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William glanced at Pippa, his blue eyes steady and far too close. She reminded herself to breathe. Perhaps she’d been too hard on Lily earlier. The woman was somewhat justified in her quick change of opinion regarding their new neighbor. But Pippa wouldn’t allow herself to fall into his trap. A man who would flirt so frivolously with a woman he’d only just met was not the sort of man for her.
Pippa, embarrassingly enough, had been quite stricken herself when she’d first laid eyes on the gentleman. But time and space had reminded her of the importance of knowing a man’s heart. She could stay strong in the face of such handsomeness.
“I didn’t mean to make her fall,” James said again, the squirming crab still in his grip. “I only wished to frighten her.”
“Of course you didn’t intend for her to fall.” William looked up from where he crouched beside Elinor. “It is a brother’s duty to cause havoc, and a sister’s duty to retaliate.” He turned his attention to Elinor. “Perhaps with a frog later in his best shoes?”
“There will be no frogs in anyone’s shoes,” Pippa said sternly. She sounded exactly like Mabel, and the realization of that gave her pause.
William lowered his voice. “We’ll plan our attack when your aunt is otherwise occupied, eh?”
Elinor gave a watery giggle, nodding up at William, and James laughed, though it was his shoes whose demise was being plotted. William lifted Elinor in his arms easily and turned for the beach.
“Leave the crab,” Pippa said when James moved to follow them.
He frowned, setting the crab back on the slick rocks, and it scurried sideways until it found a pool to hide in.
“Will you direct me toward your house?” William asked, and Elinor nodded in his arms.
James ran ahead of him toward the foot of the path up the hill. “I can show you the way to go.”
“I know how to direct him home, James!” Elinor argued. “I am the one he asked.”
James glanced back at his sister and paused, very likely weighing his guilt with the desire to lead their procession. “Very well.” He allowed William to pass and followed close behind them.
Pippa crossed the beach to retrieve William’s coat. She draped it over her arm and lifted the hem of her skirt to climb the sloping pathway to the top of the rise. Camden Court wasn’t too far from the cove, which was how they shared a name. Though William didn’t appear tired from this distance, she imagined it wouldn’t be easy to carry Elinor too far.
William and James waited for Pippa at the top of the rise, standing on the cliffside and looking out over the sea. Her breathing was labored from the climb, and she caught William looking at the coat in her arms.
“Thank you,” he said.
She was taken aback by the polite gratitude in his tone. “Of course. You are carrying something precious to me. I didn’t wish to leave your coat at the mercy of the—”
“Birds?”
“I intended to say wind, but yes, I suppose the birds were something of a danger as well.”
His eyes sparkled as he turned down the lane toward Camden Court, following James. Pippa fell in step beside him.
“Those birds. Such troublesome creatures.” He glanced at her sideways, his voice deceptively innocent. “Tell me, why were you chasing birds again? Are you a student of ornithology?”
Heat bled up Pippa’s neck, and she averted her gaze. He was referring to her flimsy excuse for climbing the tree near his cottage.
“Pippa wasn’t chasing birds,” Elinor said matter-of-factly between quiet sobs. “She was protecting your coat from them.”
“Ah, of course,” he said, as though he’d misunderstood. He shot Pippa a brief conspiratorial look, and she fought down the rising tide of warmth in her chest.
Oh, good heavens. She hadn’t survived an entire Season of handsome men giving her attention with her heart intact to now fall victim to the charms of a charismatic fop.
Well, he wasn’t a fop. He simply looked good in everything he wore.
Sweeping past William, Elinor, and James, Pippa crossed through the tree-lined entry to Camden Court and straight toward the stone house, ignoring the pleasant feel of William’s eyes on her back.
