She leaned up, kissed Isabel’s cheek briefly and then scurried away. But she came down the hill toward the place where the picnic blankets had been laid out for the guests, she couldn’t help but feel she had at last walked away from her girlhood dreams.
And into the life she now had to embrace in order to survive.
Kit loved his sister, but at present he was losing patience with the little girl. As his friends sat spread across half a dozen picnic blankets, passing their young children around, eating and drinking, their laughter should have lightened his heavy heart.
Instead, all he could do was watch as Sarah knelt before Phoebe, sternly talking to the little girl. In the hour since they’d come down to the lake, his sister had thrown three tantrums, ranging from a pouting fit to a full-on screaming explosion.
She folded her arms across her chest even now and her lower lip poked out as she shouted, “No!”
Kit let out his breath in a long sigh and got up off the blanket where he’d been sitting. Ignoring everything else around him, he marched across the grass until he reached the pair and bent to look his sister in her face. “Phoebe, that is enough.”
Sarah glanced at him and back to his sister. “Please do not trouble yourself, Your Grace. I have matters in hand.”
He scowled at her. “Do you? It doesn’t seem entirely certain that is true.”
The color left her cheeks and she pushed to her feet. Before she could speak, Phoebe huffed out her own breath. “I want to go on the boat.”
Kit’s head began to throb and he gave his sister a sharp look. “Well, this is not the way to go about it.”
Once again, Sarah shook her head slightly and then reached out for Phoebe. Her hand hovered in the air between them and finally his sister took it, her face red with frustration and bright eyes sparkling with tears. In that moment, Kit saw how difficult her emotions were. How pain was driving her bad behavior. He had not been able to see the truth. Sarah had.
And he immediately wished he had not been so sharp with her, or with her governess.
“Phoebe,” Sarah said, gently but firmly. “Your brother is right that behaving badly will not give you what you desire. It’s a little early in the season for a ride on the boat.” Phoebe opened her mouth, the tears beginning to fall. Before she could shriek, Sarah continued, “But…if you will take a walk with me, if you will calm down and behave yourself for a few moments, then I will consider your request and we can talk about it like ladies.”
Kit held his breath as they both stared at Phoebe. She was shifting now, her mind clearly turning on all her options. Then she drew a long, shuddering breath and said, “Yes, Miss Sarah.”
Sarah smiled at her and Kit’s heart stuttered. She was lovely when she smiled. He didn’t think he’d seen her do it ten times in all the years he’d known her. Circumstance had kept the expression from her face.
Circumstances that included the fact that she didn’t like him. That was his doing, of course, but now he regretted not seeing that look before. Not coaxing it in any way possible just because of how it lit her eyes.
He frowned at the paths his mind had taken him on. He reached out to ruffle his sister’s hair and she looked up at him with uncertainty. “Good girl, Phoebe. Now run ahead a moment, without going near the boats. I want to speak to Miss Carlton.”
Phoebe nodded and raced away, leaving Kit and Sarah alone. He turned toward her, expecting a moment to tell her how much he appreciated her kindness, but he found her glaring at him with what was clearly annoyance.
“Your Grace, I understand that Phoebe is your sister and you are my employer, but I must insist that you do not undermine my authority with her, nor my method in approaching her.”
He blinked at the hardness of Sarah’s tone. Normally she spoke to him either gently, as she had the previous night, or with hesitation. This was neither of those things.
“I beg your pardon?” he asked.
She folded her arms, which drew his attention to the swell of her breasts, but he dragged his gaze away to focus. She was truly angry. “I did not require your interference. You said it wasn’t clear that I had matters in hand, but I did.”
“She ought not to act—”
“Like a child?” she interrupted. “Sheisa child, Your Grace. And on top of that, your sister is grieving, just as you are. But she is a little girl, with only a fraction of your self-control, so her emotions show themselves in sometimes unpleasant ways. You would do well to remember that and give her the same space others give you.”
“Are you saying that if I had a screaming fit, my friends would not judge me for that?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I think they would understand it. They indulge you if you want to go stand on the terrace away from your own party for half an hour, don’t they? Or have an extra drink after supper to soothe your nerves? Doesn’t that child deserve the same amount of consideration?”
He scowled as a feeling of shame filled him. Perhaps he had not been patient enough with his sister. And yet Sarah told him he had overstepped his bounds. That she didn’t need him. And it still stung.
“You may be right,” he said through clenched teeth. “But do not forget yourself, Miss Carlton. You serve at my pleasure.”
The high color left her cheeks at the threat he immediately regretted making. Then her spine straightened and she met his gaze evenly. “Certainly, Your Grace. How could I, or anyone else for that matter, forget that fact when it is lorded over me with such regularity?”
With that, she pivoted on her heel and flounced away, leaving Kit to stare after her in frustration and upset and…other feelings. He felt other feelings as he watched her hips twitch off toward his sister.
