Ethan sighed. “I told you, Martha. Miss Sheridan is fatigued and needs to rest. You don’t wish her to become ill, do you?”
“She weren’t ill yesterday.” Martha eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t believe you. What have ye really done with ’er?”
Quite a lot, as it happened, and if he had his way he’d still be doing it right now, and more too, but he doubted Martha would find any of that information reassuring. He raised an eyebrow at the child. “You sound as if you’re accusing me of something, Martha. What do you suppose I’ve done with her? Locked her in a cupboard for the afternoon?”
Martha’s mouth fell open, and tears filled her eyes.
Damnation.The child thought hehadlocked Thea in a cupboard. “Martha, I was only jesting—”
“Stop yer carrying on, Martha,” George ordered. “Yer acting like a baby.”
“A peahen, more like.” Henry pointed his finger at Martha and shook it threateningly. “Maybe ’is lordship should lockyouin a cupboard.”
“No one is getting locked in a cupboard, Henry,” Ethan began, but Martha cut him off with an outraged shriek.
“Ye’re the peahen, Henry! An’ you too, George! That lordship,” she pointed an accusing finger at Ethan. “He said ’e was going to shut down the house, and he knew Miss Sheridan wouldn’t let him do it, so ’e tossed her in a cupboard and locked her in an’ he’s going to leave her there and close up the house around her, and she’ll have no one to let her out and she’ll be scared and alone in the dark and then she’ll starve an’ years later they’ll find ’er, but ’er skin will have all fallen off by then and she’ll be nothing but bones an’ fingernails and long, gray hair, and it’ll be all ye’re fault, ye bad, bad boys!”
Henry, George, and Ethan stood silently, their mouths open, blinking at her.
Martha stared back at them with wide eyes, then she sucked in a hiccupping breath, and burst into tears.
“That were a good story,” Henry said, heedless of his sister’s distress. “’Specially the part about the fingernails and the skin falling off.”
“And the bones, too. I like stories ’bout bones. But ye know, Henry, Martha’s right. His lordship did say ’e was going to shut down the house.” He gave Ethan a considering look. “Dinnit ye?”
All three children turned questioning black eyes on him.
“I did say that, when I first arrived, but that was before . . . that is, since then I’ve changed my mind. I don’t intend to close down the house, after all.”
The children were quiet for a moment as they considered that, then George spoke up. “’An ye’re going to live ’ere, with Miss Sheridan? Or are ye going back to London?”
Ethan’s brows drew into a frown as he fumbled for a reply. “I’m going to stay here at Cleves Court, with Miss Sheridan.”
“But . . .” Henry frowned. “Ye can’t stay ’ere with Miss Sheridan alone in the house. That’s not proper-like, is it, George?”
“Well, it’s a big house, innit?” George gave Ethan an uncertain look. “But I don’t think it’s proper, not unless ’is lordship marries Miss Sheridan. Ye’re going to marry ’er, aren’t ye?”
For God’s sake.It was a bloody inquisition. Next he’d be asking George and Henry for their permission to marry Thea. He opened his mouth to reassure them, but before he could say a word, Henry interrupted him.
“’Course ’e is. He loves ’er, don’t he?”
“Sure, ’e does.” George spoke with utter confidence. “He’s loved her since ’e knocked ’er from the tree. Maybe before then.”
Ethan stared at them. Devil take it. How did children alwaysknoweverything?
“Don’t know why ye’d want to get married, yer lordship.” Henry gave him a curious look, then shrugged. “Peter says women are nothing but fuss an’ bother, but then Miss Sheridan’s a good sort, innit she? If ye have to marry, ye may as well marry Miss Sheridan.”
“I may as well, yes.” A reluctant smile twitched at Ethan’s lips as he looked at them. They were dreadful children, of course—three little fiends, especially Martha—but he couldn’t deny they loved Thea just as much as he did.
“Hurrah!” Henry, overcome with sudden glee, leapt upon his brother’s back for a celebratory wrestle. “His lordship’s staying, ’an we get to shoot the pistol again!”
“That’s bloody good news, that is!” George threw Henry to the ground with a mighty heave, and jumped on top of him. “I told ye Miss Sheridan would bring ’is lordship ’round.”
Ethan was trying to reassure Martha, who’d begun wailing in earnest over his impending betrothal to her beloved Miss Sheridan, but he stilled at George’s words. “Bring me around? What do you mean, George?”
George was bouncing up and down on Henry’s back, but he looked up at Ethan with a grin. “She said she’d make ye see reason, no matter what, and I guess she did, ’cause now we get to have you an’ Miss Sheridan, and that’s capital, that is.”
“Capital!” Henry shook off George, who’d been smashing his face into the ground, and added, “Miss Sheridan said she’d never let ye close the house—she said she’d do whatever it took to keep ye from doing it, and she’s right stubborn, innit she, once she sets her mind to a thing.”
