She had smiled so well and so often that her cheeks hurt.

Instead, she had danced and laughed with all of her old friends, she had drunk three glasses of punch, she had poked fun at Thomas - always an entertaining endeavor he was the current duke and certainly needed a bit less obsequiousness in his life. Upon arrival, the dowager had immediately retired to her seat of honor with her cronies, and Grace had not been required to attend to her.

It had been a lovely night, truly, and Grace knew she should not be so uncharitable.

Still, there was no getting around the fact that the dowager was something less than cheerful, and so, as they rode home from the Lincolnshire Dance and Assembly, their elegant and well-sprung coach gliding effortlessly across the midnight-dark roads, Grace could not help but be relieved that her employer was fast asleep. (Some might say they were never given at all, but Grace had, precisely twice, borne witness to a curt but honest 'well done' - not that anyone believed her when she mentioned it later.)īut the dowager had saved Grace from an impossible situation, and for that she would always possess Grace's gratitude, respect, and most of all, her loyalty. She was rarely kind, she did not tolerate stupidity, and her compliments were never falsely given. Wyndhams, and especially Wyndhams who used to be Debenhams, sat firmly at the top.Īnd as such, the dowager expected certain behavior and deference to be paid. As far as the dowager was concerned, the world was a stratified place, with a hierarchy as clear as it was rigid. Her sister was now a member of a minor royal family in some central European country whose name Grace could never quite pronounce, and her brother owned most of East Anglia. But Augusta Elizabeth Candida Debenham Cavendish had been born the daughter of a duke, she had married a duke, and then given birth to another. Nor was she cruel, spiteful, or even entirely mean-spirited.

Her grace the dowager Duchess of Wyndham could never be called completely evil. Which was not to say that the offending organ was black. Grace Eversleigh had been the companion to the dowager Duchess of Wyndham for five years, and in that time she had learned several things about her employer, the most pertinent of which was this: Under her grace's stern, exacting, and haughty exterior did not beat a heart of gold.

The lost duke of wyndham series