“That’s not all I was doing with my hands.”
Instead of blushing like an English heiress maiden should, she stared at his mouth and said in a very wistful voice, “I know. It was very nice, although it was startling. No one has ever done that to me before. I quite liked it.”
“You must keep your mouth shut, Joan. The guile I spoke of, it’s a useful thing. You must protect yourself.”
“I can and I do, though there is seldom the need. How old are you, Colin?”
He sighed and let it go. “I’m twenty-seven. My birthday is in August.”
“I thought you were about Ryder’s age. He’s one of my brothers. You will meet him soon. He’s quite outrageous and funny and charming and quite the philanthropist. He used to hate anyone knowing how kind and good he was because he liked his wicked rake’s image. As to my youngest brother, Tysen the Holiness we call him, I will protect you from his vicaring, which is what Douglas calls his prosing on and on about good deeds and the many paths to hell and such. But he is my brother and I love him despite his narrow vision of things; and then there is his wife, Melinda Beatrice. Ryder said two names were too many, and besides she has no bosom.”
Colin could only stare at this outpouring. “I’ve never met a family like yours before.”
“No,” Sinjun said comfortably, “I expect not. My brothers and sisters-in-law are wonderful. All except Melinda Beatrice, and she’s really a bore, to peel the bark off the tree. Do you know they’ve been married four years and have three children? My brothers are forever twitting Tysen about unvicarlike potency and lack of control and overloading Noah’s ark with all his offspring.”
They had reached the drawing room. Colin turned to her and smiled. “I won’t attack your brother, I promise. Hands in pockets.”
“Thank you. I also hope that my mother keeps herself absent until after you’ve left. I must deal with her gently but firmly, and that will require having Douglas on my side first.”
When he remained quiet, Sinjun turned and asked, “Do you want to marry me, Colin?”
He looked thoughtful. “I want to meet your mother first. It is said that daughters become the very image of their mothers.”
Sinjun, aghast, poked him in the arm. “Oh dear,” she said. “Oh dear.” When he laughed, she poked him again and dragged him into the drawing room.
She said to her grim-faced brother and a smiling Alex, “Now we shall do things properly. This is Colin Kinross, the earl of Ashburnham. He is twenty-seven years old and he is considering marrying me, Douglas, so you see it was all right for him to take, er, liberties with my person.”
“He was caressing your bottom, dammit! A man only does that to his wife.”
“Douglas!”
“Well, he was caressing her, Alex. Was I to stand there watching the bounder seduce my little sister?”
“No, of course not. I apologize for not quite understanding the situation. Drubbing him was exactly the proper thing to do. Ah, here’s Drinnen with tea. Do come in. Sinjun, you and Colin please sit over here on the sofa.”
Colin Kinross looked at the earl of Northcliffe. He saw a man some five or so years older than he was, an athlete, no dandied-up fop like many of their contemporaries. “I apologize for taking liberties with Joan. I suppose that since I have, it would only be honorable for me to marry her.”
“I don’t believe any of this,” Douglas said. “And you call her Joan! Only Mother calls her that. It’s repellent.”
“I don’t care for the mannish nickname.”
Douglas just stared at him.
“I assure you I don’t care,” Sinjun said, then smiled grandly. “He can call me anything he wishes to. Now, I thought if one put one’s mind to it, this courtship and marriage business wouldn’t be all that difficult. You see, I was right. It’s grand to get things moving properly. What would you like in your tea, Colin?”
“Just a moment,” Douglas said. “There is nothing simple about any of this, Sinjun. I want you to listen to me.” But he turned to Colin. “I have found out, sir, that you are on the hunt for an heiress. You haven’t been at all discreet about it. You doubtless know very well that Sinjun here will be quite rich upon her marriage.”
“So she tells me. She came up to me and announced she was an heiress. She wanted me to speak to you to find out exactly what she’s worth.”
“She what?”
Sinjun only smiled at her brother. “It’s true, Douglas. I knew he needed a wife with money, and so I told him I was perfect for him. Groats and toothsomeness all in one female person. To make it even grander, he catches all the other Sherbrookes in the family net as well as me.”
Alex laughed, she couldn’t help it. “I hope, Colin, that you can control this minx. She tackled me once in the immense entranceway of Northcliffe Hall, in front of everyone, and held me down until Douglas could be released from the room I’d locked him in. You must be careful, for she’s really quite determined once she sets her course.”
She went into peals of laughter, and Sinjun grinned. Douglas looked wooden as a church pew, and Colin looked as if he were indeed in Bedlam and the inmates were ganging up on him.
“I’ll tell you