Both his sister and her husband turned, in unison, to stare at him.
“We are creating a studio. I’m here to discuss the logistics of transporting my art supplies and such.”
Lorelei’s relief was palpable. “Oh. That’s all right then.”
Harlowe frowned. “Is there something you aren’t telling me?”
“No. No, of course not. I’m glad you stopped by. I have some things for you to take back with you. I’ll arrange for the servants to place them in your carriage.”
“I don’t have the carriage. Maeve took the children to the park in it. Just have them delivered.”
“Of course. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself. Excuse me while I ring for tea,” she said, making a quick exit.
Harlowe narrowed his eyes on Kimpton. “All right, what’s going on?”
“I’m not certain. My wife’s been acting strangely of late. Nothing I’ve been able to put my finger on,” Kimpton said, his brows furrowed.
“So she hasn’t told—”
“Told me what?”
“Nothing. Nothing.” Thinking quickly, Harlowe shifted the topic. “Rowena Hollerfield left a journal behind.”
“Did she impart anything of interest?”
“She mentioned wanting to kill me outright, and you, regarding a backup stratagem.”
“Ah, her plan in accusing me of fathering the child she wasn’t pregnant with.”
Harlowe laughed. “Something along those lines, though she didn’t put her plan down in actual words.”
Kimpton handed him a tumbler of brandy. “Rowena was resourceful, I’ll hand her that. When you disappeared, she was terrified for Corinne.”
“I can’t understand why she selected me.”
Kimpton shrugged. “You were young. Perhaps she thought you were more malleable than more seasoned blokes. Ha! I could have told her different. I knew you as a stubborn cuss from your much younger days.”
Silence stretched between them, though it wasn’t uncomfortable.
“Is there something else on your mind?” Kimpton asked.
“Just something Maeve relayed this morning. She’s been fretting over the children, said she’s been casting up her accounts over it. Every day… dear God—”
“She’s breeding?”
Lorelei came through the arch at that moment.
“She’s breeding,” Harlowe said in breathless wonder.
“Damn you, Brandon. You promised you wouldn’t say anything!”
Her fury penetrated his stunned revelation. “What?”
“What?” Kimpton parroted. Kimpton was staring at Lorelei with an expression that must have mirrored Harlowe’s own.
Harlowe would have laughed at the shock in Kimpton’s face, if his own hadn’t paralyzed him.
“You’re with child?” Kimpton said.
