Laughter exploded from him. “Turnips? Good Lord, how many can you eat?”
“This isn’t a kitchen garden, Sir Robert. It is an agricultural enterprise. What do you know of crop rotation?” The question obviously took him aback.
When he hesitated to respond, she plunged on, giving him a rather more extensive overview of her plans than she had Zeke Philpot, until his eyes glazed over, and he raised a hand to stem the flow of words.
“Enough. I see your point. I’m sorry I intruded on your work.” His brows lowered as if something puzzled him. “You said ‘my’ plans. Am I to believe you oversee this work?”
“You will believe what you will, but yes. I oversee all of Willowbrook’s enterprises.” She glared back, daring him to criticize. No criticism came.
When he sat straighter and nodded, she had to shake off the wishful notion that she had actually impressed him. She chided herself for that nonsense, even as she chided herself for noticing the way his trousers fit taut across his thighs.
You aren’t so desperate that you have to imagine this man’s approval, much less ogle his attributes!
“In that case, you had better get back to your planting. Forgive my intrusion. Good day, ma’am.”
Lucy watched him ride off in the direction of Caulfield Hall. She could have warned him no one would be home except the children, but she didn’t.
Perhaps he hadn’t come to inspect what he believed is his after all. Perhaps he merely wishes to enjoy the afternoon.
She walked back to the laborers, the sun warm on her back. Perhaps pigs will fly.
*
The ride leftRob invigorated and hungry for dinner, and the unexpected encounter with the remarkable woman at Willowbrook left him intrigued. He couldn’t shake her from his mind.
Emma must know her.
That thought reminded him that his sister still hadn’t told him why she summoned him. He took the steps to his room at the Willow to prepare for a dinner that had begun to sound more and more interesting.
The old man surprised Rob when he joined him in the walk to the Corbins’ snug little house on the meadow side of Tom’s Lane. His presence drove Willowbrook and its unusual overseer out of his thoughts.
“Do you usually eat at Emma’s or the inn?” Rob asked the man at his side.
“Both. Food at the inn can be monotonous after the first twenty years or so.” Laugh lines crinkled up around the brown eyes that sparkled with good humor. “Your sister’s cooking can be an adventure, but it is always a change.”
Forewarned then, about the food at least.He had no warning about the pandemonium that greeted him inside the door. Two boys wrestling in the center of the floor ignored the new arrivals, so intent were they on their competition. Rob recognized Matt from the stableyard. The smaller boy appeared to have the same hair and eyes, insofar as Rob could see.
“Mam, Grandda is here!” The little girl who shouted gazed up at Rob with deep brown eyes. “Are you the uncle, then? I’m Audrey. I’m five. Matt and Lenny won’t listen to me.” Before Rob could respond, a toddler waddled up to them and reached her arms up for her grandfather, who responded by picking her up.
“This one is Roberta,” the old man said, giving the girl a great smacking kiss.
“I am, indeed, the uncle.” Rob put out his hand. Audrey eyed it warily, but she took it and accepted the shake. “It’s always good to get relationships straight, isn’t it?”
The little girl nodded soberly; her grandfather walked to the kitchen, still carrying Roberta.
“Matt, the uncle is here,” Audrey shouted in the boy’s ear as he thrashed around with his brother.
Matt rolled to his feet effortlessly, grabbed the smaller boy, who looked no worse for wear, by the shirt, and pulled him up. “Come meet our uncle, Lenny. He’s a soldier. He was at Waterloo.”
Lenny’s slack-jawed awe left Rob speechless. He had no idea what to say to children. Ellis’s timely arrival rescued him.
“Leave your uncle in peace, you three. Audrey, find him a seat in the kitchen. Matt and Lenny, see if your mam needs help with the table.” The boys scurried to the kitchen with only one tiny peek over their shoulders at their new hero. Audrey took Rob by the hand.
“Welcome to the circus, Robbie. Give me time to clean up out back, and I’ll join you in the kitchen.” Ellis went through to the back door.
The Corbin house boasted no fancy dining room. It had, instead, a spacious kitchen, warm and fragrant, with a large wooden table set for both adults and children. Rob wondered fleetingly what the Comtesse de Lanaudière—whose elegant and sumptuous table attracted the most glittering company in Paris—would make of two little boys in simple linen shirts laying out spoons and serviettes.
Emma beamed at him from the stove. “Almost ready, Robbie. Sit yourself.”
