a lot of people would dare to look at me like that quite so openly. I admired her for it, even if it did piss me off. One way or another, I’d make sure she paid for that. And the fact that she was about to be investigated by the Albion Revenue and Customs Service was just another hollow-point bullet I could add to my arsenal to use against her.

After Owen and Sephy’s difference of opinion, the atmosphere among my guests was severely strained. Bella and Tobey studiously avoided each other, though she made a point of walking past and round him as often as possible – no doubt to show him what he was missing. She’d changed into a gold sequined dress that hugged every toned contour of her body and she looked delectable. Patrix wouldn’t stop making snide remarks to my brother, his every other word dripping with the venom he didn’t dare trickle on me. Someone else who was going to pay for their lack of manners. And as for Eva and Owen, well, that was strange. The strenuous efforts they were making to completely ignore each other just drew more of my attention to both of them. Hmm …

It was a relief to everyone when we finally sat down for our first course of crab and lobster terrine with a cucumber and dill foam. George had surpassed himself. Having a butler who was also a master chef was just one of the many reasons I was happy to pay over the odds for his services. George really was a jewel. The food was exceptional, like nothing I could’ve dreamed of growing up. The champagne flowed. The conversation, which ran like ice cubes up a grassy hill, did not.

I wasn’t oblivious to the considered looks Tobey kept throwing my way either.

It was a dinner of knives, with each of my guests seated next to at least one person they would happily stab in the vitals. The antagonism between them would ensure there would be no collective attempts to buy them off or persuade them to keep my announcement a secret.

Which was just the way I wanted it.

NOW

ten. Troy