Chapter Twenty-Seven

Penelope sat next to Violet in the drawing room that evening after supper while the ladies awaited the gentlemen's arrival.

"I'm afraid I haven't the first idea how to be a lady's companion," she warned Violet. "But I'm willing to learn."

"And I haven't the first idea how to have a lady's companion," Violet answered. "But I'm willing to pretend."

Seated across from them, Nicolette looked to Julia. "I imagine you would have invented creative things had I taken on the role of companion."

"Creative?" Julia shook her head. "I believe the descriptor you were searching for is ‘delightfully brilliant.'"

"I'm certain it was simply a mistranslation from French," Penelope said in very solemn tones.

"Undoubtedly." Julia managed to keep her expression earnest longer than any of the other ladies, who all quickly dissolved into the laughter so common among them.

The gentlemen arrived in the midst of the mirth.

"I always feel a bit worried when I chance upon the ladies and they're all laughing," Kes said.

Penelope hopped up and motioned for him to take the seat she had been occupying.

"You don't need—"

"Sit by your wife, Kes. Please," she said, cutting off his objection.

"Yes, please do," Violet said.

He clearly did not need any more prodding than that. And both husband and wife appeared utterly delighted to be in each other's company. Penelope made a mental note that providing opportunities for them to spend time together ought to be one of her aims as Violet's temporary companion.

At the moment, though, she meant to abandon Violet for the joy of Niles's company. He stood on the outskirts of the group and watched her with a small smile as she approached. That smile and the way her heart reacted to his nearness led her to believe her stint as a lady's companion would prove very short-lived.

"What had all of you so diverted?" Niles asked, taking her hand without hesitation.

"We were discussing the difficulties of having or being a lady's companion when one hasn't the first idea how."

"Will you be happy in that role?" His unwavering desire for her to be happy touched her.

"Were it anyone other than Violet or one of the other ladies here, I'd be less than enthusiastic. And if I'd no hope of the situation being temporary, that'd be quite dispiriting as well."

"Knowing a difficult portion of one's life won't last forever is reassuring, isn't it? Knowing over the past years that I would not always be dependent upon my family, that I could eventually pursue the life I wished to live and achieve the goals I'd set for myself was very motivating."

Penelope tugged his hand a bit, urging him to take a turn with her around the room. Her quick prodding was all he seemed to need, and they were soon undertaking a leisurely circuit.

"What goals have you set for yourself, Niles?" she asked. "I would very much like to know."

"I don't speak of them with many people," he said.

"And I have told very few of my dreams to establish a horse-breeding venture at Fairfield," she said, "but I shared that with you. Please trust me enough to tell me of your dreams."

"I assure you, it is far more a matter of my reticence than any lack of trust in you," he said. "I have long wished to have a seat in Parliament. Having a voice in the governing of the kingdom would allow me to make a difference. I wouldn't be the most well-known nor the most influential, but I could do some good."

The idea took immediate hold in her thoughts, growing more and more solid and real. "You would be an excellent addition to those hallowed halls, Niles."

"A hard-working one, at least."

"No, truly excellent." She squeezed his hand. "You are thoughtful and intelligent and compassionate. All those things would make you, in some ways, an oddity in politics, but those are the qualities that ought to be foremost in a member of Parliament."

He smiled at her, coloring a little. "I would like to at least try."

"I like this dream of yours, Niles. I think you should follow it."

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers.

From across the room, Digby announced, "I have chosen a game for this evening, friends. And I think it's an excellent one."

"Should we be worried?" Penelope asked Niles in low tones.

"Terrified."

"Our Puppy has taken to wearing buttonhole flowers in the evenings," Digby said.

Penelope couldn't hold back a smile. He had worn snapdragons in his lapel every evening since the day she'd first brought him a sprig.

"The flowers have inspired me." Digby stood tall and straight, watching the gathering with mischievous delight in his eyes. "I propose we play snap-dragon."

The suggestion brought excitement to the faces in the room. Penelope hadn't the first idea what the game was.

Lucas jumped up from his seat. "The boys would love this. We should bring them down."

Julia snatched hold of his hand, keeping him there. "Lucas, if you wake those boys, their nursemaid will murder you."

"But we're to play snap-dragon, sweetheart. It would be their very first time."

"They are too young to play with fire," Julia said. "We'll introduce them to the game when they're older."

He seemed to realize his wife was correct. "We could play snap-dragon when Adam next visits."

"An excellent idea."

Penelope turned a little to Niles. "Was Julia being literal when she said, ‘playing with fire'?"

"Have you never played snap-dragon?"

She shook her head.

"Yes, Julia was being entirely literal. Snap-dragon is, at its most basic, playing with fire."

Penelope didn't know whether to be excited or nervous. She felt both in equal measure.

A footman brought a shallow bowl into the drawing room and placed it on a table. He sprinkled raisins inside and poured in a bit of rum. Everyone in the group moved to stand around the table, watching the bowl intently. Something interesting must have been about to happen.

A second footman came inside, carefully carrying a large cup from which steam was wafting. Digby lit a long, thin wooden spill in the low-burning embers of the fire. He reached the table just as the footman did.

