Guy was in his office when Petra came home and when he heard her voice in the hall went out to greet her. “Can you spare me a few minutes, Petra?”

“Yes, of course.” She looked askance as she followed him back through the library. “Is it something important?”

“Something I want to discuss with you.” He closed the door after her, gesturing to a chair.

“Nothing unpleasant, I hope,” she said warily. It was unlike Guy to sound so businesslike.

“No, I trust not.” He sat down, leaning back in the big leather chair behind the desk. “I want to have a house party at Ashton Court.”

Petra nodded, saying nothing.

“Do you feel up to hosting such an event?” Guy asked directly.

Petra frowned. “Why wouldn’t I?”

He held up his hands defensively. “Don’t misinterpret, Petra. I rather assume you haven’t had any experience in such matters and I want to be sure you feel comfortable. It’s quite an undertaking and the guests will for the most part be politicians, members of the cabinet, the prime minister himself, I hope.”

Petra found herself bristling at her husband’s assumption that she was not up to one of the most essential tasks of a society hostess. “I can assure you, Guy, that I am perfectly capable of organizing and hosting a country house party, however erudite the guests. I’d like it, though, if you’d invite my brother. He may be a junior member of Parliament but I don’t see why his career shouldn’t benefit from having you as his brother-in-law.”

“Of course Jonathan will be welcome.” He offered a rueful smile. “I do appear to have offended you, my dear girl, and I really didn’t mean to. I don’t want to impose too much upon you, that’s all.”

“We’re married,” Petra stated. “Shared social obligations aren’t an imposition. If you want, need to invite these men to Ashton Court then I shall be delighted to welcome them. And you needn’t worry, I know what’s expected of a hostess and I’m more than capable of fulfilling those expectations.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he said, somewhat surprised at her vehemence. “Forgive me if it sounded as if I did.”

“My mother may have neglected some aspects of my upbringing,” Petra stated, “but not the social duties of a chatelaine. She did rather assume I’d be married in the end and would need such skills.” She wasn’t quite sure why she was so put out, it wasn’t an unreasonable assumption of Guy’s, given what he knew of her family, but it seemed to cast reflections on them and while she considered herself entitled to criticize them as much as she wished, it was no one else’s business. Joth, she knew, felt the same way.