“Do we get our same old rooms?” Kit asked. “And do I still have to share with Zack?”
“You each have your own rooms, both here and at Longmead,” Heathbrook said. “Here, Zack will be staying in Mother’s old room for now.”
“But where will Giselle stay?” Zack asked.
In my bed.
God, he really was behaving like a rakehell these days, wasn’t he? Lately, he couldn’t seem to think of anything but bedding Giselle.
“I have to stay with my mother,” Giselle told Zack kindly. “Heath and I are not married, so we cannot stay in the same house.”
“Aren’t marriedyet,” Kit pointed out.
“Of course.” She smiled overbrightly. “That is what I meant. I have to stay at Maman’s house wherever we go.”
Hmm. Did shealwayshave to stay at her mother’s house?
“Exactly,” Heathbrook told his brothers. “Now, go on in the house and find your rooms. I’ll be along shortly. I just need to speak to Giselle a moment before she goes on to her mother’s house.”
The boys were all too eager to leap from the carriage and run up into the town house that had once been their London home.
“Tomorrow,” Heath told Giselle, “how should we arrange the seats? We can all fit in this carriage, but I daresay it wouldn’t be a comfortable journey for any of us.”
“Probably not. Honestly, Heath, if you would prefer that Maman and I follow our original plans and hire our own post-chaise to take us to Bath—”
“No. I wouldnotprefer it. I’d already planned on taking two equipages with me, anyway. Might as well fill them both. We just need to decide how to arrange the group.”
“For the first leg of the journey, you should ride with your brothers. Spend time getting to know them as they are now. Maman and I will ride in the other carriage. Then once we stop to eat, we can consult on who should ride where.”
“That’s one way to do it, I suppose.” He rubbed the back of his neck, wondering how he could broach the subject of the other idea he’d had. “In fact, I was thinking … well, you and your mother could stay with us at Longmead while you’re in Bath.”
She blinked at him. “B-But how would Maman go to the baths?”
“Longmead isn’t that far outside the town. I could send you both to Bath in one of my carriages in the morning, and you could return in the afternoon, once you’re done. We could all have dinner together. The boys could practice their French with your mother. It would be perfectly respectable.”
“Do you really think that is wise, Heath?” she asked in a low voice.
Wise? Not at all. But he suddenly felt a desperate need to have someone else helping him with the boys. She seemed to be good at it, and he was terrified he would prove bad at it.
She narrowed her gaze on him. “Why are you proposing this all of a sudden?”
“I merely think it makes sense. And it will keep you safe from Vaughan Jones.”
“Ifhe is still in Bath, which is by no means certain. Your own footman could not find him there.”
“That doesn’t mean he isn’t hiding there, somewhere.”
She searched his face. “I know why you want us to stay at Longmead. And why you want us to ride with you tomorrow. It has nothing to do with Vaughan Jones, either. You are afraid to be alone with your brothers.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he muttered, surprised she knew him so well.
A smile crossed her lovely lips. “The Earl of Heathbrook, who was ready to thrash a man for flirting with me, who risked life and limb to try escaping Verdun, is afraid of three boys.”
“I’m not afraid of them,” he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m just worried I won’t be able to handle them alone.”
“You will be fine, I am sure. At Longmead, you can all sit around scratching yourselves and complaining about women and dressing as you please.” Her eyes gleamed at him. “You can teach them how to be rakehells! Not Zack, of course, since he is obviously terrified of girls, but the other two—”
“Now, see, that is precisely what I mean. You immediately realized Zack was bothered by girls, and you found a way to make him think logically about it. I don’t come up with those things.”