Page 52 of The Trouble With Dukes
“If you’re interested in poetry, we can certainly discuss it,” Anwen said, opening the French doors. “Mostly, I sought to give my sister privacy with a man she adores.”
“After a fashion, I adore Hamish too,” Lord Colin said, “when I’m not exasperated with him. Siblings, ye ken.”
His accent was soft, but always detectable.Siblin’s, not siblings.
“I’ve wondered if older brothers are as burdensome as older sisters. My family is well-intentioned, but as the youngest, I enjoy a surfeit of instruction, lectures, examples, and cosseting.”
Lord Colin came up behind her. “Smothering, you mean. You being so wee, they’ve probably been at it since you were born.”
Well, yes, though lately, Anwen had been fighting back. She’d soon be five-and-twenty, and her health was quite sound.
“Shall we step outside for some fresh air, Miss Anwen?” Lord Colin was much bigger up close, about the size of Anwen’s male cousins, who were a lot of strapping, bothersome cosseters at large, where their female relations were concerned.
Blast the lot of them. “You’re welcome to enjoy the garden. I’d need to fetch my bonnet.”
“We’ll keep to the shade,” he said, winging his arm and winking.
Nobody winked at Miss Anwen Windham. She took his lordship’s arm and let him lead her to a bench beneath the maple near the back wall.
“We’re visible from the music room,” she said. “In case you were worried about propriety.”
“I don’t think the occupants of the music room will be a reliable source of chaperonage, but you’re safe with me, Miss Anwen. If my gentlemanly honor were to weaken in the face of your many charms, my brother’s fists would soon see my priorities properly reestablished.”
He bore the fragrance of freshly scythed meadows and soft sea air. Good scents, and they went well with the garden.
“Murdoch would beat you for stealing a kiss?”
“Aye, but if the lady were to do the stealing, that would be a different matter entirely.”
Perhaps this was flirtation? “You’re a frequent victim of such thievery, I take it?”
“Never frequently enough. Do you think they’ll be happy?”
Anwen didn’t know what to make of this flirting, if flirting it was, but she approved of a man who’d worry about his brother.
“Megan is easy to underestimate. If she’s enamored of your brother, then she’ll do her best to make the union a happy one. If she’s not enamored, then there shouldn’t be a union.”
Lord Colin folded his arms, fabric bunching over muscles. “You favor the love match, then?”
“You don’t?” Scotsmen were rumored to be practical to a fault.
“I know a lot about infatuation, Miss Anwen, but very little about romance. A little diversion, a harmless frolic, what’s not to like about that? But the great passion the poets write about? Not my cup of tea, as you English would say.”
The morning was glorious, and to sit outside without a pestilential bonnet shielding half the world from Anwen’s view was a surprising treat. She should enjoy the fresh air more often.
“If you’re not an expert on romance, my lord, where does your interest lie?” She was honestly curious, and not because Lord Colin could become a family connection.
“Whisky,” he said, lowering his voice and leaning near. “I own a distillery and have shares in a second whisky-making venture. I’m among that rare few who’re willing to pay the damned excise man rather than have him constantly blowing up my stills. If you make a good product, people will pay for it, and the king’s man needn’t be avoided. Novel concept, but it’s working so far.”
If he’d made gin, Anwen would have had a lecture prepared about the evils of blue ruin. Half the population of her orphanage was the result of lives wrecked by inebriation.
He didn’t make gin, so Anwen fell back on a simple scold. “Language, Lord Colin.”
“My apologies, but there’s no such thing as a blessed excise man. You want poetry, there’s plenty likening him to the devil’s familiar. Where do your interests lie, Miss Anwen?”
He assumed she had interests, other than bonnets and bachelors. Hownovel. “I am much absorbed with charitable work, Lord Colin. The plight of our poor children in particular concerns me.”
“Plight?”
