The Fire's Center (19 page)

The men eagerly continued discussing Riona’s ideas as they headed for the dining room, so that Lucien waylaid Riona and Mr. Benn and said, "Thank you for looking after everyone so well, my dear."

She smiled. "My pleasure, sir."

"I just hope the dinner is edible," Riona added
sotto voce
.

 
Lucien patted her on the hand reassuringly, and winked.

Mr. Benn, a happily married man who took pride in being gallant, was delighted to escort Riona into the dining room. He too was one of Lucien’s oldest friends, and though curious about Riona’s role in the house, he took it at face value, and didn’t pester Riona with any impertinent questions.

As it was she had her hands full making sure all the guests were served, and every so often nodding or giving an imperceptible shake of her head to the servants’ inquiring glances.

At last all the food was on the plates and the wine served, and the first course was pronounced excellent by all.

Riona herself ate little, being too keyed up by day’s events. She also tried her best to be charming to Mr. Benn and the companion on her right, Mr. Charles Durance, one of the leading lawyers in the city, man who positively reeked of affluence and power.

He was nearly as tall and broad as Lucien himself, but as fair as Lucien was dark, with flaxen blond hair, pale white skin and even pale blue eyes. His dark blue suit and blue embroidered brocade waistcoat set off his handsome looks to perfection, and Riona at first was quite intimidated by the way he continually stared at her silently.

Then Riona wondered whether Mr. Durance might not, for all this wealth and power, be a trifle shy, so that she and Mr. Benn between them began to gradually drawn him out.

Then he revealed his extreme intelligence. Riona was impressed with the fact that he possessed a genuine concern for his fellow humans. At last she began to relax and enjoy his company, and a rather lively three-way conversation began at their end of the table.

Mr. Durance offered up many excellent suggestions for things which could be done to improve public health, which Riona wrote down in her little book.

"But I’m keeping you from you dinner, Miss Connolly," Mr. Durance suddenly apologised when he saw her scribbling down notes in her book with one hand, and taking an occasional forkful of food with the other.

"Not at all. This is one of the reasons why Dr. Woulfe invited you, to get everyone to meet and discuss things." She smiled up at him, causing him to stare at her wordlessly once again.

Soon the men’s two nearest neighbours also joined in the discussion, so that Riona had little opportunity to observe that Mr. Durance was constantly gazing at her, with an unmistakable look of admiration in his blue eyes.

Or that Antoinette was staring at her with unbridled curiosity, and undisguised dislike. Why hadn’t Quentin mentioned that Lucien had a secretary? And why on earth had she been supplanted as hostess, when she was after all Lucien’s sister-in-law, she thought resentfully.

Her companions, Mr. Sturton and Mr. Norton did their best to try to entertain her, but Antoinette didn’t have the courtesy to look interested. At one point she didn’t even trouble herself to stifle a yawn.

Quentin looked daggers at her, and tried to jolly along the flagging conversation in the middle of the table, made all the more apparent by the contrast on both sides.

Lucien’s top of the table was also buzzing with conversation. Though he was delighted it was all going so remarkably well, dinner seemed to take forever to him with Riona so far away down the table, though it was only six courses.

At last the cheeseboard and finally the sweet were served, and the men began to pass around the cigars.

This was Antoinette’s opportunity to jump up and escape from the dull affair, as she considered it to be. She walked straight out of the room and into the drawing room without a backward glance.

But as Riona was about to leave, Mr. Durance asked her to write down another idea, and Mr. Benn and the two other gentlemen also added a few more ideas to her list, until nearly every one forgot that by rights she should have withdrawn.

They all began to puff their cigars contentedly as the port was passed around.

When she looked up from her notebook for a moment, Lucien raised his eyebrows at her slightly, but she shrugged, and gave him a small smile.

Since the cigar smoke didn’t bother her, she remained at the table, and took down notes as the conversation drifted onto the topic of the candidates for the four permanent doctors’ posts.

Riona consulted her initial list, and noticed how skilfully Lucien and the others were trying to get most of the men they favoured onto the list.

But some of the men were partial to impressive young Dr. O'Shea, while others argued vigorously for Dr. O’Carroll, mainly on the basis that he was personally known to themselves and came from a highly respected old Dublin family.

Riona saw Lucien knit his brows as the arguments continued.

"Just because a man is a friend, or the son of a friend, or has a title and wealth, does not mean that he would be suitable for this kind of work," he protested mildly, though Riona could sense his underlying tension.

"But Dr. O’Carroll has the best credentials," one of the men sitting next to Lucien, Mr. Barnes, protested heatedly.

