“I expect you’ll have to get used to the boring stuff, as you call it, when you are married to the heir to the throne,” Lady Middlesex said. “I find some of my official duties as a high commissioner’s wife quite taxing but one knows one’s duty and does what is expected of one, doesn’t one?”

“I suppose one does,” Matty said, giving me a grin. “We’re meeting with the couturiere from Paris this morning, Georgie. I’m looking forward to it. In the small salon. It’s lined with mirrors so we can admire ourselves.”

She paused and stared at the side table that was laden with cold meats, cheeses, fruits and breads, then she turned away. “Alas, just a cup of coffee for me if I’m to fit into that wedding dress.”

“Fiddlesticks! One needs a good breakfast to start the day,” Lady Middlesex said. “I don’t hold with this ridiculous fad of dieting. A cup of coffee, indeed. That won’t keep your strength up.” As she said this she was piling cold meats onto her plate with abandon. “No egg and bacon, I notice,” she added with a sigh. “Not a kidney in sight. Not even a kipper. One wonders how you folk on the Continent survive without a good hot breakfast.”

I helped myself and sat down at the table. Matty poured herself a cup of black coffee then wandered off with it.

“I hear the men plan to go hunting,” Lady Middlesex said. “How they expect to tramp through this snow, I have no idea. Insanity, if you ask me, but at least it keeps them out in the fresh air for the day. And hunting’s a healthy pursuit for young men. Keeps their minds off sex. Maybe we should see if we can borrow snowshoes and go out for a walk ourselves, Deer-Harte.”

I was glad she wasn’t including me in this plan. I ate as quickly as possible, then excused myself, only to bump into Belinda in the doorway.

“Am I glad to see you,” I said.

“That’s quite a change from last night, I must say,” she said with a frosty stare. “You looked daggers at me for some reason. I couldn’t think what I might have done to upset you. It was almost as if you thought I’d spent the night with Darcy—which I haven’t, by the way.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was put out. At first I thought that you’d been invited to the wedding and hadn’t told me, and then when I found out how you’d arrived here, I was annoyed by your utter subterfuge.”