“That happens to be none of your business.”
Brat stretched out across the foot of the bed. “Have you seen Captain Baker?”
“No, I have not. Nor do I plan to see him. To tell you the truth, I’ve been so busy I’ve not even thought about him.”
Brat turned on her back, her hands behind her head and looked up at the canopy overhead. “I thought Trevelyan was the most unusual man I have ever met in my life. Did you see all the things he has in his room? He must have been a lot of places.”
“If you spent some of your time doing something besides eavesdropping and such, and read any of Captain Baker’s books, you’d know just how many places he’s been and all that he’s seen. He is a great man.”
“So why did you get so mad at him when he married Harry’s sister?”
Claire opened her mouth twice to speak, but closed it. “You wouldn’t understand,” she said at last.
“It was because of what you said about his being a hero, wasn’t it? He’s been a hero of yours but he’s just ordinary, isn’t he?”
“He is far from ordinary. He’s…” She looked up sharply. “You have to go to bed.”
“Do you have as much fun with Harry as you do with Captain Baker?”
“Of course I do. What a ridiculous question. Harry is the man I love. I want to spend as much time with him as I can. Captain Baker is nothing to me. Except that he’s Harry’s relative and I have to be nice to him.”
“You were just being nice to him when you spent those three days nursing him, weren’t you?” Brat gave her a sly look. “Did you take all his clothes off?”
“Out!” Claire said. “Get out of here at once.”
Brat didn’t move. “Be careful or you’ll wake the old dragon,” she said, meaning Miss Rogers. “Did you hear what happened after Leatrice got married?”
Claire wanted to tell her precocious sister that she wasn’t interested, but she couldn’t. “No,” she said softly, “I didn’t hear.”
“The old hag, the old duchess, nearly died of apoplexy. She had a fit of some sort. Rumor has it she was foaming at the mouth.”
“That’s difficult to believe.” Claire wasn’t going to encourage her sister, but she wanted to hear all of it. “Harry said—”
“Harry doesn’t know. He was out hunting.” Brat gave Claire a look that showed she was laughing at her sister. “By the time Harry returned the old woman was cooing again. Of course that’s all she does when Harry’s around. But I heard she was threatening to kill whoever was responsible for Leatrice getting married. I think she was trying to punish her daughter for something and she didn’t think the punishment was finished yet.”
“I’m sure the gossip you heard was wrong.”
“Mmmmm” was all Brat would say. “If Harry had to choose between you and his mother, who do you think he’d choose?”
“I’m not going to answer that question.” Claire didn’t want to think what the answer might be.
Brat was silent for a moment. “Do you miss Trevelyan?”
“Of course not. I have plenty to keep me busy.”
Brat laughed. “They’re saying in the kitchen that your habit is never going to get dry. It smells so awful they have to hang it in a room by itself.”
“Then I shall have to buy another.”
“And another and another and another. You’re going to need lots of them if you marry Harry. Do you think you’ll spend your life with him doing nothing but hunting?”
“No, of course not. I’ll…” Claire trailed off, trying to think what she’d do after she was married.
“Do you think Captain Baker will ever get married?”
“Absolutely not! His kind never marries. Or if they do, they leave their wives crying somewhere while they go off to explore other places and…and other women.”
“Are you sure?”