He was rudely interrupted by Sir Martin. ‘Damn me, Mortreath, move along, will you? I want to give my favourite granddaughter a great big hug.’

With that done he alighted on Kerensa and did the same. ‘Well, my little pretty one, you look just as you always do, ravishing and good enough to eat. I do declare though, you feel a little more cuddly. Why’s that I wonder?’

Kerensa shot a quick look at Oliver but thankfully he was talking to Hezekiah and Ameline, although much to her annoyance pointedly ignoring James.

‘It’s time to eat, Martin,’ she said, knowing his interest in good food would out-rival anything else on his mind.

The massive, rectangular oak table in the main dining room was polished until the Carolean candelabras, the cutlery, the bowls of seasonal floral decorations and the many drinking glasses could be clearly seen reflected along its length. Oliver had ordered Polly to set the table from end to end. It seemed ridiculous to Kerensa to have six people spread out so far apart but it would mean risking a biting remark and humiliation from Oliver if she recommended the company be seated closer together.

Only Sir Martin ate generous quantities of the delicious foodstuffs painstakingly prepared by Ruth and Esther King. Kerensa had hardly any appetite and ate nothing after the baked trout. James’s throat was too constricted to swallow and he suffered purgatory under Oliver’s constant and thinly veiled attacks on him. Unable to control the shake in his hands he dropped cranberry sauce on his neckcloth and breeches. He choked on each apology and his tortured mind swung between trying to reason out why his host held such an illogical dislike for him, the agony of wanting to get Ameline alone, and the fear that after all his painful weeks of waiting, not to mention having to endure this dreadful evening, she would turn him down.

Ameline fidgeted and picked at her food. Hezekiah was sitting next to her, although a long way away due to the extent of the table’s length, and his presence spoiled the meal for her. Tonight she had wanted to exert the power of being a woman with more than one man interested in her over James Mortreath. She did not intend to be unkind, just to enjoy her feminine desirability, but Hezekiah Solomon had robbed her of her confidence.

Hezekiah never ate much and only took minute helpings of the food. But he kept asking Ameline to pass the condiments, the sauces, the custards, the nuts and fruit, and while he did not actually engage her in conversation he kept drawing her in by including her in many of his low glances.