“And therefore, I can’t enjoy a well-read story by a pretty lady?”
“Must you flirt with everyone?” Forrest whispered, his tone testy.
“Saying someone is pretty is not flirting if I do not say it to her face.” Zach looked smug.
“Will you shut up and go away.”
“Excellent! We have arrived just in time for a story,” Zach said, loud enough for those inside to hear.
Forrest had little choice but to follow him into the room. He would, however, make him pay later.
The nursery had been redecorated with the arrival of Forrest and Ella into the Deville brothers’ household. They had traveled from India, where he’d spent most of his life, to find his four then-unmarried cousins. They had embraced the Howarths without hesitation and been happy to have a child enter their home. Even with the departure of Gabe to his and Dimity’s new home, the three remaining Devilles were happy as things were.
Of course, two more of his cousins were to wed, and they needed to discuss that further. Forrest would not have his family displaced because of him. Gabe had insisted, but with two more of his brothers gone, things would be different.
“Hello, Ella, your favorite uncle is here.”
Ella giggled. She sat on the floor beside Miss Knight, when there were two perfectly suitable chairs not more than a foot away.
Light from the window behind them settled on their heads. He likened Miss Knight’s hair to sunset shot through with gold. The sun seemed to turn it different colors.
“Can we stay for the story, please?” Zach asked.
Miss Knight shot Forrest a look, expression closed, and then turned to look at Zach and smiled, flashing her dimples. Why that made him angry, he had no idea, but something about this woman made him react as he never had before.
Knowing she was in the house was unsettling, like a cat with wet fur. She was an insect under his skin. He felt the constant need to check on her or watch her leave the house in the evening. He was constantly asking Ella if she was happy with Miss Knight. The answer to that was a resounding yes from his daughter.
She loved Ruby, as she called her. In fact, Forrest was the only member of his family who called her Miss Knight. Why, again, he had no idea.
“Of course. We are readingRapunzel,” she said in that soft, lilting voice of hers.
And that was another thing. He’d not heard her be anything but sweet natured. No shrieking, terse words, nothing. He should be happy about that; instead he wondered about her. Surely it wasn’t natural to be so sunny natured all the time.
“One of my favorites,” Zach drawled, joining Ella and Miss Knight on the floor.
“Papa, come and sit.” Ella patted the space beside her.
He sat feeling awkward as he did so, unsure if he should stretch his legs out like Zach or raise them. Miss Knight shot him another look and then began reading.
In minutes he was lost in the world of Rapunzel. Zach was right, her voice was magical. Forrest wasn’t sure how long they sat there, but he knew he didn’t want to leave.
She was totally absorbed in the book, her focus completely on the words. Ella moved to him and draped herself over his legs, and he loved her solid little weight in his lap.
Each word was spoken with care, and Miss Knight used different voices for different characters.
She’d been permitted to use the extensive library here and told she may take books home. He’d watched her night after night go home with books. Cake, too; she always left the house with cake or biscuits in her hand.
“Sorry for the interruption, but if I could have a word?” Nathanial Deville appeared in the doorway. “Good day to you all.” He was looking at Zach and Forrest, and there was a sense of urgency about him.
“Hello, Uncle Nathan.”
“Hello, darling. I’m just taking your father and Uncle Zach away for a while. Is that okay?”
His daughter smiled. “I have Ruby, so yes.”
They excused themselves, and the tension he always felt in the company of Miss Knight eased.
Nathan was the fiery Deville brother, or he had been. He could still be teased into snapping, but it was rarer than it had been when Forrest first entered the household. Another variation of his brothers, Nathan was to marry Bethany Carlow, the woman he had always loved. Theirs had been a turbulent courtship, but finally they had found their way back to each other. They would marry soon, and another Deville would be off the marriage market, to the horror of the single women in society.
