“I would love to.” She sat down on one of the chairs while he poured and served. Hallie tucked her feet under her and looked around the room. She hadn’t really looked at it since she and Jamie had cleaned it. In the dim light from the table lamp, the room was quite pretty and very atmospheric.
She looked back at Kit. “I guess we should exchange proper introductions. I’m Hyacinth Lauren Hartley, better known as Hallie.”
“And as you deduced, I am Christopher Montgomery, commonly referred to as Kit.” He smiled. “Or Uncle Kit. There, now that that’s done, why are you wandering about at this time in the morning?”
“Looking for Jamie. Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“I’m sure my nephew is with Todd, but where they are I don’t know.” He put his teacup down. “As for my inability to sleep, may I confide in you?”
“Please do.”
“First of all, I must apologize for trespassing. Sometimes I find the boisterousness of my family more than I can abide. When I was told that you had run everyone out of your house, I felt I’d heard of a kindred spirit.”
Hallie smiled. He was a very handsome man, sixtyish, and there was something about him that made her feel safe and comfortable.
“I found the door to this room unlocked and came in here and slept.” He nodded toward the window seat, where there was a pillow and a blanket. “But I was awakened by a dream of—”
“Let me guess,” Hallie said. “Two fabulously beautiful young women with Playboy bunny bodies.” She sipped her tea. “Just a guess.”
For a second Kit looked astonished, then he laughed. “My life has been such that I’m not easily surprised, but you have done so. I am intrigued. Have you too dreamed of them?”
“Yes, but I’ve also heard their stories. Perhaps…?”
“Perhaps I would like to hear? Oh, yes, very much.”
It took Hallie nearly an hour to tell all she knew about the ladies. Kit asked a question now and then.
“Has Jamie heard from his mother about her research?” “And you say it was a box that hit your head? What was in it?” “Are the drawings actually behind the dresser?”
The answer to each question was “I don’t know.”
“How very interesting,” Kit said when she’d finished, and poured them more tea. “Don’t you think it’s also interesting that after over an hour the tea is still hot and the cakes and cookies are still plentiful?”
“It’s always like that. We’d come into the house to find that our neighbor had set up a lavish afternoon tea for us. Jamie eats a lot, but there was always enough, and yes, the tea stayed hot.” She looked at him. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t allow you to tell about your dream.”
“It was quite simple. There were two beautiful young women and one said, ‘You must find Leland’s cousin.’ I felt she was speaking to me. That was all. The total of it.”
“I wonder if that’s the cousin Leland was going to introduce Hyacinth to?” she said, referring to her own dream.
“I’ll have to ask Jilly to look into that. She’s the family’s genealogist. Ah, but wait, this is her wedding. No doubt she’ll be quite busy. Have you met her?”
“No. I have been surrounded by men all day. Raine said they were keeping me entertained so I wouldn’t notice that Jamie wasn’t around. But I did notice!” She said the last with such vehemence that she was embarrassed. “Sorry. It’s just that I need to treat his knee.”
“Yes, of course.” Kit was smiling. “May I give you some advice?”
“Please do.”
“My family isn’t for cowards.”
She waited for him to expand on that comment, but he didn’t—and she had no idea what he meant.
“Now, my dear,” Kit said and his tone was dismissive, “I think we should try to get some sleep before dawn. I’m sure Cale’s youngest hellions will escape and be here as early as possible. They seem to be fascinated with the ‘exercise lady’ who has all the young buck cousins coming over here.”
“Just out of curiosity, are there any females in your family? Other than Cory, that is.”
“Actually, there’s a rather interesting assortment of females, and I’m sure they’ll start showing up soon. And Hallie, dear?”
“Yes?”