Lucas just giggled.
James exchanged a very male glance with the little boy. “Women do tend to get annoyingly sentimental when it comes to small, furry creatures.”
Elizabeth kept her eyes on the stove, pretending to fix the tea. It had been so long since Lucas had met a man he could look up to and admire. She worried constantly that she was depriving him of something important by raising him herself, with only sisters for company. If she’d allowed any of her relations to take him in, he still wouldn’t have had a father, but at least he would have had an adult male in his life.
“What’s the biggest fish you’ve ever caught?” Lucas asked.
“On land or on sea?”
Lucas actually poked him in the arm when he said, “You can’t catch a fish on land!”
“I meant on a pond.”
The little boy’s eyes grew wide. “You’ve fished on the sea?”
“Of course.”
Elizabeth looked at him with a bemused glance. His tone was so matter-of-fact.
“Were you on a ship?” Lucas asked.
“No, it was more of a sailboat.”
A sailboat? Elizabeth shook her head as she pulled some dishes out of the cupboard. James must have well-connected friends.
“How big was the fish?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe about this big.” James measured a length of about two feet with his hands.
“Hells bells!” Lucas yelled.
Elizabeth nearly dropped a saucer. “Lucas!”
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” Lucas said without much thought, and without even turning to face her. His attention never wavered from James as he asked, “Did he put up a fight?”
James leaned down and whispered something in Lucas’s ear. Elizabeth arched her neck and strained her ears, but she couldn’t make out what he said.
Lucas nodded somewhat glumly, then stood up, crossed the room to Elizabeth, and gave her a little bow. Elizabeth was so surprised that this time she did drop what she was holding. Thankfully, it was just a spoon.
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” Lucas said. “It isn’t polite to use such language in front of a lady.”
“Thank you, Lucas.” She looked over at James, who offered her a secret smile. He tilted his head toward the boy, so she leaned down, handed Lucas a plate of biscuits, and said, “Why don’t you and Jane go and find Susan? And you may eat these biscuits on the way to town.”
Lucas’s eyes lit up at the sight of the biscuits, and he quickly grabbed them and left the room, leaving Elizabeth openmouthed in his wake. “What did you say to him?” she asked in amazement.
James shrugged. “I can’t tell you.”
“But you must. Whatever it was, it was terribly effective.”
He sat back, looking terribly pleased with himself. “Some things are best left between men.”
Elizabeth frowned playfully, trying to decide whether she ought to press him further, when she noticed a darkening stain near his eye. “Oh, I completely forgot!” she blurted out. “Your eye! I must find something to put on that.”
“It will be fine, I’m sure. I’ve had far worse injuries with far less attention paid to them.”
But she wasn’t listening, as she shuffled hurriedly through her kitchen in search of something cool.
“You needn’t go to any trouble,” he tried again.