Free Home Is the Sailor by Lee Rowan

touched. “It almost makes me glad I shall never have children.”
     
    Rather than point out that it was never wise to challenge Fate, David changed the subject. “Come, we may as well join the ladies in the drawing room. Anne is very fond of whist and Amelia despises it, so perhaps we can brighten both their lives by allowing Anne to prove her skill against us. I’ll even take Genie as partner, as a kindness to you. She enjoys the status of sitting down to cards with the adults, but she plays the worst game of whist I have ever seen.”
     
    “Worse than your own?” Will shook his head. “Is that possible?”
     
    “For that remark, I leave you to find out for yourself, the hard way.” David finished his drink. “But you have been warned, Captain Marshall. When she is fluttering her lashes in your direction and forgetting the cards in her hand, you’ll have only your wit to blame.”
     
    He led Will off to the drawing room, but the only ladies remaining there were Amelia and Jane. David gave his sister an inquiring look.
     
    “Anne begs your pardon,” she said. “She has been suffering from a miserable headache for some hours, and wished to retire early.”
     
    “And Genie?”
     
    “Anne advised her in the strongest terms to do the same,” Amelia said with a half-smile. “I think she meant it for the best.”
     
    Jane spoke up. “I think she did not believe you could keep your sister’s enthusiasm within the bounds of propriety.”
     
    “Now, that, I can believe,” David said. “Anne takes propriety very seriously. And in this case, that may not be a bad thing. I admit I have found it difficult to grieve—I am still stunned, and some part of me cannot believe that Mark is really dead. But I would have expected Genie to be more affected.”
     
    “It is still new to you,” Amelia said, “and you have only the report of the accident, whereas our experience was much more immediate. The first shock has passed for the rest of us now, and we are trying to adjust to the change in our lives. I assure you, poor Genie wept for days without ceasing. I do appreciate Anne’s wish to help, but I wish she would be more understanding. Genie is such a lively girl—she finds this solemnity hard to bear. She adored Mark, but I think she seeks distraction to ease the pain of our loss.”
     
    Wishing he could seek such a distraction himself, David suggested, “Perhaps we might go for a walk tomorrow, if the weather is fair. Solemnly, if necessary, but I think it would do us all good to get out of the house.”
     
    “Or a ride,” his sister said. “The ground is too damp for a stroll, but if we drove we might show Captain Marshall some of the local sights.”
     
    “At this time of year? Not much to—” David broke off, hearing a carriage rattle by the window facing the drive. He almost asked who it might be, but a look at Amelia’s face showed the same apprehension he felt. “Ladies, we have had a long journey, and started quite early this morning. Would you be offended if we all make an early night of it, and start fresh tomorrow?”
     
    “Not at all,” she said, rising swiftly. “Jane, shall we go?”
     
    They made a strategic retreat of it rather than a rout, the ladies hurrying down the hall to the left while the men went right. As he followed Will through the door to their rooms, David heard the sound of boots in the hall below, and a clatter as if a walking stick had been thrown angrily to the floor.
     
    “Your brother?” Will asked.
     
    “Yes,” David said, turning the key to his room with no concern at all for the possible discourtesy of such an action. “And you may call me a coward if you like, but I would prefer to let that reunion wait until tomorrow.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Damn their insolence! Granted, the fatted calf might have been a bit much to expect under the circumstances, but a certain amount of common courtesy was not too much to expect here in the home that would one