She looked at him. “You would do that?” she said gratefully. “That would be so very kind of you. Truthfully, they were with me yesterday when I collected my belongings, and I think I was so eager to get them out of here that I simply overlooked a few things.”
He smiled. “Then I am happy to take them.”
“But shouldn’t you be preparing for the mass competition?”
His smile grew. “That will take me very little time, indeed,” he said. “Let me take my wife’s daughters over to see some puppies first. It will give me a few moments to spend with them.”
Catalina nodded, her gaze moving to her girls as Adabella pushed Ines away from the chair and Ines began to cry. “We’ve not discussed this yet, but we probably should,” she said. “What do you want the girls to call you?”
He shrugged, watching Ines plop on the ground and wail. “Whatever they are comfortable with,” he said. “Were they close to their father?”
Catalina shook her head. “Not at all,” she said. “They were not male, so Alfred did not have a great deal of time for them. Ines does not even remember her father. She was so young when he left.”
“I do not mean to replace him, you know.”
“I know,” Catalina said. “You do what you are comfortable with. If you wish for them to call you Papa, I am agreeable. But if you wish for them to call you Essien, I am agreeable with that, also.”
He smiled faintly as Ines stopped wailing, stood up, and pinched her sister on the leg. “I am their mother’s husband,” he said. “They can call me whatever they wish because, as their mother’s husband, I will love them and spoil them and discipline them if necessary. With your permission, of course.”
Catalina snorted. “You have it,” she said. “And you can start now.”
She pointed to the girls, now in a pinching fight, and Adabella got a good chunk of the flesh on her sister’s arm and twisted it. Ines screamed. Squaring his shoulders, Essien bravely entered the brawl.
“Ladies?” he said, going down to one knee as he got in between them. “It would be much better to behave kindly. Only well-behaved ladies are allowed to see the puppies.”
As he’d hoped, that shaped them right up. They were young enough that he could use that kind of logic and get away with it. Adabella came out of the chair, standing about eye level with him as he knelt.
“Will my puppy be there?” she asked.
Essien nodded. “I’m sure he will be,” he said. “Would you like to see him?”
Adabella nodded vigorously. Essien looked at Ines. “And you?” he said. “May I depend on you to behave yourself?”
Ines didn’t answer him so much as stick her finger up her nose in reply. “Why?”
Essien started to laugh, reaching over to pull her finger out of her nose. “Because the puppies are frightened if you are too loud,” he said, trying not to let her see him grin. “If you are naughty, they will run from you. You do not want them run away from you, do you?”
Ines shook her head. “Where are they?”
Essien stood up, holding out a hand to each girl. “I will take you,” he said. “And you can tell me why you like puppies so much. Do you like ponies, too?”
The girls had a good deal to say on the subject of ponies. They were already telling him about it. Essien winked at Catalina as he led the girls out of the tent, heading for the tournament field and the stable, which weren’t too far away. In fact, both could be seen the moment Essien left the tent, and he took the talkative girls in that direction.
Catalina went to the tent flap to watch. Yesterday’s tournament champion, a prince to his people, was making the effort to spend time with two fatherless little girls who liked to pinch each other and pet puppies. And he was doing it with such grace. Something in her heart swelled enormously for him, an admiration and adoration she didn’t think she was capable of. But Essien had earned it with his gentle treatment of her children. No man, not even their own father, had ever been so kind to them.
But Essien was.
What a wonderful man,she thought.
There wasn’t anything about him that wasn’t wonderful.
Tearing her gaze away from the trio, she headed back into the tent. She had no idea where her father was, but she wanted to be finished by the time he returned.
With the girls occupied, she quickly went to work.
*
He’d been watching.
