Seven Minutes in Heaven(72)

“He also didn’t want to be recognized,” his sister said, her voice tight. “Lady Lisette would have been very angry.”

From the corner of his eye, Ward could see that Otis had illicitly taken Jarvis out of his carrier and was stroking him on his lap. He should probably say something, but he sympathized. The very mention of Lady Lisette made him want to pull Eugenia onto his lap and kiss her until he forgot about the conversation.

“Do you know what I do when I’m angry?” Eugenia asked, in something of a non sequitur.

“What?” Lizzie asked.

“I shout and scream. I try not to keep it bottled up inside.”

Ward frowned. Lizzie needed to learn how to be a lady, not how to shout. She already did that plenty, mostly aimed at her brother.

“Perhaps it is time for the ladies to retire for a cup of tea?” he asked Eugenia pointedly.

Eugenia didn’t glance at him. “It can be cathartic to scream. You allow the anger go through your voice and into the air.”

“My brother and sister have no need to learn to scream,” Ward stated.

“It’s not screaming, per se,” Eugenia said, looking at him. Her eyes were compassionate, almost as if she thought his siblings were forlorn paupers. As if they’d grown up hungry.

The thought chilled him. “Was there always enough food for you to eat?”

Otis didn’t look up, but the curve of his neck stiffened. Bloody hell.

“Until Father died,” Lizzie clarified. “Lady Lisette always said that practicalities were tiresome.”

“Hell and damnation,” Ward snarled.

“That’s a gentleman’s version of a scream, Lizzie,” Eugenia said.

“Did it send your anger into the air?” Otis asked, with the look of a child who has just learned a new phrase and is aware that he isn’t supposed to repeat it under any circumstances.

But plans to do so as soon as he’s in private.

“Never say that phrase around ladies,” Ward warned.

“You just did,” Lizzie pointed out.

“It was an aberration. I apologize to you, Lizzie, and to Mrs. Snowe.” He managed to arrange his mouth into a line with curves at the ends. A smile, of sorts.

“I like cursing better than screaming,” Lizzie said. “I know lots of words already.”

“All right,” Eugenia said, to Ward’s profound dismay. “But never, ever in public. Do you promise, Lizzie?”

“Yes!”

“I can do it in public if I want to,” Otis crowed.

“Not until you’re eighteen,” Eugenia declared, “and never in polite company. Now Lizzie—and Otis, if you’d like—I want you to think of something that made you very, very angry. Something you want to forget.”

Ward had gone rigid with annoyance. This is what came of introducing the children to a woman who wasn’t born and bred a lady. She didn’t understand that if Lizzie even whispered “damnation” in a ballroom, she’d be ruined.

“Are you ready?” Eugenia said.

“Will you do it as well?” Lizzie asked. She had a strained look around her eyes, like a horse attacked by a cloud of flies.

“I am not angry,” Eugenia said. “This is your turn.”

Lizzie closed her eyes and took a breath so deep that her narrow chest expanded visibly.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” Ward hissed at Eugenia.

She turned her clear eyes to him. “I will be happy to discuss it with you at a later time.”

Lizzie’s eyes popped open. “I’m ready!”

Eugenia smiled. “Go ahead, Lizzie.”

Ward groaned internally. He was new to fathering, but he was certain that encouraging a young lady to curse was not appropriate.

His little sister sat up straight, squared her shoulders, opened her mouth and let out a string of curses in a high, shrill, and very loud voice. After the first three, Ward’s ears rang. After seven or eight, Gumwater burst through the door at a breathless trot.

Eugenia leaned forward and nodded, and Lizzie stopped. The silence that followed had the crystal clear precision of early dawn.

“That hurt my ears,” Otis cried. He was huddled over, his hands protectively clasped around his pet’s head. “You hurt Jarvis, too!”

Gumwater muttered something and walked back out again.

“I feel better,” Lizzie said, looking surprised.

“I feel worse,” Ward said. “Where did you learn all that filthy language, Lizzie?”

She didn’t seem to hear him; her eyes were fixed on Eugenia. “Did I do it right?”

“Absolutely right,” Eugenia replied, rising to her feet. “I’m glad it made you feel better. Now it is time for the ladies to retire to the drawing room.”