The remarks sliced through him. “That’s doing it up a bit brown, don’t you think?”
“Just because he rarely did it around you doesn’t mean he didn’t do it at all, Son.”
Her assertion boggled his mind. He’d never once had the sense that Father even knew what Geoffrey did when he marched off to work at Stockdon and Sons or left for a months-long period to oversee the digging of a canal or tunnel.
But he tamped down his shock as he walked toward the drawing room with her. Right now, he needed to spend time conversing with the living, not the dead, if only to reassure Mother and Rosy that all was well. Ever since Father’s death, Rosy had been prone to worry about him.
Oddly enough, it wasn’t relief he saw on her face when he and Mother entered. It was wariness. That certainly gave him pause.
“What happened?” Rosy sounded hurt. “Where have you been all this time? Did you . . . did you dismiss Elegant Occasions?”
That caught him by surprise. “Did you want me to?”
“No!” She wrapped her arms about her waist. “But you were gone so long, and . . . and when you left you said you were going there, and I was afraid—”
He pasted a smile to his face as he approached her. “Surely you know your brother better than that, poppet. I growl and grouse, but once my temper cools, I turn sensible again.”
Her face cleared. “So you didn’t go there?”
“I did. But Lady Diana and I parted on good terms.” He chucked her under the chin. “She revealed what else she told you, the part you didn’t mention.”
Rosy swallowed. “I–I don’t know what you mean.” Turning her back to him, she hurried over to stoke up the already blazing fire.
He followed her and took the poker from her, setting it down in its holder. “She told me that Lord Winston does indeed have a reputation as a rakehell.”
She faced him with a defiant expression. “A man can change, can’t he?”
“Everyone can change, angel. But that doesn’t mean they do.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, “You’re already changing. Yesterday, you would have refused to continue working with Diana if you’d known what she told me. Today you were more tolerant.”
Today he’d kissed the woman, too, which somewhat colored his perceptions. Not that he was going to tell his sister that. She’d be ringing wedding bells over his head in an instant. “Lady Diana was honest with me—unlike my little sister—so I’m willing to take a chance on her and her business. Might as well see what happens.”
“Oh, I’m so glad!” She beamed at him, which made everything better. “I thought for sure you would dismiss them, and they’ve been so wonderful to me that I couldn’t have borne it.”
Then she and Mother proceeded to tell him about every single thing they’d done with Elegant Occasions that day. He was forced to watch them parade their fashion dolls in front of him and explain what gowns they had ordered. By God, what had he landed himself in?
At one point, he stealthily looked at his pocket watch.
Apparently, he wasn’t stealthy enough, because Mother asked, with a raised brow, “Are we boring you, Son?”
“Certainly not,” he said blandly. “Watching you four show off your gowns is fascinating.”
“We four?” Rosy asked.
“You, Mother, and your two dolls.”
When she giggled, he relaxed. He could always be sure she was fine if he heard her laugh. But when she and his mother demanded to know what he’d ordered at the tailor, he’d had enough of fitting and fabric talk for one evening.
“You’ll see soon enough.” He rose. “Now forgive me, you two, but I’m off to bed.” And if he was lucky he would fall asleep without thinking of the fetching female who kept intruding on his thoughts.
Clearly, for the next few days he’d have to find somewhere else to be.