Marrying Winterborne (The Ravenels #2) - Lisa Kleypas Page 0,85
make herself heard.
Amused, Devon stepped forward and pried his wife out of the enthusiastic tangle of arms. “The horses will have padded stalls onboard the ship,” he explained. “There’ll also be wide canvas belts underneath them, like hammocks, to keep them from foundering or falling. I’ll stay belowdecks with the horses to keep them calm.”
“So will I,” Kathleen added.
Devon gave her a warning glance. “As we discussed earlier, my job during the return voyage will be to take care of the horses, while your job is to take care of my future son or daughter.”
“I’m not an invalid,” Kathleen protested.
“No,” he said, “but you’re the most important thing in the world to me, and I won’t risk your safety.”
Crossing her arms, Kathleen tried to look indignant. “How am I supposed to argue with that?”
Devon smiled and kissed her soundly. “You can’t.” Turning to the twins, he took them both in his arms, and kissed the tops of their heads. “Good-bye, imps. Try not to cause too much trouble for Lady Berwick, and take care of Helen.”
“It’s time to leave,” West said from the doorway. “Are you certain you don’t need me to accompany you to the station?”
Devon grinned at his brother. “Thank you, but the carriage will be crowded enough as it is. Moreover, I don’t want to take you away when you should be acting as host to Lady Berwick.”
“Quite right,” West replied blandly, but as he turned, he executed a discreet hand gesture meant only for Devon’s gaze.
“Kathleen,” Pandora said, “Cousin West did that thing with his finger again.”
“It was a hand cramp,” West said quickly, and shot a narrow-eyed glance at Pandora.
Kathleen grinned and went to put her arms around his neck. “West,” she said fondly, “whatever are you going to do when all of us leave you in peace?”
Sighing, West kissed her forehead. “I’ll miss you, damn it.”
BEFORE THE REST of the family departed the next morning, West drew Helen aside for a private conversation. They walked slowly to the conservatory, a room of glass and stone that was lushly crowded with potted palms and ferns. The glazed windows revealed a nearby stand of Weeping Beech trees, their pendulous branches draping and sagging as if exhausted by the tribulations of winter. A flock of plump orange-and-gray bramblings descended from the ash-colored sky to feed on the carpet of beech mast around the gnarled trunks.
“It occurs to me,” West said, ducking his head to keep from colliding with a hanging basket filled with mixed plants, “that this is the first time you and the twins will have stayed in London for more than a night with no family to look after you.”
“There’s Lady Berwick,” Helen pointed out.
“She’s not family.”
“Kathleen thinks well of her.”
“Only because Lady Berwick took her in after her parents tried to set her out on a street corner with a sign saying FREE CHILD hung around her neck. Oh, I know Kathleen regards her as the fount of all wisdom and benevolence, but you and I are both aware that this isn’t going to be easy. The countess and Pandora will go at it beak-and-claw the entire time.”
Helen smiled up at him, seeing the concern in his dark blue eyes. “It’s only for a month. We’ll learn how to get on with her. And Mr. Winterborne will be nearby.”
West’s frown deepened. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
Perplexed, Helen asked, “What are you concerned about?”
“That you’ll be manipulated and taken advantage of until you feel like you’ve been flattened in a washing mangle.”
“Mr. Winterborne won’t take advantage of me.”
West snorted. “You only say that because he already has.” Taking Helen by the shoulders, he looked into her upturned face. “Little friend, I want you to be cautious, and remember that London is not a magical land of happiness and cake-shops, and every stranger is not a hero in disguise.”
Helen gave him a reproachful glance. “I’m not that unworldly.”
One of his brows arched. “Are we sure about that? Because the last time you were there, you decided to gallivant off to Winterborne’s unaccompanied, and—oddly enough—returned home thoroughly deflowered.”
Her color heightened. “He and I made a bargain.”
“There was no need for a bargain. He would have married you anyway.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Darling, everyone knew it, except apparently you. No, don’t bother arguing, we haven’t time. Just bear in mind that if you have any trouble at all, if anything goes wrong for you or the twins, I want you to send for me. Have a footman