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She needn’t have worried. Lotte babbled on barely stopping for breath; Tobias watched her with rapt attention.

Christopher and Edward were equally as enthralled, although they kept shooting knowing grins at Freddie, which turned the tips of his ears a very adorable pink.

Emily pressed her lips together, a nervous giggle desperate to escape.

‘What are your plans for today?’ asked Edward, his question innocent enough but for the knowing look in his eyes.

‘I thought we would take Lotte out to Berferd,’ replied Freddie primly .

Edward’s eyes flashed. ‘What a capital idea. We should all go. I did not see much of the land the other day and I should enjoy having a long, leisurely walk about it with you as my guide, Freddie.’

Freddie glared at Edward and the laugh she had been holding in burst out of her.

She slapped a hand over her mouth but it was too late.

For a long moment, the men looked at her, their eyes comically wide.

Her shoulders shook, any attempt to stop the laughter completely impossible.

Gradually, the brothers joined in, even Tobias’ lips twitched.

Lotte’s high-pitched giggle added to the noise, although the little girl would have no idea why the adults were amused.

In the end, they all went. Lotte, almost beside herself with the joy of being the centre of attention of five adults for the entire day, babbled nonsense for most of the journey there, moving between all five of them as she used them as her own personal seats.

The journey was cramped, but no one seemed to mind, even when Lotte’s small but sharp elbow attacked them in the eye or the stomach.

The weather was kind to them as they explored the acres.

Freddie had brought a sketch book and occasionally he’d stop and make a quick drawing.

Emily would watch, amazed at how quickly the simple lines took shape as something recognisable.

Occasionally, she would catch Edward watching them, a grin on his face.

Unlike at breakfast, this smile appeared to be one of happiness rather than teasing, but it still made Emily’s skin heat, as if she had done something a little naughty by admiring her husband’s work.

There were times during the day when Emily even caught Tobias smiling.

Not a full-toothed grin like the rest of them, but a fleeting glimpse of joy touching his lips every now and then.

Emily laughed more than she’d ever thought possible, the way Edward teased Freddie giving her particular delight.

She’d only been married for four days, but already they were the happiest of her life so far .

By the time they crawled into bed, Emily was heavy with the need for sleep.

‘Is it always like that?’ she murmured as Freddie pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her temple.

‘What?’

‘My family almost never spend the day together and if we do, it is not a great deal of fun. Today was…’ her sleepy mind couldn’t come up with a powerful enough adjective to describe just what the time with him, his brothers and their niece had been like for her ‘…good,’ she settled on, although that was too weak a word to describe the way her heart had sung.

‘We have never done anything like that before.’ His heavy weight settled around her.

She slightly lifted her head from the pillows to look at him. ‘Never?’

‘Never,’ he confirmed. ‘I think Edward wanted to torture me.’

‘It was more than that,’ she argued, not willing to believe that the day had all been about one brother trying to annoy another one, although Edward had definitely wanted that.

‘Hm, I guess Tobias is not one to deliberately irritate someone, although it is hard to tell.’ He shifted and she burrowed into his warmth. ‘We have never really been a family in the traditional way. Do you remember when my aunt used to live with us?’

‘Was she the lady with the tight bun and pursed lips?’

Pressed against his chest, she felt his heartbeat spike. ‘Yes, that was her.’ There was a beat of silence. ‘I told you that she locked me in my room because I could not read. That was one of the many things she did to make us as miserable as possible. She was not a good woman.’

Despite the heat of his body, a chill crept through Emily’s veins. ‘What else did she do? ’

‘She liked to keep the five of us divided. She played on our weaknesses, undermining our confidence until our relationships with each other became brittle and awkward. If one of us did something she did not like, she would lock us all in our rooms. It built walls of resentment between us.’

Rage bubbled beneath Emily’s skin. She could picture Freddie as a young boy, could still see his skinny frame climbing the steps outside Glanmore House. She wanted to reach through the years and wrap that boy in a protective bubble. ‘What else did she do to you?’

He sighed, rubbing her arm gently. ‘She took pleasure in reminding me, in a variety of imaginative ways and as often as she could, that I am not as clever as other men.’ He swallowed.

‘She knew how hard it was for me to read and would therefore try to trip me up with it as often as possible.’ He laughed, although there was no humour to the sound.

‘As if I needed reminding. I will always know my mind does not act like that of other men.’

She pushed herself up onto one arm. The room was dark, the candle long blown out, but she could make out his large shape on the mattress beneath her. ‘You are clever.’

He groaned, his large hands skimming over her waist, her ribs. ‘You do not need to say that. I know my mind.’

‘Freddie, I am not saying it to make you feel better. If you like, I can list some of your faults.’

His hands stilled. ‘Go on.’

‘You are too dismissive of yourself.’

He grunted. ‘I have reason to be.’

‘No. You do not. You cannot read. It is not as big a deal as you seem to think it is. You are exceptionally creative, more than any other person I have met. You are kind and thoughtful and very, very funny. Not being able to read has not stopped you from being one of the wittiest members of the Ton. ’

He was silent for a moment. ‘I thought we were listing my faults.’

‘Fine. You are exasperating, stubborn and you can be rude to innocent females who are minding their own business.’

‘Only one innocent female and I believe that she always gave as good a retort as she got.’

‘She is also not as innocent now, thanks to you.’

He laughed softly. ‘I am not sure I can entirely agree with your assessment of my intelligence. I think maybe you have become addled by the magnificence of my chest.’

‘You can add arrogant to your list of faults.’

He laughed again.

‘Also, I think you are blind to how much your brothers like you and want to be part of your life.’

‘Hm,’ he murmured thoughtfully. ‘Before moving back to Glanmore House, I rarely saw them and it had got to the point where I did not miss the relationship. Now I wonder…’

‘What do you wonder?’ she prompted, sinking back down to lie next to him.

She slipped an arm around his waist, rubbing her hand up and down his back as if trying to comfort the child he had been.

Rage was bubbling through her veins at the thought of this woman, or anyone, locking her Freddie up, especially when he had been just a child.

‘I wonder if I am not the only one of the four of us who feels like I missed out not having them around me as I grew up.’ He rolled onto his back, pulling her with him.

She rested her head on his chest, listening to the solid thump of his heart, reminding herself that they were no longer children and he was no longer subjected to the whims of a cruel adult.

‘Perhaps that is what was behind today. Maybe each of us wants to be a family and now that you are here, that can finally happen. ’

Freddie lapsed into silence, his breathing deepening as he drifted off to sleep.

But for Emily, it was hard to find. She realised that, once again, she had misjudged her husband.

She’d thought him frivolous, without a care in the world, but the pieces of himself he was revealing were nothing like that.

Her mother might have not been the most loving, but Emily had never doubted she wanted the best for her daughters.

The idea that Freddie had not had someone to fight his corner, that he had been deliberately separated from his brothers in order to isolate him, lit a fire in Emily that made her want to find this aunt and pull at the tightly coiffured bun until the woman cried.

Emily hadn’t thought she had a violent bone in her body, but it turned out that the idea of defending her strong husband and his three equally large brothers brought out her inner warrior.