"If that is true, then why does he wish to work for such a poor stipend at a charity hospital? Surely if he set up in private practice he would be one of the top young doctors in Dublin, if he is as good as he seems to be on paper," Lucien argued with a grim expression.

Riona could see that he had indeed learnt some useful things about some of the candidates, that were perhaps particularly unsavoury, and not mentionable in public?

"Surely, gentlemen, you will make the appointments on a month’s trial basis in any case?" Riona raised her voice to be heard above the debate.

All of the men looked at her then, and Riona smiled sweetly. "After all, we're worried about them suiting us, but there might be very good reasons why our clinic might not suit
them
. It’s a case of the ideal not always matching the reality.

"I'm sure all of the doctors have the noblest motives for applying, but some might not be cut out for the hard work, physically as well as emotionally. They are, after all, very young, some of them, and as I am sure Dr. Woulfe here will tell you, the real learning about medicine begins
after
you’ve left college."

All of the men nodded at her wisdom, and the acrimony which had lurked just below the surface dissipated instantly.

Lucien winked at her from across the table, his shoulders sagging in relief.

Riona then rose. "Now gentlemen, there's coffee in the drawing room. I’m afraid we’ve abandoned poor Mrs. Woulfe in there on her own for quite long enough, so let’s all make a special effort to be gracious to her and drop all this business talk for half an hour, shall we?" Riona coaxed, with a dazzling smile.

Mr. Benn escorted her into the drawing room, and she noted that three of the younger men sat down on the sofa next to Mrs. Woulfe.

Riona herself went over to the coffee tray, and began asking all the guests how they took theirs.

Riona then handed Lucien his black coffee with two sugars, and poured out a cup for herself. The fact that Riona did not need to ask Lucien how he drank his coffee was not lost on Antoinette, who was gazing at Riona narrowly, taking in the unadorned burgundy gown she was wearing, and the simple, almost severe hairstyle, which nevertheless were both extremely becoming.

All right if you like that sort of innocent, child-like beauty,
was Antoinette’s envious verdict as she smoothed her silk gown down over her capacious bosom and amply rounded figure.

Lucien’s opinion was obviously different, as he took advantage of a lull in his conversation to move over to Riona after she had served all the guests.

He stood close to her, and whispered intimately in her ear, "A stunning performance, my dear. You look lovely. They're all completely besotted by you. I never thought I’d see the day when we had Durance eating out of a lady’s hand. In fact, you’ve made a conquest of them all."

"I’m glad you’re pleased." Riona smiled, lifting her sapphire blue eyes to gaze at Lucien, and for a moment it was as though they were the only two people in the room.

"Was the dinner good?"

 
"The best I’ve ever had," he praised sincerely. "And thank you for stepping in where the doctors were concerned. You may well have saved my life on that score."

"Why, what’s wrong?" she asked worriedly.

Lucien opened his mouth to tell her, when all of a sudden Quentin came up and stepped between them.

"Now, now brother, go and mingle, while I look after this young lady," Quentin cajoled as he led Riona away by the arm with a grin.

He had spotted his wife looking daggers over at Riona and Lucien, and she had just been about to launch herself out of her seat to approach them when Quentin had intervened.

Quentin decided to take the enemy by surprise, so as he led Riona in Antoinette’s direction he said in a low voice, "I know it wasn’t your fault. We arrived late and then you were kept busy with our business discussion at the dining table, but may I please introduce you to my wife?"

Since Quentin was already leading her over to the other woman’s sofa, she could hardly refuse.

"My pleasure." She inwardly steeled herself for battle.

"Antoinette, my dear, this is my cousin Riona from Donegal. Riona, my wife, Antoinette."

"So nice to meet you. I hope you haven’t been too bored by all these business discussions," Riona said with a sincere smile.

"No, not at all," Antoinette replied, but with an obvious yawn.

Riona tried again. "I’m afraid Lucien didn’t want me to be the only woman present, but of course I'm also sure he was more than happy to have you and Quentin here as well."

"I’ve never dined in this house before. It was an interesting experience. Please compliment the cook. I’ve never had anything quite like it," she drawled, in a tone which implied her opinion was anything but favourable.

Riona could sympathise with Antoinette for finding the whole dinner rather dull, so she ignored the unfair barb, and asked, "How are the children, Neville and Lisette? Healthy, I hope, and doing well at their schooling, I trust."

"I imagine so. I rarely see them," came the disconcerting reply.

"No, of course not. At a great establishment like yours, you must have many servants. Well, with all of your leisure time then, cousin," Riona said perkily, "I am sure you are taking an interest in the charity hospital, organising garden fetes and teas and so on?"