“You were the ones who wanted me to play. I can’t make it too easy for you, can I?” He finished his question with a wink.
“Do you want to do it with a lady?” Ellie said, her face all innocence.
Colin fought a smile. “That would quite defeat the purpose of my wish.” Both girls sulked. “Do you give up?”
Cassie shook her head, chestnut curls bouncing around her shoulders. “Do you need anything special to do it? Like cards, a sword, or a horse?”
“You cheat! That’s too many questions!” Ellie complained, her bottom lip protruding comically.
“It’s my game.”
Good grief.How could a simple game become so contentious? God help him, he couldn’t understand the female sex, especially those of the younger variety. In his opinion, boys would have settled the matter in seconds, having laid out the rulesof the game at the beginning. If Margery were there, she would have the girls in hand in a trice.
Colin felt her absence keenly at such times. Not to mention the long nights alone in his bed. He missed her warmth and soft scent. Of course, during the last years of her life, he’d grown accustomed to sleeping alone. Both had agreed it was for the best, with Colin desiring her comfort and Margery his protection from her illness.
After a few more moments of bickering, Cassie remembered the game. “You didn’t answer, Papa. Do you need anything in particular to do it?”
“Not really, other than perhaps a comfortable chair.”
Cassie’s brow furrowed, her forefinger tapping against her lip. “Is it to read a book?”
Although on occasion Colin had enjoyed a good book, he preferred more active pastimes. He smiled to himself, realizing what he wished to do had completely confounded his daughters. “No.”
Cassie threw up her hands. “I give up.”
“I haven’t.” Ellie snuggled closer to Colin’s side. “Is it something you prefer to do alone?”
“Yes.” He grinned at her.
A mischievous glint appeared in his younger daughter’s eyes. “Is it something you say you want on a daily basis?”
He touched her nose and laughed. “Yes.”
Cassie’s eyes widened. “I know!”
Ellie stuck her tongue out again. “You said you gave up.” Ellie’s brown eyes met his. “It’s to enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet.”
“Correct. A futile hope, perhaps. Now, if you two would like to continue your game without me, I think I shall take a nap.”
“You’re no fun, Papa,” Ellie said, her bottom lip sticking out again.
He stretched his long legs, placing his booted feet on the carriage seat opposite him, which Ellie had vacated, and closed his eyes. He reflected on Ellie’s statement, and the truth of it, although no surprise, hit him hard. He hadn’t always been such a bore. If the girls only knew the heartache he’d caused his father and mother during his Eton years. His pranks had earned him a sound paddlingfrom the headmaster more than a few times. Even Oxford hadn’t settled him down. Nights out with friends had occasionally left him too foxed for his classes.
But Margery’s illness and death had taken all the joy from his life. It was as if he’d crawled into the grave with her, already nothing but a shriveled heart after years of her illness.
As the girls’ laughter filled the small compartment, distant memories resurfaced. Just out of reach, like ghosts, they drifted in and out, enough to taunt him with a promise of something he couldn’t grasp, then disappear only to return to haunt him again later.
Perhaps Honoria was right, and it was time to start living again. But how could he resurrect that man when he no longer remembered who that man was?
He’d think about that later. At that moment, he only wanted peace and quiet, to endure the journey, and eventually survive the house party.
Anne thoughtthe long journey from London to Dorset would never end.
Andrew was quick to remind her it would have taken even longer had they left from their estate in Kent.
Finally, after being cramped in the carriage for hours, she gazed out the window at Hartridge House as they came to a halt in front of the grand estate. Memories flooded back of the last time she’d been at the Duke of Burwood’s country seat.
She could have been the mistress of it all! But Andrew was right. She wouldn’t have been happy with a man who loved someone else, especially when the woman was a dear friend.
