a name like that and dimensions to match, but she was very merry.”
“Shall we invite her out to the country with us?” Worth had to admit the chicken was delicious, and with a serviette wrapped around one end, not so very messy.
“We shall not,” Yolanda said as she sketched. “She’s been engaged to some viscount since she was a child, and association with the likes of me would not do.”
“Your brother is a perishing earl.” Worth waved his chicken leg for emphasis. “Why not associate with you?”
“Your moose,” Yolanda said, passing the sketch over to her niece. “He’s a grand fellow, nigh as big as Goliath, and he lives in the Canadian woods.”
“My goodness, he looks like a cross between a cow and a deer, but what a nose he has!”
Worth peeked over Avery’s shoulder.
“You are talented,” he said. “Talent is worth money, you know. I have a client who will make a tidy living painting portraits, a very tidy living. You should develop your art, Yolanda.”
“Drawing is one thing they let you do,” she said, tucking the pencil behind her ear.
“They let you do?” Worth set aside the chicken bone, for he’d eaten every scrap of meat on it.
“When you’re on room restriction at school, you have your school supplies to entertain you, but only those, so I drew a great deal. Avery, will you eat every bite of that potato salad?”
Avery made Yolanda earn her salad by teaching her a half-dozen German words. Yolanda made Avery try to copy the moose, with comic results. All in all, it was a pleasurable, nutritious way for Worth to pass an hour with his…family, out of doors. On that thought, he pushed back to sit on his heels.
“My dears, I must away to impersonate a country squire. While I’m chatting up the neighbors, I can ask if any ponies are going begging in the surrounds.”
“Oh, Uncle!” Avery’s jubilation at the prospect of a pony knew no linguistic bounds, but Yolanda merely smiled at her niece and toyed with a bite of cheese.
“Yolanda? What say you? Shall we find you a gallant steed so you can canter about the countryside and turn all the lads’ heads?”
Yolanda studied her cheese. “Good heavens, no, thank you. I’ve heard regular riding can make a girl’s figure lopsided.”
“So we’ll teach you to drive,” Worth suggested, “or fit you out with a left-side saddle and a right-side saddle, and you can alternate.”
“That’s what I shall do,” Avery interjected. “I shall ride with Uncle every day.”
Worth drew a finger down her nose. “No, you shall not. This is England, and it rains too frequently for daily hacks. Well, think about it, Yolanda. I must call upon the neighbors, many of whom are possessed of offspring whose acquaintance you should make. We’ll be here for months, and I can’t have the two of you growing lonely or bored.”
Particularly not when Yolanda had been both at her fancy school.
He got to his feet and made for the coach house, but the meal, surprisingly pleasant though it had been, had left him more convinced than ever that Yolanda was hiding a great deal.
* * *
Hess Kettering, more rightly, Hessian Pierpont Kettering, Earl of Grampion, perused the first correspondence he’d received from his baby brother in five years.
Get your lordly arse down to Trysting before Michaelmas or I’ll send Yolanda home on a mail coach.
“You’ll go, won’t you?” Lady Evers’s eyes held concern, but only the concern of a friend. They’d tried a dalliance years ago, but neither of them had put any heart into it, and the friendship remained. Now she was spending a pretty summer morning in his library, sipping tea with him at his desk, and fretting over him—to a friendly degree.
“Worth is telling me the girl is safe with him for at least another few months,” Hess said, “maybe even asking me to give him those months, but he’s also issuing an invitation.”
“He’s hurting, Grampion. You’re head of the
“Shall we invite her out to the country with us?” Worth had to admit the chicken was delicious, and with a serviette wrapped around one end, not so very messy.
“We shall not,” Yolanda said as she sketched. “She’s been engaged to some viscount since she was a child, and association with the likes of me would not do.”
“Your brother is a perishing earl.” Worth waved his chicken leg for emphasis. “Why not associate with you?”
“Your moose,” Yolanda said, passing the sketch over to her niece. “He’s a grand fellow, nigh as big as Goliath, and he lives in the Canadian woods.”
“My goodness, he looks like a cross between a cow and a deer, but what a nose he has!”
Worth peeked over Avery’s shoulder.
“You are talented,” he said. “Talent is worth money, you know. I have a client who will make a tidy living painting portraits, a very tidy living. You should develop your art, Yolanda.”
“Drawing is one thing they let you do,” she said, tucking the pencil behind her ear.
“They let you do?” Worth set aside the chicken bone, for he’d eaten every scrap of meat on it.
“When you’re on room restriction at school, you have your school supplies to entertain you, but only those, so I drew a great deal. Avery, will you eat every bite of that potato salad?”
Avery made Yolanda earn her salad by teaching her a half-dozen German words. Yolanda made Avery try to copy the moose, with comic results. All in all, it was a pleasurable, nutritious way for Worth to pass an hour with his…family, out of doors. On that thought, he pushed back to sit on his heels.
“My dears, I must away to impersonate a country squire. While I’m chatting up the neighbors, I can ask if any ponies are going begging in the surrounds.”
“Oh, Uncle!” Avery’s jubilation at the prospect of a pony knew no linguistic bounds, but Yolanda merely smiled at her niece and toyed with a bite of cheese.
“Yolanda? What say you? Shall we find you a gallant steed so you can canter about the countryside and turn all the lads’ heads?”
Yolanda studied her cheese. “Good heavens, no, thank you. I’ve heard regular riding can make a girl’s figure lopsided.”
“So we’ll teach you to drive,” Worth suggested, “or fit you out with a left-side saddle and a right-side saddle, and you can alternate.”
“That’s what I shall do,” Avery interjected. “I shall ride with Uncle every day.”
Worth drew a finger down her nose. “No, you shall not. This is England, and it rains too frequently for daily hacks. Well, think about it, Yolanda. I must call upon the neighbors, many of whom are possessed of offspring whose acquaintance you should make. We’ll be here for months, and I can’t have the two of you growing lonely or bored.”
Particularly not when Yolanda had been both at her fancy school.
He got to his feet and made for the coach house, but the meal, surprisingly pleasant though it had been, had left him more convinced than ever that Yolanda was hiding a great deal.
* * *
Hess Kettering, more rightly, Hessian Pierpont Kettering, Earl of Grampion, perused the first correspondence he’d received from his baby brother in five years.
Get your lordly arse down to Trysting before Michaelmas or I’ll send Yolanda home on a mail coach.
“You’ll go, won’t you?” Lady Evers’s eyes held concern, but only the concern of a friend. They’d tried a dalliance years ago, but neither of them had put any heart into it, and the friendship remained. Now she was spending a pretty summer morning in his library, sipping tea with him at his desk, and fretting over him—to a friendly degree.
“Worth is telling me the girl is safe with him for at least another few months,” Hess said, “maybe even asking me to give him those months, but he’s also issuing an invitation.”
“He’s hurting, Grampion. You’re head of the
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