mortal women, and yet, he has fallen for you. He is head over ears for you, ergo, you must be a woman of immense character and heart.”
Vera sank onto the sofa before the fireplace. “I believe you mean to compliment me, though your flattery doubtless presages a warning.”
Sycamore took the place beside her without being invited. It was his house and his sofa, true enough, and yet, Vera suspected he was presuming by nature. Perhaps he’d had to be.
“You wish for me to convey a warning? Very well, for I am nothing if not agreeable in all things and womanhood’s most humble servant. Oak has not been in love before. He will without doubt make a hash of the whole undertaking. He will no more acquit himself sensibly in this regard than I could paint a recognizable portrait of my own foot, though I assure you I am possessed of two handsome feet.”
Vera began to like Oak’s brother, in the manner one could like an enthusiastic puppy or nosy neighbor. “You are keeping track of something that is none of your business, Mr. Dorning.”
“Oak would do the same for me, if he ever stopped painting long enough to recall who I am. The point of my overture is to assure you that you have an ally in me. My resources are substantial, and if you should ever have need of a friend, please consider including me on that honored list.”
He looked both earnest and embarrassed to make that offer. “You are very like Oak, Mr. Dorning. You don’t strut about declaiming heroic poetry, but you are a good man.”
“Then you take my point? About Oak having little experience in matters of the heart? He won’t mean to miss the mark, but we all do.”
“And is your experience so vast in matters of the heart, Mr. Dorning?”
He rose and tugged the bell-pull. “I’ve learned from my brothers’ examples, and I learn from watching my customers at The Coventry Club. The capacity of the human heart for foolishness is unbounded. You are far from home, and my brothers are all handsome dunderheads. I mitigate damage as best I can.”
He extended a hand to Vera as she got to her feet. “You are very sweet, Mr. Dorning, but after a spot of sightseeing and maybe some shopping, I will return to Merlin Hall, and Oak will bide here in London. Your fears are for naught, though I appreciate very much your good intentions.”
He kept hold of her hand. “It’s Oak you should appreciate. He has five other brothers just like me, only worse. Our two sisters are as formidable as the lot of us brothers put together, and we’ve collected a few in-laws to round out our forces. If you are Oak’s friend, then we are at your service, Mrs. Channing.”
He bowed over her hand, then—the handsome bounder!—kissed her cheek. “Oak can’t take his damned art to bed at night, can’t kiss it good morning, can’t enjoy an ice with it, or canoodle with his art on a rainy morning. I’ve always thought Oak dedicated, I never considered him a fool. You are proof that my faith in him has been justified.”
He withdrew, swinging his walking stick and whistling.
The maid appeared with a tea tray as soon as Mr. Dorning had departed. Vera fixed herself a cup, put her feet up on a hassock, and stared off at nothing for a good twenty minutes.
And all the while, she missed Oak.
“I might have to revise my assessment of London,” Vera said, leading Oak up the steps of her temporary home. “The children are having a wonderful time.”
Oak was not having a wonderful time. Between sittings for the Finchley twins, de Beauharnais’s sour mood, and Cam and Ash providing Vera an escort more days than not, Oak’s London sojourn was starting off on a decidedly not-wonderful foot.
“Are you having a wonderful time?” Oak asked as they reached Vera’s bedroom.
She paused, hand on the door latch, her smile mischievous. “I’m about to.”
“As am I.” Thank God, at long last. Though Cam and Ash would exact a price for taking the children to see the menagerie on the staff’s half day.
Vera continued into her sitting room. “Alexander adored Astley’s, and if Catherine ever runs away from home, I will find her in the Academy’s exhibition rooms. What of you? Is Town living up to your expectations?”
Oak closed and locked the door. “I’m settling in. I have a paying commission to work on, and that is a significant