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his clothes already, and this was only the second time he’d offered her his coat.
    Fast work, though, even for him.
    Chapter Four
     
    “Tell me about your brother Grey,” Worth said, offering his arm to a woman who was not, after all, without a few human failings. “I have a perfectly useless brother in the north, and we’ve him to thank for Yolanda’s charming presence.”
    “She is charming,” Wyeth said, sails filling, but then a loud crack of thunder sounded right overhead and she hunched into him.
    “Silly woman,” Worth murmured, and his arms went around her without him thinking about it, the same as they might have gone around Avery after a nightmare. Then the rain was too loud on the roof to permit further conversation—or further endearments.
    Wyeth stayed bundled against him, not quite shivering with cold, but twitchy with nerves. When the rain changed to hail, she tucked her nose against his neck and held on to him with gratifying tenacity, making no move to lecture or move off when Worth’s hand settled on the back of her head and stroked her hair.
    He’d never quite appreciated the potential in rainy days before, nor the value of a horse who was blasé regarding the weather.
    “I’m being ridiculous,” she said, when the rain slowed. “I can’t seem to let go of you, though.”
    “You have a frightening association with storms like this, and I’m at least good for keeping off the chill.” He rested his chin on her hair, which smelled wonderfully of lavender and sunshine. “You were about to tell me of your brother.”
    “Grey is older than I. He became head of the family quite young, and that’s a difficult role when a man has eight younger siblings and half-siblings.”
    “You’re the oldest girl?”
    “How did you know?”
    “How else would you have learned how to command a regiment, hmm?”
    “My mama died after my younger brother Will was born. When my step-mama came along, and all the little ones appeared, I enjoyed being the big sister.”
    Little ones didn’t simply appear. “I’ve always wished I came from a large family,” Worth said, keeping an ear on the rain. “I have a brother and now a sister extant, and we have Avery. That’s it. While my brother and I are estranged, my sister and I are strangers.”
    “Has your brother met Avery?”
    “No, he has not, the wretch.”
    “He didn’t tell you about Yolanda, did he?”
    “Hard to say, because we don’t exactly correspond, though I’ve sent him an epistle over this folly with Yolanda. The storm is moving off.”
    “I should move, too.”
    No, she should not. “Soon, my dear.”
    When she eased her grip a few drippy, quiet moments later, he let her step back, taking her warmth and a luscious abundance of female curves with her. Everlasting Powers, if he’d known his housekeeper was such a goddess, he’d have removed to the country years ago.
    To do exactly what, he would not admit even to himself, but getting caught in storms with her was a delightful place to start.
    “I’m much braver if I can remain indoors,” she said, moving off to pet his horse. “He’s a stalwart fellow. His name is Goliath?”
    “He’s a big, stalwart fellow, so yes, he’s Goliath.”
    “Some draft in his lineage?” She winced as thunder rumbled in the distance.
    “On the dam side. Let’s watch the water rise.” He tugged her by the arm away from his horse and brought her to the upstream side of the bridge. “I have good memories of storms, of rafting down swollen streams immediately after a deluge, of seeing all my dams swept out to sea by a good downpour. As a boy, it was wonderful.”
    “That must be the appeal of sons for many men,” she said, taking a place along the rail beside him. “Men talk of dynasty, legacies and successions, but what a son really means is more forts in the attics, toy soldiers, and dams.”
    “How many brothers have you?”
    “Seven, and one sister.”
    “No doubt you and this sister