Penny should not innocently employ the art of flirtation with a gentleman because of her natural lively and amusing company.
She should not allow anyone to steal kisses.
Halfway in reminding her sister of all these things, Penny had pointedly glared at her, and they had dissolved together on the bed laughing.
* * *
Edmond had been staringat the same letter for the past hour instead of penning a reply to his business partner abroad that he would leave for New York in precisely three weeks. It seemed he would visit the Americas before Europe, and he had met with Ollie and tasked his brother to secure the deal in Germany. Edmond had been a working machine for the last few days, valiantly ignoring everything that reminded him of Miss Ester Fairbanks.
Oddly, that seemed to be everything. He certainly did not understand why he thought about her so often or why dreams of their encounter in the garden visited his sleep. Or that the thing he enjoyed remembering the most was her laughter, or the way mischief twinkled in her dark blue eyes.
“Tell me again,” he said raggedly, dropping the letter on his desk to give his brother his full attention. “Whyis Ester here?”
Lucien dipped his head to hide a smile and Edmond scowled.
“My sweet wife needed the bracing country air to help with her morning sickness.” Leaning back in the winged armchair, he stretched his legs before him and crossed his legs at the ankle. “It seemed that the company of her sisters would help immensely, and I have already seen evidence of it. Ellie’s cheeks are less pale and already flushed with sweet vitality.”
“And when I told you I was heading to our country estate to get some work done, you did not think to inform me there would be multiple distractions here?”
His brother chuckled. “Come now, you mean one beautiful distraction, don’t you?”
Something wrenched sharply inside his chest. “I left London for a reason,” Edmond clipped icily.
“Ah, do tell,” Lucien said with a mocking glint in his eyes.
It was as if his brother damn well knew he had left town for Kent to escape Ester Fairbanks, whose presence seemed to echo everywhere in their gambling den. It should have been impossible given she had only visited a few of the common rooms, but everywhere he turned, he heard that sweet, little wicked chuckle or espied a lady in the crowd that somehow reminded him of her. He damn well longed to be with her again. And he had sensed the inherent danger in that want and had decided to leave town until he would sail in a couple weeks, and now she was here.
And his heart had not stopped racing since the knowledge settled in his bones. “Does she know I am here?” he murmured.
Lucien grinned. “No.” Then he stood and strolled outside, whistling a jaunty tune.
Bloody hell.
Edmond could not stay away. Not when she was here, under his very roof. How long was she to stay for? He made his way from the large study, down the prodigious hallway, and into the bright spring sunshine. Laughter and shrieks rode the air, and he walked toward the sounds, tugged by the relentless need to just see her once before he hightailed it back to town.
Edmond rounded the corner and faltered. The Fairbanks sisters ran about without shoes or stockings, their hair unpinned and rustling about their shoulders and back. There were six of them, all breathtakingly lovely, yet only when his gaze landed on Ester did his heart race and his mouth dry. As if she sensed his presence, she whirled around and faltered, her palm pressing over her chest. And by God, she had no restraint in her reaction. Ester’s eyes had widened, and a dazzling smile curved her lush mouth.
“Edmond,” she waved, no doubt shocking her sisters with that familiarity. “We are playing shuttlecock. Will you join us?”
He had the most extraordinary realization then. He’d missed her. Terribly so. Edmond strolled over and bowed, greeting the girls. “Forgive me, Miss Fairbanks, I am not able to join. However, I wish a word with you.”
His sister-in-law cast him a worried look at the gravity in his tone.
The smile dimmed on her mouth, and a wary look entered her eyes. “Of course, where shall we speak?”
“This way,” he said with a wave behind him. “Ladies, I will speak with Ester for a few minutes in my library. She will return promptly.”
The other sisters hardly paid him any mind and went back to playing their shuttlecock with a raucous, competitive spirit. Only Ellie worried her bottom lip before she nodded. She walked ahead of him, quite unconcerned that she was barefoot.
“I was not aware you were in residence,” she said softly, glancing over her shoulder to look at him. Her stare ate him up, and the damn organ inside his chest twisted and thumped, making him feel things he hardly understood.
“Be careful!” he said, lurching forward to prevent her from stumbling into the hedge grove. He swung her into his arms, held her against his chest and continued inside.
“Edmond,” she whispered, her eyes wickedly twinkling. “I am astonished.”
“You are bare foot,” he said gruffly, knowing his actions crossed the bounds of what was proper at the moment, yet he could not let her go. He truly could not bear to, even as he strolled past his butler and a few servants in the long hallway. The little minx snuggled into his embrace and slipped her arms around his neck. He moved with rapid strides down the hallway to his study. Once there, he set her on her feet and closed the latch with asnick.
“What did you—”