Page 14 of The Language of Love

As if Colin heard him, he straightened his posture and donned what Henry thought of as his lordly look—a lofty, smug, condescending sneer that was so convincingly ton it made Henry want to plant him a facer.

“Heh heh. Mr. Parker is quite correct. Just a little Company humor, you know.”

Henry ground his teeth at that comment but kept his mouth shut.

“You’ll have to forgive me, my lady, Miss Bowman, savage manners and all that,” Colin said. “But what can you expect when I’ve spent most of my time with blokes these past twenty years?” He chortled for no apparent reason. “But you’re going to see to those rough edges, aren’t you, my lady?” Colin asked Lady Sedgwick. “Buff ‘em all to a shine, what?” He looked from woman to woman, his expression eager, like a hunting spaniel that has returned to its master with the requisite fowl between its jaws. “I daresay you’ll have me up to snuff, er, ship-shape, bang up to the knocker, all the crack, and so forth, in no time.”

It was up to Henry to break the stunned silence. “You seem to have some knowledge of India, Miss Bowman. Do you have a connection to that country?”

She turned away from Colin, whom she’d been studying with a wrinkled brow.

Lord, those eyes. Henry felt as though he was caught in the beam of a lighthouse searchlight.

“I do not, Mr. Parker. But I am interested in all languages.”

“Is that so?” Henry decided he liked the sound of her soft, precise voice almost as much as he enjoyed being the subject of her unnerving gaze. She was just a slip of a thing—not at all like the women who generally caught his interest—but there was just something about her fairy-like face and person that made it difficult for him to look away.

“Miss Bowman and I used to teach together at a lady’s academy,” the countess explained. “She was the languages mistress.”

“Ah, how interesting. And what languages did you teach?”

“French and Italian.”

“But Miss Bowman is also fluent in German, Spanish, Latin, and Greek.”

Henry was impressed. “How did you learn so many languages?”

“Yes, how?” Colin chimed in, apparently deciding he was not only shirking his lordly duty but also losing all the female attention.

“My father was a language scholar at Oxford. When I was growing up, he taught me German, Latin, and Greek. The others I learned at school.”

The door opened.

“Ah, here is the tea,” the countess said.

Was that relief Henry heard in her voice?

“You say the prior Earl of Rotherhithe died almost two years ago?” Miss Bowman asked.

Colin looked at Henry before nodding cautiously. “Yes, that is true.”

“Why are you only returning home now?” She blushed when she realized how forward the question was. “If you don’t mind telling me, that is.”

Colin goggled.

“His lordship could not leave his business concerns in India right away,” Henry explained when it became clear that Colin had no recollection of their earlier conversations. “And then, of course, the journey itself took a little over three months.”

“Three months at sea! Was it lovely?”

Both Henry and Colin spoke at the same time.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Miss Bowman chuckled. “There seems to be a difference of opinion. You said no, my lord.Is that because you suffered from seasickness?”

Colin paled at the mere word. “Every single day.”