“We depart in half an hour,” the dowager said crisply.

Amelia had managed to fork one bite of eggs into her mouth, and took advantage of the time it took to chew to glance over at the doorway, which remained empty. “I don’t think the others will be ready. Grace is still—”

“She is of no concern.”

“You can’t go anywhere without the two dukes,” Lord Crowland pointed out.

“Is that supposed to be funny?” the dowager demanded.

Lord Crowland shrugged. “How else am I meant to refer to them?”

Amelia knew she ought to have been outraged. It was a most cavalier statement, all things considered. But her father was so offhand, and the dowager so offended—she decided it made far more sense to be amused.

“Sometimes I do not know why I work so hard to advance your entry into my family,” the dowager said to Amelia, giving her a scathing glare.

Amelia swallowed, wishing she had a retort, because for once she rather thought she’d have been brave enough to say it. But nothing came to mind, at least nothing as fabulously cutting and witty as she would have liked, and so she clamped her mouth shut and stared at a spot on the wall over the dowager’s shoulder.

“There is no call for such talk, Augusta,” Lord Crowland said. And then, as she glared at him for his use of her name—he was one of the few who did, and it always infuriated her—he added, “A less equable man than I might take insult.”

Fortunately, the chilly moment was broken by Thomas’s arrival. “Good morning,” he said smoothly, taking his seat at the table. He seemed not at all perturbed that no one returned his greeting. Amelia supposed that her father was too busy attempting to put the dowager in her place, and the dowager—well, she rarely returned anyone’s greeting, so this was hardly out of character.

As for herself, she would have liked to have said something. Really, it was all very lovely now, not feeling so cowed in Thomas’s presence. But when he sat—directly across from her—she’d looked up, and he’d looked up, and—

It wasn’t that she was intimidated, exactly. It was just that she seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.

His eyes were that blue.

Except for the stripe, of course. She loved that stripe. She loved that he thought it was silly.

“Lady Amelia,” he murmured.

She nodded her greeting, managing, “Duke,” since your grace contained far too many syllables.