Maybe he should have taken another day in the country. Not that it would have diminished the scandal, but at least he could have put it off. It was midafternoon, but there were still a fair number of members, all of them at the moment gawking at him. If it was like this for him, he wondered how Elena would do her first time out in public. “Good afternoon, my lord.” The steward was infinitely more polite than the patrons he served, for he greeted Ran with his usual courtesy as if nothing at all had happened. “Are you meeting with someone in particular?” “No. Just stopped by for a drink.” “There is a table in the corner if you would like it.” The young man kept his expression scrupulously neutral. “Diplomatically put.” Ran smiled sardonically. “Perhaps that would be best.” “Right this way and I will have your special whiskey brought at once.” It occurred to him then that perhaps his fondness for Blaven was better-known than he imagined. Surely all the staff here knew of it since he had to order it and have it kept in reserve for him only.
