His face twisted with suspicion before he shook his headno. “Not sure the rest is for a female’s ears, if you’ll pardon me. Men’s business, you see.”
She eyed him with a glint that would’ve adorned any female’s eye who’d been subject to such a statement from a boy hardly out of short pants. “Shall I ask him myself?”
“Oh, no, ma’am!” He drew back. “That won’t do.”
“Well?” She raised her brows expectantly and then nearly laughed out loud at his mulish expression. “You don’thaveto tell me, I suppose.” She folded her hands in her lap. “Although clarification would doubtless, ah, reassure me, too.”
Delmare sighed. “It’s like this,” he said. “Life has many dangers and facing them is often necessary. The only way a man can hope to be safe, and to protect those he loves, is to cultivate strength and braveryon the inside,” he emphasized the words, “where he cannot be touched.That’swhat he meant by us being safe. We’re safe as we can be, because he’s constantly ready—on the inside.”
“Where he cannot be touched...” She echoed in astonishment.
“He shared his rules, too. There’s three.” Delmare counted the rules on his fingers. “Keep your friends close. Your secrets closer. And stay closed, coiled, and ready to strike.”
Instinctively, she adverted her face as if she’d peered inside a box she did not own—one she was forbidden to touch.
“Did your uncle’s...ah...philosophy scare you?” she asked carefully.
“Go on,” he scoffed. “Why should it have scared me? I understood well enough. I don’t have secrets, anyway.” He turned back to the window. “And Icanbe ready, at any time, to strike.”
With that, he resumed his sweeping scour of the countryside.
She wasn’t sure what to think. Part of her wanted to box the duke’s ears for painting such a bleak picture for so young a child. Although “the child” would be off to school soon enough, and she knew too well the kind of views he’d encounter there.
She supposed an inner sense of stability—ifthat was what he meant by his words—couldn’t hurt. And...did she not approach life in a similar fashion? What did she always remind herself when she was afraid?
You just feel like you are going to break apart. You won’t. You can’t.
“Youarestrong and brave, Lord Delmare. And you were very good to keep yourself and your sister quietly hidden in the carriage.”
He glanced back over his shoulder. “Naturally, I would have rather helped corral the lion, but my duty was to protect Fee.” He shook his head with a conspiratorially knowing expression. “No tellingwhatmischief she would have gotten into without me there to keep watch.”
Hera’s lips quirked. “How lucky she is to have such a fine, big brother.” And how lucky Delmare was to have a sister that would always do her utmost to keep his tendency toward imperiousness in check.
Delmare set down his telescope, hoped back up on the bench across from her and studied her with an alarming intensity. “Do you have a brother, Mrs. Montrose?”
“No.” She simplified a rather complicated reply. Not exactly a brother.
“Who is your protector, then?”
“Ah,my protectoris not quite the phrase you’re seeking...”
Knowing he did not understand the more salacious connotation of his words, she thought better of giving him a blunt scold, which would only embarrass the boy.
“...But don’t worry, love. I assure you; I am strong and brave on the inside, too. I require no protection.”
Delmare’s frown deepened. “Iwill be your brother, then.”
Her heart melted for her little knight errant. “Thank you, Delmare. I’mmostbeholden. But I’m afraid we cannot choose our family.”
“Uncle Heven chose Papa as a brother. Uncle Chev—I mean Ithwick—too. Papa told me so. If they can choose each other as brothers, I can choose you as a sister.” The set of his chin proved he was not going to be moved on the point.
“Uncle Heven” hadchosenhis brothers? An odd idea. Then again, the night she’d dined with Hurtheven, Ithwick and Ashbey in the garden at Wisterley, theyhadseemed more like family than friends.
A strange tickle gathered in her throat—a heavy cloud of longing threatening to condense, precipitating tears.
Good lord, these last few days had turned her into a watering pot.Breathe. These people, how they related...they were none of her concern. But, oh, what an idea—that one could simply create the comfort and security of a family unit if one had none.
Or at least none one could count on.
