“For pity’s sake, Gabe, smile,” Michael said. “She will be all right, and many get sick when carrying a child.”
“And you know all about this how?” Gabe glared at him.
“I hear things. And I, like the others, am heartily sick of the scowl that seems a permanent fixture on your face these days.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, I have someone attempting to end my life. Plus, I am reading the paper. There is no need to smile while doing so. And I have not been scowling.”
Where is the bloody coffee!
“You’ve had a sour countenance for days, and we know someone is after you, however, is a permanent scowl required?”
It was her fault, of course. He could think of nothing but ravishing Dimity Brown again. She superseded even his frustrations over not locating Ombrage.
“It’s not permanent, only when I look at you lot,” Gabe muttered.
“An urgent note has arrived, Lord Raine.”
“Thank you, Fairfax.” He took the paper and opened it.
“Well, what does it say?” Zach asked him with his mouth full.
“Just a moment, I’ll wipe the food that flew out your full mouth while you were talking off the paper, and see if I can read it,” Gabe said, shaking open the note.
“You are so dramatic.”
“And you are a heathen. Good Lord,” Gabe added, scanning the words on the note.
“What?” Nathan asked, instantly alert. “Is it Ombrage?”
“No. Do you remember mother’s sister, Aunt Matilda?”
His brothers all frowned. Zach shook his head, possibly because he’d been too young when she’d left with her husband for India.
“Short, with a really annoyingly high-pitched voice?” Nathan said. “But sweet-natured, if I remember rightly. The memory is vague, as I was young when she left.”
“The very one.”
“We have an aunt called Matilda?” Zach asked. “How come I don’t know this?”
Gabe shrugged. “I thought you knew. We never speak of them because they left so many years ago. You were still a sweet-natured babe who hung on my every word.”
“If you spoke anything worth hanging on to, I still would.”
“Yes, it was long before you grew up… well, sort of,” Michael added.
Zach rolled his eyes.
“Aunt Matilda married a soldier. After Forrest was born, he was stationed in India, and that is where they have lived since,” Gabe said.
“Forrest?” Zach asked.
“Your cousin.”
“I have another cousin?”
They ignored him.
“And that note says what?” Nathan asked.
