Miss Lillian looked at Louisa and sniffled. “Where are you going?” she asked her sister.
“Nowhere but here in the park,” she said, taking her sister’s hand and gently squeezing it. “I promise we are not going to leave you here with the Seatons for very long. We will be back for you very shortly.”
“Come along,” Bray said again. “I’ll introduce all of them to you. If you try, you might even enjoy yourself.”
Less than ten minutes later, the girls were settled and Bray and Miss Prim were walking back to the carriage.
“Don’t you think you were a little harsh on Lillian?” Miss Prim asked as soon as they were a few steps away from the girls.
“No,” he said, thinking no more commentary was needed.
“I thought you were,” she countered. “You were almost rough with her when you lifted her out of the carriage.”
Bray looked behind him at the girls, and then back to Miss Prim. He shrugged. “I don’t believe I was rough—in fact, I made sure I handled her gently—but sometimes adults have to be stern with children. That is how they learn.”
“You know this from experience, I assume.”
“I do,” he said a little testily. “Just as no doubt you learned your gentle and loving nature from your father.” Bray paused. “He was gentle, wasn’t he?”
“Yes. I don’t think I ever heard him raise his voice in anger at any of us, and he surely never lifted any of us from the carriage when we didn’t do what he commanded.”
Bray looked behind him again. “Well, whatever I said or however roughly I lifted her from the carriage and set her on her feet, it must have worked. Look—she’s not crying.”
“If I were her, I’d be afraid to cry in front of someone with such an authoritative manner as you.”
Bray grinned confidently. “If only you were half so frightened of me as you seem to think Miss Lillian is, that would be wonderful.”
It was then that Miss Prim smiled. “Well, you are a beast at times.”
“And a monstrous beast at others.”
“True, Your Grace,” she said in a good-natured voice as she turned and waved to the girls once more. “Still, I’m not at all sure I’m comfortable leaving my sisters with strangers.”
“They are fine, and Seaton is not a stranger. I’ve known him more than ten years. I wouldn’t leave them if I had any fears for their well-being or safety. He will treat them as if they were his own grandchildren. A puppet show will be much better for them than riding cramped in this carriage for an hour with you and me.”
“I think you were thinking of your own well-being and not theirs.”
She was right. He liked the teasing light that shone brightly in her sparkling eyes. “Perhaps I was.”
“Perhaps?”
“All right, hell yes, I was. And don’t forget that ‘hell’ is a biblical word, Miss Prim.”
Again, she smiled at him. “How could I when you get such enjoyment out of reminding me.”
Bray helped her back onto the chaise and then climbed up beside her. She moved over to the other side of the seat, leaving a respectable distance between them.
“Now, what did you say was the color of Miss Gwen’s parasol?”
“You aren’t going to let me worry about the girls, are you?”
The relaxed tone of their conversation was enjoyable. Louisa had seldom been so calm and easy with him. He admired her for taking the responsibility of caring for her sisters so seriously, even if she seemed to carry it to the extreme on occasions, when she did things such as putting her hands over her sister’s ears.
“I’m willing for you to worry all that you want about the girls, but which ones do you want to worry about first this afternoon—the three with the grandfather and other children to play with, or the one with the rake?”
“All right, all right, you win.” She smiled and then laughed lightly. “Let’s go find Gwen and her green parasol.”
Bray picked up the ribbons, released the brake, and they started riding through the bumpy park again. Louisa was no longer sitting right up next to him, and he couldn’t feel her heat, but it was blissfully quiet.
