Her Longed-For Family. Jo Brown AnnЧитать онлайн книгу.
wrinkles. Miss Hyacinth was dressed, as always, in a subdued shade of purple, while Miss Ivy wore her favorite dark green coat. Otherwise, the elderly spinsters were identical. They were the first set of twins ever born in Porthlowen and lived together in the small cottage where they had been born.
“Boat,” Gil shouted, jumping and jerking on Lord Warrick’s arm.
“Not now, Gil.” Caroline smiled as the twins neared. “Good morning.” Their eyes were, she realized, focused on the man beside her. “Lord Warrick, have you met Miss Hyacinth Winwood and Miss Ivy Winwood?”
“Yes.” He bowed his head politely. “However, it is always a pleasure to have the opportunity to be introduced anew to two charming ladies.”
Miss Hyacinth giggled like a young girl. “He has a silver tongue, doesn’t he?”
“As the Bible says, ‘The tongue of the just is as choice silver,’” quoted Miss Ivy, “‘the heart of the wicked is little worth.’”
“Proverbs,” Miss Hyacinth said.
“Chapter 10.”
“Verse 20.” Miss Hyacinth clearly did not intend for her sister to have the final word. “One of our mother’s favorite verses.” Without a pause to take a breath, she asked, “Are you just, my lord?”
Miss Ivy frowned at her sister. “Are you suggesting he might be wicked?”
“Most certainly not.”
“But you asked him if he were just.”
“A jest, Ivy.”
Caroline decided the sisters, who could bounce a conversation between them endlessly, had said enough on the subject. “Lord Warrick is looking forward to having his family join him for Christmastide.”
“How wonderful!” Miss Hyacinth said. “Warrick Hall has been too empty too long. Your uncle seemed to prefer his own company to anyone else’s, which was a pity.”
“Filling a house with family is always wondrous.” Miss Ivy’s smile returned.
“The more, the merrier. Don’t I always say that, sister?”
“Indeed you do.”
“Lady Caroline, you must be looking forward to Christmas as you have not for such a long time.” Miss Hyacinth smiled, as well.
“With the children,” confirmed her sister as if Caroline might have misconstrued Miss Hyacinth’s meaning.
“What a blessing! They must be excited about Christmas.”
Caroline jumped in when the sisters paused to draw a breath. “I would say we adults are more excited. For the children, a year is an impossibly long time, so they have forgotten last Christmas.”
“And this is Miss Joy’s very first Christmas,” Lord Warrick added.
“The older children will get caught up in the celebrations of Advent once they begin.” She ruffled Gil’s hair.
“Boat,” he chirped.
The sisters glanced at one another quickly, then turned to Caroline with the same puzzled expressions. “Does he want a boat as a Christmas gift?”
“Maybe, but I think it is more likely he wishes to sail his boat in the cove. It has been several weeks since the weather was clement enough to allow the children near the water.”
“Boat!” Gil insisted, stamping his foot with impatience.
She handed Joy’s fingers off to Lord Warrick, then embraced Gil as the twins moved away to talk to others. The hug seemed to satisfy the little boy because he flung his short arms around her neck and squeezed her breath from her. She reached up to loosen his grip, but her hands brushed rough ones. Raising her eyes to meet Lord Warrick’s, she knew she could not have drawn a breath at that moment, even if Gil was not holding her tightly.
“You need to let Lady Caroline breathe,” the baron said with a laugh as he lifted Gil’s arms from her neck.
His skin, which was as coarse as a plowman’s, brushed hers above her collar. Closing her eyes, she savored the sensation that banished the day’s chill. The contact was inadvertent, she knew, and she should pay it no mind. Easily thought, impossible to do.
Coming to her feet, Caroline shook herself. She needed to be sensible. Featherbrained flirting and stolen touches were for young misses looking for husbands. She was neither a young miss, nor did she want to remarry. Too bad she could not convince her nerves that danced with delight. She needed to get them under control again.
Immediately.
* * *
Jacob kept his eyes on Joy, who was trying hard to walk, wobbling even while he held her hands. Gil marched like a small soldier in front of the baby, encouraging her to follow him.
“Should I thank you, my lady, for rescuing my ears from the Winwood sisters?” he asked.
“I seldom talk of someone else’s business,” Lady Caroline replied, “but nothing can change the subject for the Winwood twins more quickly than a tidbit of information they have not heard before.”
“I saw the results with my own eyes.” He chuckled as he raised his gaze to the uncertainty on her face. “And heard it with my own ears.”
“They mean well. They were among the first to welcome the children to Porthlowen.”
“After you and your family did.”
“Actually, I believe they were on the sand when the children were rescued, so they saw them before I did. Many of the villagers went to see what the commotion was.”
“But none of them saw who shoved the boat into the water?”
“No.”
He frowned. “That means someone or maybe multiple someones are lying.”
“Or not telling the whole truth.”
“What is the difference?”
“In this case, nothing.” She smiled. “I should know better than to discuss matters of logic with someone who taught at a university.”
Gil yelled with excitement as snow began to fall around them.
“Try this.” Jacob stuck out his tongue to capture a snowflake.
The little boy had a difficult time keeping his tongue stuck out because he giggled every few seconds. He ran around, bumping into people, until Lady Caroline called him to her side. He obeyed and kept his mouth open in case a snowflake fell into it.
When Lady Caroline frowned, Jacob said, “Don’t scold him for copying what I did.”
“I should scold you instead?”
“Nobody should be scolded. Every boy needs a few bad habits,” he said with a laugh. “It is only as we grow older that we have to become civilized and require tuition in how to become so. Speaking of lessons, when would you like me to come to Cothaire for our first one?”
She picked up Joy and cuddled her close. He liked how her face softened with love as she looked at the baby. A twinge cut through him as he thought of his promise to help discover the whereabouts of the children’s families. It was painful to imagine her happiness becoming grief when she had to return the children.
“That is your choice, my lord,” she said, drawing him from the uncertain future to the present. “You have many tasks while I am at loose ends. If it is more convenient, I can come to Warrick Hall.”
“Go Warrick!” Gil forgot about snow as he tugged on Jacob’s coat. “Cuddle kitties.”
Jacob arched his brows. “News does travel fast in Porthlowen.”
“He asked about the cat hair on me the other day.” She smiled an