Lorn indicated the seat down the table on the side closest to where he would be sitting at the head of the table closest to the fireplace.  He moved ahead to pull out the chair for her properly.  "Yes, for you and me.  I told Mrs. Pearson to make it nice, and she and the maids have gone all out it seems."  He smiled.

"This is wonderful, Lorn," she said cheerfully as she moved to sit down. She looked at him with a twinkle in her eye. Her shawl was then placed on the chair next to her and she smoothed her hands over her skirt. Her mouth curled upward and she reached out to touch his arm. She said, "Tis lovely. I'll have ta remember ta thank them," she chuckled and gazed at him. She was lost in the way his eyes were when he smiled, feeling herself fall out of infatuation and into something deeper every day they knew each other.

"I'm starved," she said then with a laugh, "Of course, I've been savin' up me an appetite for tonight," she said.

Lorn had handed his hat to Mr. Tinkerman when he came in the house, so his white hair gleamed in the fire behind him as he sat down.  "I will too, I don't use this room much, so extra work for just me seemed silly.  So, I either eat down with them in the kitchen or in the nursery with Heidi."  He shrugged.  He was a humble man and didn't like to ask others to do what he could do himself.  Part of how his parents taught him.

"I'm hungry too."  He grinned and at that moment, granted Mrs. Pearson had been right there at the servent entrance to the dining room watching and waiting till they got settled down at the table, two of the maids came in.  Each of them in proper black dresses with white accent collars, headpiece, and cuffs, and a white full apron carrying the first course to place at the right side of each person sitting at the table.

Lorn looked down looking at the olives and bread with dipping oil and a bit of salami sliced thinly.   "I told Miss Cora something nice, I think she decided to do a formal dinner with various courses.  Back home not something we did, but when I moved to London, it was quite common.  I suppose you grew up knowing not to eat too much with each course."  He grinned and popped an olive in his mouth.  "The first time I had one like that, I was too stuff to eat anymore about halfway through."

She looked at the food with raised eyebrows. It was fare such as she wasn't sure she'd had before. Certainly not what looked like olives. She picked one up and popped it into her mouth.... and immediately made a face. The texture of it grossed her out as did the flavor. But Karen did not want to be rude, so she swallowed the offending fruit and washed it down with her drink, whatever that was. It seemed that olives were just not for her, for she went for a piece of salami instead as well as some bread. "She did a wonderful job, as did the others," she said.

She listened to his story as he spoke and she curled her lips upward at him.

Lorn saw her face and hid a smile.  "Not everyone likes them."  He whispered leaning toward her, so she wouldn't think it was important to him.  He reached over to pick up those on her plate and sneaked them onto his own plate with a wink. 

"The meat is always better."  He added slipping a few of his own slices over to her plate in trade for the olives.  "Heidi and I do that when there is something in her dish she doesn't like but I do."  It wasn't polite behavior but she already knew he was not the typical gentleman.  Though in a fancy event he is invited to, he would not do such things.

"How was your day?"  He asked popping another olive into his mouth.

"Thank ye," she said with a giggle. "I did try it, though." It had the weirdest aftertaste, tangy and salty, but not in a way she liked at all. She ate some of the meat and sighed, "Oh, this is lovely." Her eyes twinkled as she peered at him. "I had a lovely day but it is now lovelier because of ye, Lorn," she murmured softly and reached over to touch his arm easily. She gave a slight smile as she peered at him.

"Thank ye for comin' ta get me with the carriage," even though she could have easily walked to the house. He had seemed to want to make the evening special for her. He was succeeding. Karen was pretty sure that she was starting to fall for Lorn, for her heart thumped in a way that she wondered if he could hear the beating.

"Oh yes, I like that kind of meat.  It is great for picnics and just to munch on.  I made sure that we keep it here."  He commented taking a slice himself.  Then while he listens to her response, he took a bit of the bread and dipped it in the oil and vinegar mixture with some herbs hovering in the liquid. 

"If I plan to court you properly, I wanted to treat you right when it is a formal kind of evening."  He winked.  "Actually, I just wanted to spoil you a bit.  Set me apart from those in your past a bit."  He admitted.  He knew she had fallen in love with other men, and one a really good man (the father of the twins, he figured) and one that all talk and no action.  He would not try to take away a memory of the good one, but he wanted to create new memories that she would hold in her heart.

He gave her a look, hoping she would not think he was showing off, but wanted to show her what she was worth to him.  He took a bite of the bread he had dipped in the oil mixture.

"I've never seen such a fine dining room," she admitted, "not even in the manor I worked at before I met me husband." She did what he did and dipped some bread into the vinegar mixture, and she nibbled daintily. Her eyes roamed over his face as he talked and they ate together. "This is delicious," she said, indicating the mixture she had just tried. "Does Miss Cora know how ta make Scotch Eggs?" she asked then, knowing that if the answer was no, she would have to change that because it was her favorite thing besides fruit.

"If ye plan to court me properly..." she echoed and then said, "Lorn, ye are wooin' me just fine." She gave a throaty laugh and set her hand on his arm, gazing at him with a smile on her face.

Lorn looked around and thought about his family ranch back home in Texas.  "We have a huge dining room back home in Texas, but as much Mom tries to make it fancy the light that comes in and heat makes things fade fast.  Once we got established there, Mom started adding fancy-looking things to be more like the home country.  I was too little when we left Denmark.  I think 5."  He thought of what he now remembered (there for a while he had blocked the traumatic memories) why they had left to start over in the US with a frown of sadness then continued, "So, I don't remember what the home country looked like, and only vague memories of what the house had looked like before it burned down."

Looking at his own dining room, he smiled at Karen.  "I just told the decorators that I liked deep blue and liked stained wood and mahogany and let them go with it. So if you like it, I guess they did great." Taking another bite of the meat, he nodded at the oil mixture.  "I like it too.  It is an unusual taste, but wakes up the taster."  He winked dipping another bit of bread in his own.

"Scotch eggs?  If that is that egg wrapped around with sausage, I've had them when I dropped off some of the horse out somewhere.  I liked them.  I don't know if Miss Cora has made them here though.  I was going to tell her about them when I got home, but I don't know if I ever mentioned them to her or not."

When Karen put her hand on his arm, he smiled glad she felt that way.  He dipped another bit of the bread and leaned over to offer to feed it to her.  

Once they finish as much as they wished, and Lorn motioned to Mrs. Pearson, who was standing just outside the door to the path to the kitchen waiting for just such cues, the maids came back in one carrying a silver tray holding two bowls of a light Mushroom broth and the other an empty tray to take away the other things.  One maid laid the tray with the broth on the table, then moved behind Karen from the right and took her 1st-course items and put them on the tray the other maid held, and then repeated the same process with Lorn.  Then the tray was laid down as the other maid picked up the tray with the soup bowls.  Again starting with Karen, the now empty-handed maid moved the bowl from the tray the other maid held and put it in front of Karen's place and repeated it with Lorn.  The steaming broth had a very earthy rich aroma and some thin slices of mushrooms here and there and a bit of some herb could be seen peeking there at the edges of the bowl.

She nodded when he spoke about his old home and such, then took the offered piece of bread into her mouth slowly. "Mmm," she hummed and gazed at him from beneath lowered lashes. When the next course was brought, she saw mushrooms floating in a soup. Karen dipped her spoon into her bowl, then took a bite. Again, she made a little bit of a face. It was delicious but the texture of the mushrooms reminded her of the olives. Even still, at least she could get past it.

"This is delicious," she said honestly.