‘She is lovely!’ he thought. ‘In fact it would be easy for any man to fall in love with her!’
Then an idea struck him which made him frown and he spurred his horse as if to race away from something that had startled him.
At luncheon they were joined by an elderly friend of the Duke’s who had called unexpectedly to enquire about Richard.
But they dined alone and it seemed to Benedicta as if the table with its glittering gold ornaments and the Duke sitting at the head of it in his evening clothes had an enchantment that was somehow different from anything she had experienced before.
She did not know why, but she felt as if everything had accelerated into a new awareness.
The loveliness of the house, the presence of the Duke, the words they spoke to each other, the laughter that broke up
