Chase smiled. “Hardly that. I stole a few moments with your charming daughter.”

Mrs. Ward looked at Harriet and apparently read her own meaning into Harriet’s flushed cheeks and thin-lipped expression. “Well!” Mrs. Ward said in a hurried voice. “We should eat. Captain Frakenham, you sit there. And Harriet will sit beside you.”

“Excellent.” Chase made a show of holding Harriet’s seat, which seemed to delight her sisters. Ophelia beamed approvingly, while Sophia sighed as if he’d done something quite romantic. Chase made sure to let his hands brush Harriet’s very upright shoulders before he took his own place beside her.

She shot him a wary look, as if uncertain he’d touched her on purpose. Chase just smiled blandly back, though he wondered at the silken feel of her skin beneath his fingertips.

Almost immediately the first course was served and soon a pleasant babble of conversation broke over the table. Chase found himself relaxing as the meal progressed.

Normally, at a formal dinner, one conversed with the person to either one’s left or right and never across the table or down it. The Wards, however, much like his own family, eschewed this rather rigid conventionality, at least in the comfort of their own home.

Which was a good thing because with Derrick sitting to one side, apparently deep in thought as his gaze never left his plate, and Harriet stiffly sitting on the other, Chase would have had no conversation at all.

As it was, Sophia and Ophelia made several attempts to pull him into a conversation, all of which he avoided with great skill. He began to realize that playing the part of a man with no memory made casual conversation a rather difficult chore.

Eventually, they ceased trying and turned their attention to Stephen, who sat at the head of the table, his posture a bit arrogant. Chase supposed the whipster had taken his father’s place as was appropriate, much to the chagrin of his siblings.

Chase smiled to himself. There was a warmth to the Wards that reminded him of his own family. He and his brothers and sister didn’t see so much of one another any longer of course, since two of his brothers and his sister were married. But still, they’d had many a laugh over the dinner table growing up.

Sophia leaned across the table. “Captain Frakenham, do you know the waltz? I hear they are dancing it all over London.”

Chase opened his mouth to respond, then caught sight of Harriet’s dark brown eyes as they rested on him, watchful as ever.

He knew how to waltz. In fact, he loved the dance. But he made himself shrug. “I’m afraid I don’t remember. But if it should come back to me, I would be delighted to teach you all, with your mother’s approval.”

She waved a hand. “If they’re doing it in drawing rooms all over London, I’m certain it would be fine to attempt it at Garrett Park.”

Sophia gave a happy bounce. “Oh! That would be lovely!”