Authors: Amanda McCabe

A Loving Spirit (27 page)

Louisa laughed and kicked out in infant joy.

"What a brilliant baby you are!" Cassie cooed. "So tiny, but you are already laughing and smiling. You know your mama, don't you? Yes, you do!"

Antoinette came over to peer into the basket, as well, holding out her finger for Louisa to grasp. "She knows her Aunt Antoinette, too! Though you know that her nursemaid says it is only air bubbles that make her laugh."

"That is not true! It is because she has such a merry nature. Penelope is going to be a brilliant scholar, like her father; Edward is going to be a great horseman; and Louisa is going to be my sunshine."

There was a quick knock at the door, and Melinda came in, holding a jewel case in her hand. Behind her was little Edward, galloping on the stick horse Sir Belvedere had made for him.

Edward was a handsome, sturdy little boy, and very swift as he trotted about his mother's chamber. Unlike his older sister, who had long been speaking in full sentences by the time she was his age, he did not have an extensive vocabulary. But he could say "horsie,"

"saddle,"

"phaeton," and "Tattersall's" beautifully, as well as doing a perfect imitation of a horse's neighing.

He did this now as he galloped, reining in only to give his mother and aunt kisses.

"Oh, my dears, I need your advice!" Melinda said. "Which jewels should I take to Bath? I asked Eddy, but the little darling is absolutely useless about fashion. He just wanted to put my emerald brooch on his horse's mane."

"Let us see," said Antoinette. She, Cassie, and Melinda sat down on Cassie's bed, and spread the baubles out over the counterpane.

They were debating the merits of amethysts and pearls when Penelope came dashing in, curls and ribbons flying wildly behind her. "Mama!" she cried. "Grandmama, Aunt Antoinette, you will never guess what I found on my walk!"

Edward galloped up to her. "Penny. Horsie."

"Yes, Eddy, your horse is beautiful," she said, pausing to pat her brother's horse on the head before she climbed up onto the bed beside her mother. "I saw a man in the tunnel."

"A man?" Startled, Cassie pulled Penelope into her arms, looking over her dark curls to where Lady Lettice hovered by the door. What sort of a man could her daughter possibly be seeing in the tunnel? "Who was it?"

"A Frenchman," said Penelope, obviously unconcerned. "He was dressed funny, in puffy pants and a short cloak. He wore an earring, like this one." She held up one of her grandmother's pearl drop earrings. "And he knew Lady Lettice. He called her
ma couer.
Mrs. King says that means 'heart,'" she said, quoting her new French teacher.

"Was it Jean-Pierre?" Antoinette asked Lady Lettice.

Lady Lettice gave her a sharp look. "Did you summon him, Antoinette?"

"Certainly not," Antoinette answered. "I have not summoned anyone since you and Angelo. I have been spending my time doing useful things, like studying herbs." And publishing a book of herbology, full of the healing properties of plants and recipes for making soaps and bath oils.

"Well, he is here anyway," said Lady Lettice.

"What does he want?" Melinda asked.

"I do not know. I did not stay to chat with him."

"He wants her to come back later," Penelope said helpfully. "He wants to explain everything to her. He said..."

"Yes, thank you, Penelope," Lady Lettice interrupted. "That is enough."

Penelope grinned.

"Will you talk to him?" Cassie asked Lady Lettice.

Lady Lettice shrugged carelessly, but she would not quite meet their eyes. "Perhaps. It would be—interesting to hear what he has to say."

"But even if you talk to him, you will not just—go, as Louisa did, will you?" Cassie asked. She rather liked having Lady Lettice's company. And the children adored her; they would howl with laughter whenever she did her walk-through-walls trick.

"Certainly not," Lady Lettice said. "Jean-Pierre and I are not like Louisa and her husband. William loved Louisa truly in the end. Jean-Pierre—well, I am not certain why he is here, but I do know that he does not love me."

With that, she turned and left the room, so agitated that she did not see Phillip standing there, and floated right over him.

Phillip studied the company gathered there and laughed. "Well! Is this a
soiree
and I am not invited?"

"Papa!" Penelope and Edward shouted. They both ran across the room and leapt on their father.

Phillip knelt down and kissed them both. "You two are behaving as if you have not seen me in a year, when it has only been since breakfast."

"It has been a very long time since breakfast, Papa," Penelope said.

"Indeed it has, my poppet." Holding a child under each arm, Phillip stood and faced the cluster of ladies.

"We were helping your mother decide which jewels to take to Bath," Cassie explained.

"And did you make a decision?" Phillip asked.

"Oh, yes!" Melinda said happily. "All of them. There is simply no predicting what sort of things we will be invited to in Bath. Now, I should go and be sure my maid has finished all my packing." She came and held out her hands for the children. "Why don't you come with your grandmama, Penny and Eddy, and help me."

When they were gone, Antoinette picked up baby Louisa's basket and carried it to the door. "I should finish my packing, as well. Louisa can advise me. One is never too young to learn about fashion," she said.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Phillip drew Cassie into his arms for a lingering kiss.

"Ah, alone at last," he murmured against her neck.

"Yes. I just love the subtle way Antoinette and your mother herded the children out the door." Cassie pulled him closer to her and leaned her head back with a blissful sigh as his teeth found her sensitive earlobe. "Not that I am not delighted, my dear, but why are you here? You usually work straight through to teatime."

He leaned away to gesture toward the papers he had dropped when the children came rushing at him. "I wanted to ask you your opinion on some of today's work. Or perhaps I should have asked Penelope. She can already name the entire pantheon of gods. But all of that can wait." He pulled her close again.

Cassie briefly debated whether she should tell him about the return of Jean-Pierre, but then decided that that, too, could wait. She lost herself in his ardent kiss.

Children, work, Bath, ghosts—
all
that could wait. This time was just for them.

The End