Harlan said as the horses were brought around.“My ears are recovering,” Noah replied. “Have your cousins always been so damned noisy?”Harlan gave him a good shove to the shoulder. “Nini and Evvie are little girls, and you just promised them ponies this summer. Of course they’ll make heaps of noise.”The happiest noise Noah had heard from them. Ever.“You may blame Thea for that nonsense,” Noah said. “She has informed me we’re to hire tutors and governesses and all manner of masters for the girls.”Noah’s wife had been kind but firm, exactly as a duchess should be—when she wasn’t stealing covers.“You won’t have Evvie and Nini all to yourself,” Harlan said. “You’re pouting because you’ll have to share.”Noah swung up on True. “Where is it written that a grown man mustn’t pout? Seems to me one of the few privileges of adulthood is a good, cranky pout from time to time, or a fit of private ranting, with a tot of brandy consumed to settle the temper.
