The Consolation Prize (Brides of Karadok #3) - Alice Coldbreath Page 0,75

Toby yelled, burying his head in his mother’s shoulder.

“I will,” piped up Joan, tripping forward with a gummy smile. Surely, she should have teeth by now? Armand thought, noticing the child had nothing but bare gums at the front. When she reached Una, she angled up her head and screwed up her face. Armand regarded her with bewilderment, but Una seemed to realize what was due and bent down to kiss the child on the cheek.

Joan turned back to send a smug look at her brother over her shoulder. “You see, Toby, I can do it,” she caroled. “I’m a good girl.”

“No! No!” screamed Toby kicking his legs. “Not Joan! Not Joan!” Anne set his wriggling body down and he stomped up over to Una with a fierce scowl and tears still glittering in his eyes before he repeated the same action. Again, Una bent down and kissed his cheek. His bottom lip quivered as though he were still debating throwing back his head and screeching.

Armand blanched and braced himself, but Una’s calm voice suggested they repair to the solar where they could sit in less cluttered surroundings. Armand half expected his sister to refuse the offer, she had been so prickly at the outset, but to his surprise she almost jumped at the chance, sending a gloating expression his way as she mounted the stairs behind Una.

He wasn’t quite sure how it was, but Armand found himself carrying up the children one on each arm. At such close quarters, their penetrating stares were somewhat unnerving.

“Why haven’t you got a beard?” Joan asked in her high carrying voice. “Fathers always have beards.”

“I’m not a father,” Armand said shortly. “And if it comes to that, where are your teeth?”

Joan giggled. “They keep falling out,” she confided. “I bit into an apple and my front one came out. This one,” she said pulling down her lip to show him the gap.

Armand felt both impressed and faintly revolted. “Maybe you should stop eating apples,” he suggested.

“I gotter napple,” Toby interrupted, keen to prevent Joan from gathering all the glory. He breathed in and out excitedly as Armand wondered if this was the full extent of his contribution. “I hided it.”

“No, you did not you storyteller!” Joan burst out indignantly. “Mother! Tell Toby to stop telling lies!”

“I not!” screamed Toby.

Armand only managed to stick half an hour with them in the solar, before he was forced to go in search of Otho for some respite. Even visiting tenant farmers was preferable to spending his time with his family. If Anne thought she could blacken his name to Una while her hideous children were in tow, running circles around them and upsetting tables, then good luck to her was all he could say!

9

Una picked up the small table and set the book back on top of it for the third time, as Anne scooped Toby up and remonstrated with him.

“He’s tired,” she said, shooting a defensive look at Una.

“Well, he’s only little,” Una murmured tactfully. Poor Abelard had retreated shaking under a wooden bench. New faces seemed to set him back considerably in his recovery and the noisy children seemed to be his limit. Una had expected him to slope off to her bedchamber, but he wasn’t quite willing to let her out of his sight just yet.

Joan, who had initially wanted to play with the little dog, was finally sat quietly in the window seat, having a whispered conversation with a faded cushion she insisted on calling Ida.

Anne pulled a face and lowered her voice. “Ida was a girl we had at the farm last year for a while. Very taken with her the children were, but they weren’t the only ones, so I had to get rid of her,” she said significantly. “If you catch my meaning. If you will take my advice, you won’t spare any time doing likewise with that girl Rose you’ve got under your roof.”

Rose had brought them up more drinks earlier. “Rose is a very obliging girl,” Una replied mildly, and Anne gave her a pitying look.

“Those are the ones you need to look out for, my dear. I know you’re new to this, but it’s never too early to nip these things in the bud. My John has never had a roving eye, unlike Armand, but I make sure never to dangle a tempting morsel beneath his nose like that. You’re setting him up for a fall.”

“Does Armand have a roving eye?” Una asked, not particularly surprised