“They are—” Sébastien started.
“Young ladies who you will treat with the utmost respect.” He warned.
Millie’s and Lillie’s expressions turned to one of pure satisfaction at his son’s discomfort. Millie stuck out the tip of her tongue in his son’s direction. Sébastien’s eyes widened in shock, until he looked toward Lillie, who mimicked her sister, and he turned toward Simon to tattle. Simon shook his head in response and Sébastien rolled his eyes.
“You have a very important visitor coming in a few minutes, my lord,” Caillen informed him, as if she had been the one to schedule his doctor’s visit.
“Are you going to kill him, too, and send him to Davey Jone’s locker, Guv?” Millie asked, or perhaps it was Lillie.
“Address the earl as, my lord,” Caillen corrected.
“Are ye going to kill ‘im too,my lord?” The other twin asked.
He studied the two girls, looking for something to be able to tell them apart. He really couldn’t see any major differences in their features. “If he delivers bad news, I just might.”
“Cor!” They said in unison. They turned toward Caillen. “Can we stay?”
Caillen was fighting to keep her mask of propriety. “I’m afraid not, girls. It wouldn’t be ladylike, and please refrain from using that word.”
“Awwww.” Their bottom lips stuck out.
“I’ll refrain from killing anyone until you are present,” he promised.
“Cor! Did you ‘ear that Sébastien? ‘E’s going to wait ’til we come back, so we won’t miss the killin’!”
Caillen shook her head. “Don’t encourage them, Simon.”
Simon.She’d used his Christian name. Something in his chest swelled, but he refused to give it a name.
Sébastien shook his head at such a tale. “He’s not going to kill anyone. He’s not that manner of man.”
Caillen didn’t give the girls the opportunity to argue. “Run along children. Your tutor will be waiting for you.”
The girls ran past Sébastien, one hitting one arm and the other hitting his opposite arm.
Sébastien looked at him in disbelief and Simon gave him a commiserating nod the boy would soon be sharing with other boys his age.
Sébastien rolled his eyes once more and turned around, his head and shoulders swinging with exasperation at his lot in life.
A snort came from the direction of his washstand and he turned to see Caillen holding her hand over her mouth. Her cheeks were the rosiest pink he’d seen since the night he’d met her and mistakenly believed she was at Ross’s house as their entertainment for the evening. How foolish he’d been to think that he would ever share this woman with anyone.
Her eyes met his and her laughter ceased.
“Don’t stop on my account.”
“It was an inappropriate response to their lack of discipline.”
“You’ve seen my mother discipline my siblings and not be able to hold her laughter through the first sentence of her lecture.”
She smirked as she apparently did recall the chaos of his family home, and hope sprung to life. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d said a prayer for her smile to return while she recovered at his family home. The brutality of Caillen’s attack had been his first real exposure to the evils of men. He’dassisted another woman who had suffered at the hands of a lord, but despite the scar to her face, it had been nearly healed when he learned of her plight.
But the brutality Caillen had suffered…
It had left her merely staring into nothingness for months, her essence stripped away from her body. Even while his siblings created a cacophony of noise all around her, she had been stoic and he’d prayed that one day she would actually enjoy the moments of gaiety in his household. Watching Caillen at his family home, however, had made his family’s joyous routine at the breakfast table heartbreakingly painful. Day after day, he’d observed her nibble a piece of toast like an expressionless little mouse. The only hint of her awareness of anyone else in the room was when she would flinch if someone got too close.
The one time his brother had bumped up against her, when he’d jumped from the table to chase their younger brother, Caillen had fallen apart.
That was the day that determined his path to France. Now a renewed sense of hope swelled inside him.
