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We're having roast beef tonight, Lord Charles," Mildred announced, as though the smell that wafted throughout the house was not enough reason for Charles to guess that fact for himself. "I wouldn't have known." "I just adore roast beef," she continued breezily. "It is one of my absolute favorite dishes." "Mine too," Ophelia added. "Do you like roast beef, Captain?" "I do. And did you cook it yourself, Miss Leighton?" "Oh no, Amy makes all the meals around here." "So I've noticed. She is a very accomplished cook." "Oh, she's passably fair," Ophelia said, with an airy little laugh. "I'm a better one, when I put my mind to it." "Are you? Perhaps, then, you should put your mind, and your hands, to it tomorrow. I daresay I would enjoy sampling your efforts and deciding for myself whether or not your claim is a valid one." Ophelia's smug smile promptly vanished. She was trapped, and she knew it. Will saw instantly what the captain was up to. "What a good idea!" he said loudly, earning a vicious glare from his sister. "You haven't cooked anythin' in ages, Ophelia! Why, I'll bet you're so out of practice that even the water won't remember how to boil for you!" "I'm not cooking unless Millie helps me!" "Do you mean that Mildred can also cook?" Charles murmured, raising his brows. "Dear me. I didn't know that either of you possessed such . . . talents." "Of course I can cook! And I can make anything that Ophelia makes taste like slops in comparison!" "I should like to see you try!" snapped Ophelia. "Yes, so would I," mused Charles. "But since you are both so eager to prove your culinary expertise to me, perhaps Ophelia can cook tomorrow, and Mildred can have her turn the following day." ""I can't cook tomorrow, I have other things to do. Besides, Amy does the all the cooking around here." Charles smiled thinly. "Yes, so I've noticed," he murmured. And then, his voice hardening, "As well as all the baking, sewing, mending, cleaning, washing, weaving, marketing, and soap-making. Rather a lot for one woman, isn't it?" Ophelia
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