She turned to the mischievous child behind her. “Bonnie, we owe the gentleman an apology.”
“You first.”
The older sister sighed and looked back at Bray. “My apologies.”
The little girl then turned a beautiful set of big blue eyes on him and said, “I’m sorry that you got in my sister’s way and forced me to run into her.”
The older sister glared at her. “Bonnie.”
Miss Bonnie Prim folded her arms across her chest and shrugged her shoulders in a pouting stance. “Sorry, uh,sir.”
The older one groaned.
Bray couldn’t be upset with anyone who pushed a beautiful lady into his arms. “No harm done.”
He returned his attention to the young lady, who was undeniably fetching in her simple, pale yellow dress. “Do you always race about the house in such a fashion?”
The older Miss Prim’s breasts lifted and fell rapidly as she tried to calm her breathing. Her hand went immediately to her long, sunset-colored tresses. She brushed them to the back of her shoulders as if hoping to make herself more presentable. There was something gentle and alluring in the way she tried to recover her composure.
Unexpectedly, he was drawn to her.
“No, of course not. We were in the book room playing games because of the rain, and, well, I had no idea we had a guest.”
How many young ladies would admit to playing with their younger siblings? And if they were in the midst of such frolic when he knocked, it was no wonder they couldn’t hear him. It would be impossible to hear a musket explode with the commotion they were making.
However, at last he was sure he’d found Miss Louisa Prim, or rather, she’d found him. Her cheeks were flushed with exertion. Wispy strands of amber blond hair attractively framed her face. He couldn’t help but think that she looked as if she’d just had an exhilarating and rather satisfying tussle in bed with an exciting lover.
If he had to marry, she might do rather nicely after all. “Apparently the winner of the game was to receive that coveted book?” He gestured to the bound copy in the youngest girl’s hands.
Miss Prim shyly gave him a hint of a smile. Bray’s body tightened with the heady prickling of desire. He hadn’t expected Miss Louisa Prim to be so appealing.
“My uncle has so many books we haven’t seen, I’m afraid we find ourselves sometimes fighting over who will be the first to read them.”
He glanced at the child. “I’m impressed a girl so young can read.”
The younger Miss Prim beamed at him, showing a gap where her front top teeth should be while the older one lifted fan-shaped brows and said, “That’s kind of you to say. How can I help you?”
Bray saw another blue-eyed, blond-haired young lady, perhaps eighteen years old, making her way toward them. And out of the corner of his eye, he saw the young Miss Prim who had shut the door in his face sneak back into the room. He did a quick count. All five Misses Prim were there.
Bray bit back an exasperated sigh and said, “I’m here to see Miss Louisa Prim.”
“I am Miss Louisa Prim,” the eldest young lady said, giving him a quizzical look.
The youngest girl, who had squealed to the high heavens, pushed in front of her sister and looked up at him and said, “I have a name. Do you want to know my name?” And without giving him time to respond, answered, “It’s Bonnie.”
The girl who’d closed the door on him piped up and said, “I have a name, too. I’m Sybil, and this is my sister Lillian.”
“I can say my own name, thank you very much. I’m Lillian.”
“Then I must be Gwen, since I’m the only one left.”
Suddenly all the girls were laughing, except the eldest young lady, who frowned and promptly scolded them by saying, “Girls, stop this at once. This gentleman will think you have no manners.”
Too late for that,he thought.
As each girl had said her name, she smiled and curtsied, even the mischievous Miss Sybil and Miss Bonnie, proving they had manners after all. Bray couldn’t help but think if someone was going to have that many daughters, they should have made it easy on themselves and named them A, B, C, D, and E or One, Two, Three, Four, and Five.
“And who are you?” the smallest one demanded of him.
