Dinner soon ended. Everyone rose and the ladies departed for the drawing room, while the men remained at the dining table. As Alice walked, her mother came alongside. “I do not like being separated from you at dinner,” Mama said in a low, disapproving tone. “I should be close to serve as your chaperone.”

“Nothing untoward will happen at the dinner table. And you were seated near the duke tonight. That is certainly an honor.”

Mama sniffed. “A good thing, too. You were focused on your food instead of the other guests, as usual. At least I was able to converse with His Grace. You would have bored him silly. Now, remember to stand up straight. You want to impress him, make him think of you as a potential duchess.”

Alice inwardly sighed. She’d exchanged two words with the duke since meeting him, and his interest seemed entirely concentrated on Maddie.

“And,” her mother continued, “stay away from that good-for-nothing Mr. Ward. He is not the sort I want you associating with.”

Alice didn’t bother arguing. It never did any good and would merely exhaust her. “Shall I get you coffee before I visit the facilities?” Her mother’s joints were in constant pain and she preferred when Alice handled the pouring.

“Yes, and hurry. You know I hate relying on strangers.”

Indeed, Alice knew this. Soon she had her mother settled with coffee and then she was able to escape for the washroom. The chateau was large, built like a cathedral with stone buttresses and high ceilings, and it took several minutes to walk the long corridors. After she finished in the washroom, she started back, taking her time before returning to hover and wait on Mama.

“And where are you going?”

Alice jumped at the deep voice, her hand covering her heart as if to keep it from popping out of her chest. Kit stepped out of the dark room in which he’d been lurking, a smirk affixed on his face.

Tiny shocks continued along her frame, quickly followed by flutters in her stomach. “Kit, my goodness. You scared me.”

His fingers wrapped around her forearm and he pulled her into the empty room. “I apologize.” He released her. “I wanted to check on you.”

“Oh.” Was he worried she would get lost? “As you can see, I am fine. Shall we return?”

“Am I making you nervous?”

“No, why?”

“You’re edging toward the door as if you want to escape.”

She planted her feet. “I’m not used to having a man drag me into a dark room.”

“Admittedly, the dark room bit normally goes differently for me, but I won’t bore you with those sordid details. Did you hear back from Franconi?”

“I did. He’s agreed to five thousand per recipe.”

“Christ. That’s dashed expensive, but I suppose it’s worth it.” He shoved his hands in his trouser pockets. “And you know each of these recipes?”