Mr. Helgate laughed. “What bad habits?”
“You are getting lazier by the day. Still having Miles cook your food? Draw your baths? Get a wife and give the man some peace.”
“What would a wife do with me?” Mr. Helgate said. “The only one who will put up with me is him.”
“I quite share that sentiment about a wife,” Leo piped up.
Louisa flicked her brother’s forehead with a finger. “What do you know, little brat? You’re only ten years old.”
“I’m old enough to know about the ways of the world.”
Mr. Helgate let out a deep chuckle. “I like this lad.”
“He is quite entertaining,” Mortimer agreed.
His friend cast a glance at him. “Much likeyou.”
Louisa stared at the two men’s backs as they strode into the house. In this setting, conversing with a friend dressed equally humbly, while he still possessed an air of strength, the duke seemed more like a mortal man, rather than like the eternal, impervious god-like presence he projected at times.
She rather liked this duke.
“The lady and her brother can share the first room to the left upstairs. You are the one across from them,” Mr. Helgate informed them, gesturing to the staircase.
Louisa inclined her head. “Thank you.”
“I’d rather room with our gardener,” Leo announced, folding his arms as if bracing for a fight.
Mr. Helgate arched a brow, his gaze shifting to Mortimer. “Gardener?”
The duke merely grunted in answer.
Louisa, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes on her brother. “You cannot sleep with him.”
“Why not?” Leo demanded.
“Because you will disturb his sleep,” she said, hands on her hips.
Her brother pulled a face. “I don’t want to room with a girl.”
“You had no trouble rooming with me last night.”
“I was asleep when you took me to my room. Today, I’m not.”
A true brat.
Although, Leo did have one hell of a kick in his sleep. Also, terrible sleeping posture. She flicked a glance at the duke.Well.“If our gardener allows it, who am I to disagree...?”
Leo puffed out his chest. “I shall not take no for an answer.”
The duke stared at them, as if summoning patience from the depths of his soul. “So I do not get a say in the matter?”
Louisa lightly lifted her shoulders in a helpless shrug. “What can I do? The brat wants what the brat wants.”
Leo nodded, satisfied.
Mortimer arched a brow at her brother. “Why aren’t you pouting or protesting being called a brat?”
“Because it serves my purposes.”
