Ether & Elephants by Cindy Spencer Pape Page B

trusting Mrs. Ritchie to be close behind with the sandwiches.
    Nell watched Roger’s eyes widen as he walked into a room dominated by a veritable army of tall redheads, all of whom stood when they entered. Roger wasn’t a small man, but all the men in Nell’s world were larger than life, and so were some of the women. Nell’s sister, Winifred Hadrian McCullough, cried Nell’s name and launched herself off a sofa to enfold Nell in her arms. Afterward, she gave Tom a thump on the shoulder. “Thought you were working. What are you doing here?”
    “He is helping me find a missing student.” Nell raised her voice and put just a touch of compulsion into it. It wasn’t playing fair to use her power, but neither was being the only tiny person in a room full of giants. “Now everyone settle down. I have someone I’d like you to meet.”
    The others went quiet and backed away enough for Nell to see all their faces. “Everyone, I’d like you to meet Mr. Roger Braithwaite, of Sussex, once a soldier, until recently a teacher at the Glenbury School and now a landowner—and my future husband.”
    Roger took the hand Nell extended toward him and gave a small bow to the company. “Delighted to meet all of you.” He looked helplessly at Nell for introductions.
    “I should start in order of rank, which would mean Victor, because he’s the earl,” Nell said. “But in this case, I’d like you to meet my sister first. Winifred, Lady McCullough.”
    Wink studied Roger from head to toe as if he were an insect pinned to a board, but she smiled warmly and took his hand. “Call me Wink, please. It’s wonderful to meet you, Roger. Nell’s happiness matters so much to all of us.”
    “As it should.” Roger smiled back, showing more spine than Nell had originally given him credit for. “I plan to do everything in my power to ensure her happiness for the rest of my days.”
    “Now—” Nell couldn’t quite feel comfortable with such blatant declarations, especially not yet, when it was so new. “The rest of this bunch belong to the MacKay clan, in one form or another. Again, in order of connection rather than rank, may I please present Tom’s closest friend, Sir Connor MacKay. Then this is Connor’s older sister, Geneva, Baroness Findlay and their father, Sir Fergus MacKay, who’s a colleague of Papa’s.” Fergus and Connor were two peas in a pod—both imposing, powerful men with piercing blue eyes and dark red hair—though Fergus’s was streaked with a liberal amount of silver. Geneva was not quite as tall, but had the dark red hair and a sturdy figure. “And finally, your host, the Earl of Blackwell. Victor is married to Connor’s twin, Melody. I take it she and the others are already asleep?”
    Roger mouthed Others? with a fleeting look of dread.
    Victor chuckled. “Aye. Melody is expecting again so she’s always tired, and her mother went up with her. Belinda was just exhausted after wrangling the twins with Connor on the airship trip here.”
    Melody could see Roger mentally counting, his face paling at the sheer numbers.
    “I suggested tying them to their seats, but she wouldn’t listen,” Connor said with a wry grin. He poured whisky for Tom and Roger, and a sherry for Nell. “So of course they kept us both running after them the whole time we were in the air. Thank the gods it was a closed viewing deck. If it had been open, I would have tied them down.”
    Victor shuddered. “I don’t envy you twins, old man. One at a time is difficult enough.”
    “Just remember that it runs in the family,” his father-in-law reminded him. “You married a twin. You’re not out of the woods yet.”
    Victor took a long pull from his drink. “I know.”
    Geneva sighed. “At least there were two of you. I had to cope on my own.” Her husband Magnus rarely traveled from their home in the Hebrides.
    “Likewise,” Wink said. “I know I only have one offspring, but I hate traveling without Liam. I can never seem