“Quite right,” Lord Kinloch put in. “And enough of your die-away airs, Melissa. Poor Colin will begin to wonder why he ever married you.”
That unfortunate comment unsurprisingly caused a bit of a kerfuffle. Ainsley and Lady Kinloch soothed Melissa’s ruffled nerves, and Lord Kinloch herded the rest of them toward the dining room.
“Rather like a flock of poorly behaved sheep,” Royal said to Kade as they followed the others. “I believe the Stewart family is almost as bad as our family.”
“That is beyond the limits of natural law,” Kade replied. “Since they have neither Angus nor the twins.”
“Ho,” Angus retorted. “No sass from ye. Now, make sure ye sit next to Miss Charlie. Ye’ll nae be wantin’ to let booby Campbell get a march on you.”
Royal shot Kade a startled glance. “Oh, is that the way the wind blows?”
“Only in our grandfather’s fevered brain,” he replied.
Angus snorted. “I ken what I ken, and so does Ainsley.”
“Ainsley hasn’t said a word to me,” Royal said. “Of course, we’ve been rather busy with other matters. It’s not often we get a chance to spend time away from the little ones, if you catch my meaning.”
“If I didn’t, your smirk would have tipped me off,” Kade replied.
“Papa, you shouldn’t talk about such things in company,” said Tira, from behind them.
Royal winced, then turned to smile at his daughter, who’d seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Tira obviously shared the Kendrick trait for sneaking up on others with nary a sound.
“There you are, sweetheart,” he said. “I didn’t know you were joining us for dinner.”
“Mamma said I could, because it’s just family now. And don’t worry, Papa. I won’t tell her that you were making in . . . innuendos.”
“Good for you, lassie,” Angus said with approval. “Yer never too young to be practicin’ the family code.”
Royal sighed. “Angus, thereisno family code.”
“Yes there is, Papa,” Tira earnestly replied. “Grandda’s been teaching me all about it.”
“Well, that’s alarming,” said Kade.
Royal narrowed his gaze on Angus. “What, exactly, have you been teaching my daughter?”
“If ye dinna ken, then yer a sad excuse for a Kendrick,” Angus replied in a lofty tone.
Kade held out his hand to Tira. “Come sit with me, sweet lass. I want to hear all about your day.”
Angus scowled at him. “Yer supposed to be sittin’ next to Miss Charlie.”
“Too late,” Kade replied as they walked into the dining room.
Booby Campbell had already taken his place.
Charlie sat halfway down the long, polished table, with Richard on one side and smarmy Sir Leslie Morgan on the other. She didn’t look happy about it, but her mother had clearly engineered the seating arrangements.
Ainsley waved them over and did a bit of engineering herself. Kade found himself seated directly across from Charlie and flanked by his sister-in-law and Tira. Charlie glanced left and right at her dinner partners before fixing her gaze on Kade and wrinkling her nose.
He covered up his laugh with a cough as he reached for his napkin.
Tira yanked on his sleeve, pulling him down so she could whisper in his ear. “I think Miss Charlie likes you, Uncle Kade.”
“I hope so. After all, I’m a very likable fellow. Everyone says so.”
“Not Mr. Campbell. He thinks you’re a pompous ass.”
