Page 31 of Claiming the Chess Mistress

Honoria had a toddler on one hip and was chasing after another. “I only hope they all grow up and leave us to a peaceful dotage.”

Ath gave them a dramatic stage whisper: “She really doesn’t mean that.”

With Dee still on his shoulders, Col headed away from the terrace down the long lawn toward the wide, shallow pond where a small contingent of children had decided to toss their clothes across bushes and go for a swim. Time for their parents to intervene, Col thought. When he carefully lowered Dee to the ground, he leaned down and gazed into her deep blue eyes. “You wouldn’t do that, would you?”

“Of course not, Papa,” she fibbed, and raced away, howling, toward her friends.

Later that day, in the carriage, on their way home…

Charlotte watched Col cajole and gentle their sleepy, grumpy daughter on the opposite seat while they rattled their way back to the villa in St. John’s Woods. They’d need more room soon and would move into the spacious townhouse in Mayfair on Hanover Square that the Marquess of Wisenberry had bequeathed them at his death the year before.

Dee was finally dozing fitfully when suddenly, she sat up straight and demanded,“Can’t we get a brother or sister for me? A sister would be better, but I’d take a brother…if I had to.”

Charlotte had to stifle a giggle. “I don’t know, Poppet. We’d have to make sure everyone in our family has a say about whether we add a sister or brother.”

Dee lunged forward in her seat, neatly escaping Col’s grasp.“I’d really rather have a sister. Wait—. Who else is there who’d have a say?”

Col alone managed to maintain a serious demeanor, probably a first for him.“Someone who will arrive about the same time your new governess comes to give you lessons this fall.”

Dee fidgeted restlessly on the seat.“Who?”

Charlotte reached over and patted her daughter’s hand. “We don’t know yet. You’ll just have to wait and see like the rest of us.

“Oh, Mama…I want to knownow.”

Col snatched her back against him. “Put your head down on my shoulder, Poppet, and I’ll tell you a story.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes at the thought of listening to another one of Col’s wild “stories” but gave both of them a fond smile before leaning back to wait and see what tale he’d tell this time.