Hadn’t he just gone inside?
“Aunt Anne! The lake!” Indira called out—or it may have been Eleanor. At that moment, arms windmilling at her sides, Anne was too busy trying to slow her descent to discern which twin had shouted the warning.
As if she didn’t see the lake growing ever closer!
Lord Manning turned toward the commotion, then waved his arms at his daughters.
The two girls scampered out of Anne’s way.
He held out his hands toward her as if the mere motion would slow her down. “Stop!”
Oh, God. She was going to fall into the lake!
With the water mere feet away, he raced sideways and, grabbing hold of her, threw her to the ground.
“Oomph!” Air whooshed from Anne’s lungs as the viscount’s full weight landed on top of her.
A lock of dark-auburn hair fell over his forehead. His nose an inch from hers, he stared down at her. He had the loveliest green eyes. The color of...seafoam?
Before she could ponder the color further, he rolled off her. He stood and brushed off his trousers. “Forgive me. But I didn’t know if you could swim, and had I not intervened, you would have surely landed in the water.”
For the second time in less than an hour, he held out his hand to help her off the ground. At least that time, she didn’t have to ask. But once again, the heated charge rushing through her as his fingers closed around hers made her head spin.
She cleared her throat and gathered her wits. “I can swim, and surely it’s not that deep.”
“Deep or not, you would have ruined that gown or come out looking like a drowned rat.”
The nerve!“I take umbrage at that remark, sir. It’s most ungentlemanly to refer to a lady as a drowned rat!”
He lifted one—very broad—shoulder in an insouciant shrug. “A wilted lily, then?” The sly uptick at the corner of his lips set hereven more on edge.
“Are you mocking me, sir?”
“Not at all. I’m merely trying to find a suitable description you won’t find offensive. However, it’s a moot point since you, in fact, did not fall into the lake.” He paused, a grin breaking across his face. “Thanks to me.”
Having joined them not long after Lord Manning had unceremoniously thrown her to the ground, Indira and Eleanor watched with wide eyes, and the other two girls giggled.
“Papa, you’re like a knight in shining armor,” the youngest of the girl quartet said. A tiny thing, she seemed frail, with huge dark eyes and chestnut curls that framed her heart-shaped face.
Anne didn’t have the heart to inform the little cherub that her father was nothing like a knight. Instead, she smiled indulgently. “And what might your name be?”
“Forgive me,” Lord Grumpy-Trousers said. “In my haste to rescue you from a watery demise, I’ve forgotten my manners. Permit me to make the introductions. Miss Anne Weatherby, my daughters. Cassandra is my eldest, and this waif is Elinor.”
The affection shining in his eyes mingled with a sadness that squeezed Anne’s heart.
“She has red hair like yours and Aunt Honoria, Papa,” the older girl said. Sturdier than Elinor, Cassandra had the same chestnut hair and large brown eyes as her sister. She executed a perfect curtsy. “Pleased to meet you, Miss Weatherby. You may call me Cassie. Only Papa calls me Cassandra, and only when he’s angry.”
“So often, then?” Anne said and shot the disagreeable man a smirk.
The man had the temerity to look affronted.
Anne ignored him and addressed the younger girl. “And I understand most people call you Ellie?”
“Yes, miss.” The girl cocked her head, studying Anne as if she were an exhibit in a stuffy museum. “I like your freckles.”
Heat scalded Anne’s cheeks, and she resisted the urge to cover them, especially since Lord I’m-a-Knight’s assessing gaze locked on her.
A shadow of a smile played across his lips. How dare he enjoyher embarrassment! The cad. No doubt he compared her to titled ladies—and found her lacking.