The footman carefully poured some of the hot, slightly amber liquid into a very large spoon. He held it out near the bowl of raisins and rum. Digby touched the flaming end of the spill to the liquid in the spoon, and a burst of bright-blue flame emerged. The footman slowly poured the flaming contents of his spoon into the bowl, and the rum inside likewise erupted in blue flames.

The onlookers cheered. It was a dazzling sight.

"What happens next?" Penelope asked, mesmerized by the flames.

"The rest is a contest to see who can pull the most raisins from the fire and pop them into his or her mouth without getting burned."

Good heavens. "Is that even possible?"

"Something about the blue flames is not as hot as the more common yellow-ish flames," Julia said. "Don't be mistaken, it is still hot, but it doesn't burn as quickly."

" As quickly ." Penelope shook her head. "That is not as reassuring as you might think."

"The game ends when all the raisins are gone or everyone has been burned," Lucas added.

This game sounded absolutely ridiculous. But those who had played it before didn't hesitate. They gingerly snatched raisins from the bowl and popped them into their mouths.

"One!" Lucas declared in the exact moment Kes called out the same number.

Violet, Niles, and Aldric were next to call out "One!"

A moment after, Nicolette declare " Un !" Aldric called out, "Two!"

"You're all mad." Penelope half laughed, half gasped.

"Mad we might be," Lucas said from across the table, the blue flame lighting his face in slips of dancing azure. "But I would wager Niles is hoping you will emerge the winner." He flung a raisin into his mouth. "Two!"

Beside her, Niles popped another flaming raisin into his mouth, quickly chewing and swallowing. "Two!"

"Why would you want me to be the victor?"

"Tradition holds that the one to successfully eat the most raisins will be the next to fall in love," Niles said.

Penelope shot Lucas a defiant glance. "If you think Niles is standing about, waiting for me to fall in love, then you are astoundingly unobservant."

He received hardy and good-natured teasing from his friends and wife. All the while, the raisin snatching and eating continued, with numbers being called out.

"Do you not intend to try?" Niles asked her.

"You really haven't burned yourself?" She had significant doubts.

"I'm very quick." He snatched another raisin and popped it into his mouth. "Five!"

Penelope Seymour had never been accurately accused of being a coward. She didn't mean to give anyone reason to call her one now.

"I just snatch it right out of the flames?" She eyed the shallow bowl.

"Decide on the one you want, and grab it," Niles said. "You don't want to be searching around for it."

That made a good deal of sense. "What if someone snatches the one I'm aiming for?"

"That's part of the challenge."

Penelope set her sights on a raisin very near her in the bowl. Pulse pounding a nervous rhythm, she took a deep breath. Then another. I am really going to put my hands in fire. 'Twas a truly mad game, this.

She reached in and grabbed the raisin, pulling it out as quickly as she could. It was on fire.

"Pop it into your mouth," Niles instructed. "It'll put the flame out."

She did as instructed and bit down, just as she'd seen the others do. The heat of the fire was immediately replaced by the rush of juice. Her mouth was a bit warm, and her hands as well, but she wasn't burned.

She wasn't burned.

"One!" she called out, too excited to prevent the word from emerging as a shout.

The group enthusiastically cheered her accomplishment even as others snatched more raisins and ate them.

Henri burned himself, and his run was over. The others continued their attempts.

"Well done, Penny." Niles tucked her up against his side, neither moving away from the table.

Penny. She smiled at the nickname, wondering what had inspired it. No one else had ever called her by anything other than her full given name. "Penny," she repeated. "I like it."

He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Then, I mean to call you that quite regularly."

"And if I have a nickname, that makes me very much one of the group, as all the ladies have one." Though successfully snatching a raisin had been exhilarating, she far preferred standing there with Niles's arm around her and was content to simply watch the rest of the game play out.

Soon enough, the raisins were all gone and the flame left to extinguish itself as the rum burned off. The group made an accounting.

Penelope's one raisin put her in the very last position, though she could not possibly have been less bothered to have lost.

When it was revealed that Aldric, no doubt unknowingly, had claimed the top spot with twelve raisins snatched and eaten and no burns, the room absolutely erupted.

"Who's the lucky lady?" Lucas asked, giving Aldric's shoulder a shove.

"Or un lucky, as the case may be," Digby drawled.

Aldric remained as unshaken as ever. "You are meant to be mercilessly harassing Niles and Penelope. I'll not be lampooned when it is not my turn."

"But the raisins have spoken," Kes insisted. "You're next."

"Find a lady who'll have me, and I'll gladly take my turn." He didn't seem the least worried that such a thing would come to be.

Henri eyed the other Gents and, in very confident tones, said, "We have our assignment, mes amis. Find a lady who can endure the General."

Everyone, including the ladies, joined in the teasing as the night wore on. While Aldric made a show of being annoyed, Penelope didn't believe for a moment that he wasn't enjoying bantering with his friends.

Who were now Penelope's friends.

She leaned into Niles's embrace. For the first time in too many years, the future looked bright.